Acoustic session two
Last weekend, another acoustic session took place at the wooden space. Very prolific it was.There’s still room for improvement, as I di not use the magnificent RNC compressor. Will do shortly when recording electric guitars via DI and as soon as I have the chance to record acoustic again.
Now off to rest and seize the holiday (25th April in Portugal – anniversary of the revolution).
Talking about that… what if Zeca Afonso was an American? Bellow you have my hint on what the man could sound like….
Acoustic session
Over the weekend I was fortunate enough to record acoustic in a quiet wooden space and it was quite a lesson about the importance of recording in a proper isolated and calm space! The controlled environment, with low reverb and free of weird resonances quick allowed me to achieve the tone, after one hour of fiddling around with the preamp controls.
Guitars used where a Yamaha FG 720 s (big guitar, big sound) and my K Yairi G1F parlour guitar (small acoustic, not a consensual guitar, but it fits my tone) and a pair of Sontronics STC 1 small condenser microphones.
There is still room for improvement, mainly with the recording sound levels (which where a little bit low, I think), but overall the lesson for the weekend is that a good space makes all the difference.
Speeding things up
This is what happens when you speed up a track using Logic’s varispeed
Bigsby
Been experimenting the subtleties of the Bigsby tremolo arm of my Epiphone Swinsgster. More smoothness than a Fender-like tremolo.
The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a “whammy bar“, “vibrato bar”, or “tremolo arm”, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch.
(from Wikipedia)
Sound clip
This weekend was devoted to record a track with as much instruments as I could, but keeping in mind to leave as much space and air as possible. The result is the “organic blues” demo, that might sound a little bit quiet, to today’s standards.
Guitars: Fender Strat for rhythm; Epiphone Swingster for sparse lead and some rhythm work now and then.
Everything else: Various Logic plugins (percursions, bass and organ) played via a M-Audio usb controller.
Post one
Hi all!
The website still needs some final polishing, but I just wanted to put this short note.
Ever since I started to compose (since 1999), I have always wanted to make a proper recording. After 13 years learning gear, chords and tunings, it’s time to record the melodies and shuffles I have bee picking on the guitar.
The final result of these recordings will only be available once they’re finished.The purpose of this website is to collect information about the recordings (gear, sessions, photos and sound clips). I expect to start things in a couple of weeks.
I have already released a single – Nylon swing – you can preview it (and even buy it via iTunes!) in the sidebar. This was a single take recording using a Yamaha guitalele for rhythm, melody and percussion miked with a Behringer B2 condenser microphone. The result was quite stunning, given the fact that the guitalele is a cheap and small instrument.
Meanwhile, you can check a few sound clips on the sidebar. These where recorded mainly during the last year for gear testing purposes.
See you soon,
José Luís