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Claus H

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Everything posted by Claus H

  1. To me, recordings from the past are timeless; they exist as part of my development as a composer/player. I have cassettes from 50 years ago, and reel-to-reels. From out-of-tune piano solos done on a portable cassette deck to early attempts at overdubs, all of them are a snapshot of my musical life at that moment, and, in some cases, the melodies from then can be useful still. Now, with better musical skills, a better recording setup and some perspective, re-doing an early recording can be quite illuminating in terms of how I approach it musically now, compared to the decades-old first recording. C.
  2. What is the difference between a Rock musician and a Jazz musician? A Rock musician plays three chords in front of a thousand people. A Jazz musician does the opposite... Thank you. C.
  3. Vintage King (Alex) has been very responsive and friendly during my purchases involving special orders and such. Schoeps is prompt, polite and comprehensive when you write to them about anything. C.
  4. "Favorite" here is more like 'What I have". Since I do things like acoustic guitar/vocals and Fender bass, I have an HHb Radius 30 (which I bought years ago along with its EQ brother). The Radius is actually TL Audio from England, re-branded. It's two-channel, with tubes, and it's a leisurely, softer compressor, definitely not meant for aggressive slam. It thickens things up nicely going in, so I can just add the final overall compression on my PC when the mix is ready, nothing too heavy needed for my purposes. I also still have my old DBX 286 in the rack, and while it's good on my bass, it's quite noisy, so I am using it less and less. As far as dreams go, I have been thinking about an LA2A clone, either Audioscape or Regular John...just have a great channel and call it done. Claus.
  5. KP, The brightness bit is one that has been pushed so much in ads that I have a feeling a number of folks may think that "bright" is automatically "better"...the high-mid emphasis has its place, but if you stack any number of tracks without keeping that in mind, you now get a pile of increasing sizzle in a section of frequencies that can be hard to work with or listen to. The hyper-compressed "smiley curve" mixes in cars and on phones don't help either, in terms of people thinking that is "quality audio". I had one experience with my Neumann 184 mics which were bought for guitar and such. Even on nylon strings, they brought out unpleasant details, and overall they just had too much color off-axis (as opposed to just volume drop), so I sold them, and never regretted it. Since then, my goals for my humble home setup has been: large dia tube mic (the V13) for lush vocals, flat-freq small condensers and a pair of 414XLRs for instruments and, maybe, backup vocals, and a pair of Fathead ribbons for "that sound" when I want it. I have a few others as well, including a 57, but the "front line" that I want to work with is what I describe above. I find I would rather start slightly warmer than needed and go up, instead of the other way. Given the consumer Tascam DP24 and its converters, I find it a more "ear-friendly" route. Of course, everyone has different needs and projects. C.
  6. To follow up on this: I have been using my (relatively) new Vanguard V13 tube condenser for a song, and even the scratch tracks sound lovely! The mic offers big value for the money ($800); it sounds great on baritone voice; it has many patterns remotely-controlled on the power supply and it appears to be very well built. The metal shock mount is an absolute beast, and it fits well on my standard K&M boom stand with the assistance of a small counterweight. Highly recommended. Claus.
  7. In terms of writing, the harmonies of piano inspire me for major key songs; generally the more traditional ballad stuff has come out on keys. My acoustic guitars have produced minor-key material (also instrumentals) since I like Latin- and similar sounds of the minor key on guitar. When I use guitar, it is usually also because I have started humming/composing in my head. In terms of playing when recording, I will do piano, acoustic guitars and Fender bass. Not at pro at any of them, but getting better. For drums, I want the real thing, so recently I ordered up drum tracks from a player in the South of France through Fiverr. Result: real drums, professionally played. I know my limits, and I'd rather pay for acoustic drums than listen to a drum machine. C.
  8. For me, those relics are the ultimate in pretentiousness. Some kid wants a guitar that has all the implied "road miles" of a pro player's axe, even though he has never stood on a stage in his life. It's the ultimate expression of "If I buy the tools that look 'pro' or 'roadworthy', not only will my playing magically get better, but I can brag to my friends about my non-existing career"....please. Why doesn't Neumann sell replica 47 or 67 condensers with bumps and scratches so they look like they've been at Abbey Road for decades...that's about as idiotic. C.
  9. Just some thoughts in the midst of this: One wonders if somehow this could have a positive effect on the life of little clubs, and the bands who used to work that circuit? Most of us will likely have read the ongoing stories about the pre-Covid "sinking markets" in the club world, all the abuse with "pay to play" and such... What if the pent-up isolation of people would help get new music bars/open mics/coffee shops back on the map, but in good ways, with decent fees, and with both musicians and guests who are grateful to be out doing it again? Some of you here may have played these circuits, if so, what do you think? Could the psychological impact of all of this have a benefit in this regard? C.
