Hey Jude Acoustic REDO with new recording techniques

des0free · August 30, 2017, 12:20:15 PM

I recently posted an acoustic cover of Hey Jude, experimenting with techniques for recording vocal + guitar "live".

Here I've made further technique changes and think I like it better.

1. Lower key to better suit my voice. I often feel my deep voice sounds too "boomy", so I try to sing higher, but that can sound unnatural/forced. I think I have to embrace my natural tone. Post processing can limit boominess.

2. Now using 2 channel USB recording interface (Mackie Onyx Blackjack 2x2, $100), which allows zero latency monitoring, and the 2 channels are perfectly in sync. It is said to have very good preamps.

3. Vocal mic=AT2010 condenser ($100). Guitar mic=iRig Acoustic stage clip on ($100) to Taylor GS Mini. Recorded in small closet filled with racks of clothes (thought was these could damp unwanted wall reflections and I would add reverb in processing)

4. Recorded in Reaper in Win10. Post processing: Vocal: T-RackS classic comp & classic eq (cut bass, boost treble), Vacuumsound automatic double tracking (20% wet), JS: MDA Pseudo-Stereo (20% wet). Guitar: classic eq (cut bass, boost treble), JS: Stereo Upmix (50% wet). Master: OldskoolVerb Reverb (-14 db wet), T-rackS classic comp & brickwall limiter.

This may be close to what will be my "standard" live setup (until I fool with it again....)

Johnny Robbo · August 30, 2017, 12:42:37 PM

Nice work, mate! It has a real "intimacy" to the performance.

cuthbert · August 30, 2017, 12:46:12 PM

I like this one better, too - the recording sounds clearer, and the performance sounds better to my ear.

I'm often searching for that sweet spot myself, and it's a really fine line to walk between using a high-quality recording setup and getting a comfortable, natural-sounding live performance. It sounds like you have found a good recipe here!