Solo Vocal/Guitar Project

[Mark Richards]

These are the first two cuts from project I'm working on for a solo artist.
"Today I Started Loving You Again" (cover)
"Whinin' Boy" (cover)
Remainder of project will be classical guitar selections.

Production Notes

• Private project for personal use purposes.
• Recorded in one take for each song, in real time.
  • No overdubs.
  • No punches.
  • No do-overs.
  • No bounces.
  • No other musicians.

Equipment

• 2 tracks on tape using a TASCAM 40-4 analog MTR with DBX Type I noise reduction; and a small (8x4x2) TASCAM M-3 analog mixer.
• 1 mic for the vocal track.
• 1 mic for the acoustic classical guitar track.
• Tape tracks digitized in real time using a TASCAM DP-24, with some minor EQ and compression during conversion.
• Digitized tracks imported to Harrison's Mixbus-7 D.A.W. for stereo mix balancing; EQ, etc.
• Mastered using Lurssen Mastering Console software.

Audio

• Goal: A pure, "Live", intimate musical experience.
• Level: -14 LUFS; Peak: -1.5 dB; True Peak: -1.4 dB
• Dynamic Range: 7.1 LU to 9.6 LU
• SPL: 70 dB at optimum listening position and on headphones
• Quality: CD Redbook High Fidelity

Constructive critiques, comments and suggestions welcome, as always.

 

[-mjk-]

Man, that is so cool. Epic Old School sound. I love it Mark!

 

[Arjan P]

Nice recording! Guitar and vocal sound great. Personally I'd turn down the reverb a notch, especially on the vocal, but that can be a matter of taste (the type of verb suits the tracks fine).

BTW, why the analog recorder inbetween?

 

[Mark Richards]

Thanks for your kind words, Arjan.

When I was at Dartmouth I attended several classical guitar performances in the Rollins Chapel, one of the best intimate acoustic venues I know of. So my goal was to emulate that space. Thanks for your reverb comment. I may have been a bit heavy handed. I'll give the reverb another listen before we finalize all the tracks.

I started out by first recording the performance to tape to see how it impacted the digital sound. To our ears it seemed more natural after A/D conversion, so I just let the tape roll and used the portastudio afterward to digitize the performance. I'm trying the same with the Jazz project except for the vocals, which have to be overdubbed on the portastudio.

My wife's being a good sport (so far) about turning the family room into a quasi recording studio. But I don't think she's too keen on me doing it on a regular basis.

 

[-mjk-]

I may have been a bit heavy handed. I'll give the reverb another listen before we finalize all the tracks.

Noooooo! lol

Here are the things in life of which there can never be too much of:

1. Perfect reverberation
2. Garlic
3. Hot peppers
4. Lagavulin 16

 

[Rene Asologuitar]

Hi Mark,
I really love your sound.
Your reverb is perfect.
This is the first time I heard that song, Today I started Loving You Again, and I al so glad that I heard it from you.
Thanks for sharing.
Rene