  10. Second thumbs up for Fiverr. I just got a set of drum tracks recorded by a gent in the South of France, and he was not only a terrific drummer but a smooth and friendly collaborator. Read, and use your intuition as to whether someone fits, prior to booking, much as everywhere else. I imagine that in some areas of services, there is a greater and easier potential for disappointment, but many of the ads for music seem to give a pretty good idea of the level and seriousness of the players, if nothing else in their ad design and word choices. C.
  11. The joys of smashing things.... Regarding dynamics, it's interesting to compare, say, "The Wall" by Pink Floyd, on the Mobile Fidelity CD re-master, with a song from recent years which I like a lot: Springsteen's "The Girls in their Summer Clothes". The Floyd tracks go from where you can hear the faint hiss of the master tape up to a couple of overload clips on some drum rolls, and this is the commercial release. It's still one of the best analog rock recordings I have ever heard; it has monstrous dynamics. Compare with Bruce's "Girls" which was mixed and mastered by two of the best. It is literally almost unlistenable; it makes me physically uncomfortable. The production is "big" in the Phil Spector sort of way, which is fine, but the mix and master are a nightmare. You get the impression that EVERY TRACK has its own compressor set to high, with ducking and gating, and as a result, the stems in the mix literally seem to elbow each other out of the way to get to be heard. Weinberg's drums are buried and sound like a wet rag; everything else is a soupy, unpleasant roar. It's the only mix I have heard, where, if I listen on headphones, at times the stereo image feels like it's shaking under the pressure of it all. This for an old-school melodic rock ballad...the real crime is, the song is lovely and deserves much better. Imagine the Floyd "Wall' being recorded today, and Springsteen's tune done back then... C.
  12. Some memories: Late 70s, in Copenhagen, I saw Jerry Lee Lewis, with Duane Eddy opening. It was a good show, but more importantly, it taught me an important lesson about the damage sound can do. The PA system was moderately sized, and way overdriven. Horrific volume with distortion. It wasn't until I left and went out into the city that I realized what had happened. The Saturday night traffic was silent; pedestrians couldn't be heard...my ears were paralyzed for about 20-25mins. I never forgot this. Earplugs became standard for me for any shows after that night. Roy Orbison had been a hero of mine since I was a kid in Denmark, and after moving to the US in 1980, and subsequently getting married, I introduced my wife to his music (which she loved.) Living in WDC, I was surprised to see Orbison booked at the Bayou, which was a fairly small club, as these things go. I had never seen him, didn't know at the time that he had kept his voice intact, and been touring for so many years. The show was superb. On that small stage, Orbison just blew the roof off with his big hits. We stayed for both sets, me eventually on a chair, hollering at the top of my lungs. My wife said she had never seen me like this... Two work-related show memoirs: I was doing hotel A/V camera work for a while, and one night we had (yet another) corporate dinner with live music ( this was around 1990). Turns out, Chubby Checker was the hired entertainment. I was the only one excited about this; the rest of the techs thought he was just some old has-been, and made rude jokes about his music. This was before he arrived... The show Chubby put on that night was pure showmanship and pure professionalism. Sweating like he was about to have a stroke, he tore around on the stage, whipping everyone in the crowd up as if he were playing at a huge club and not in a depressing hotel ballroom. Towards the end, he had women come up and dance with him, and he capped it by doing the bump-and-grind with the wife of the CEO who was paying for the whole evening. My camerawork was on auto-pilot that night; my shots just flowed with the music and I loved every moment of it. Afterwards, there was a kind of quiet among the crew when we were striking; I had the impression they hadn't exactly anticipated such a show, after all the jokes... I was hand-held stage camera at Wolf Trap for Elton John when he was on tour promoting his "The One" album. Wolf Trap is a semi-covered outdoor stage with a sloping lawn. It was a warm August night. Elton was a hard worker, with a long show list of hits, and he played a solo piano set while his band took a break. After a number of his big ones, he got to "Candle in the Wind". As the lights dropped and Elton started "Candle", I was peering over my camera from stage, looking up at the lawn, at the silent crowd. Gradually people pulled out their lighters, quietly, and lit them as the sad lyrics flowed through the night. The light breeze, the little lights in the dark and the gorgeous music all joined up. There is an expression, something like "The Universe was Listening", and that's what it felt like...like everything was holding its breath. I was crying by the end of it. I have heard the song quite a few times since, over the years, but that night was when I truly felt the power of it. C.
  13. It goes all the way back to the days of cylinders and discs...Fred Gaisberg, doing Caruso and others. I love Lindberg's thinking and approach, a true symbiosis of cutting-edge technology and old-fashioned understanding of acoustics and rooms.
  14. I do a quick "blend" on headphones on the Tascam 2488, but I take the Wavs for real mixing to my Win 10 machine and listen on the Genelec 8010As. Then I try it on the home stereo (Samson mid-fields are the mains) Then I pop on my Oppo headphones (which have a dramatic "Hi-Fi" curve compared to my linear AKG tracking cans.) For fun I will keep a copy of a rough mix on my Iphone and listen a bit there. Somewhere along the way, the mix starts "accommodating" most devices in some form, not perfectly, but... C.
  15. I have only recently (in the past 3 years or so) managed to find "my path" regarding having what I want as an audio-head, and what I am happy with as a musician for home recording. The two don't always agree ð It wasn't until I got the short working rack where everything fitted, that I started feeling I had some comfort and control, in terms of being able to walk in and record, and also having convenient, yet minimal patching. My main recording rig is an aging Tascam 2488, bypassed in every sense except for the recording/editing abilities, I have external pres, a two-channel external HHb Radius tube eq and a matching external tube compressor. (I await the new Tascam Model 12 on Friday; it will have the 2488 MIDIed to it for extra tracks if needed.) It all fits in the small rack, the Tascam on top at working height, with pre-amps, eq, compressor, rack fans, a one-row patch bay further down, Furman at the bottom. The pres are hardwired to line in on the Tascam, the effects loops are hardwired from the Tascam to the comp/eq and back, My digital piano next to the rack goes through a stereo DI into 2 channels on the patch bay and is wired through 2 channels on my 4-pack pre-amps. My bass "lives its own life" though a DI and a DBX 286 channel strip into its own channel on the Tascam. That leaves acoustic guitars/vocals/percussion mics to be plugged in as needed. Overall, this works for me. The patch bay has enough simple routing abilities to suit me, and everything else is pretty well wired and ready. (The only gear left that keeps me awake at night is a high-quality spring reverb....that's the only effect I feel I need to complete the setup. One day...) C,
  16. Personally, given that I love early recordings in general, mono has a power that is unique, and I feel that if one uses it today, it's a bit like someone shooting a film in B/W in 2021. On one level, it makes people pay attention because it is different, but psychologically it also carries a lot of history (remembered or not) with that sound signature (it's 'old' and 'new' combined) and that too can influence the listener. A theory, anyway... C.
  17. There is a handful of songs that make me break down every time. This one: [video:youtube] Iris DeMent has a way of just hitting hard with gentle lyrics: [video:youtube] Eric Bogle's "The Green Fields of France" summarizes the madness of Man with heartbreaking lyricism: [video:youtube] As the years go on, this Springsteen tune makes me remember, and cry: [video:youtube] C.
  18. The K and M stands have been mentioned; I have two of their booms. One thing that I find works well with them is the boom counterweights you can get from B and H and elsewhere. They come in 3-pound and (I believe) 6-pound variants, and clamp onto the end of boom itself with a screw. The weights are just enough to balance out at least moderately heavy mics and facilitate stretching out the boom further if needed, without destroying the clutch. I use the 3-pounders for my 414s and my Vanguard condenser, and it's night and day from feeling like you're crushing the friction in the clutch head because you have to crank it. C.
  19. Hi All, new around here. Microphones... always a fun thread. Home recordist here, so the studio facilities are a bit limited, but mics have a tendency to accumulate. Getting into digital around 2001, I picked up a Marshall V67 (and then a second one) and for the money, they weren't terrible; certainly the heavy bodies are nicely made, but they do have that upper-mid hash tendency of cheaper China mics. Then later I got crazy when living alone (long story) and I decided to "reward" myself with Neumanns. First the USM69 stereo mic (hell of a beast), then a set of used 184s (pretty much hated them) and a used 147 Cardioid tube (decent, but wasn't fitting my environment). They've all been sold recently, although, had I had the acoustic space for it, the big 69 would have stayed. Picked up a set of Fathead II ribbons years ago, and they are nice, but they need help with a Cloudlifter to come to life in the highs. I have gain enough, but the impedance helps. Got two AKG 414 XLS about 2 years ago, love them dearly for most anything. Ten days ago I got a Vanguard V13 Condenser tube mic for vocals, and it is glorious. Smooth, yet detailed; elegant sound, and well-built. I wanted to "finish worrying" about small condensers for my instruments, so I ordered a set of Schoeps 641 hyper-cards (yet to be delivered)...now I am afraid I'll start collecting capsules :-) I feel like I am finally "set" (famous last words). I have a big vocal mic, two 414s for stereo instruments or individual pickups, the Fathead ribbons for texture and room, and, eventually, the Schoepses for guitar and such. And a 57. I still like to browse, though.... C.
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