Unphased

[billroper]

The problem with working with really old tracks is that they are really old tracks and they are what they are.

Most of the tracks for The Grim Roper have vocals and guitar recorded in separate recordings. But a few of the tracks had vocal and guitar recorded at the same time, so the guitar track contains some vocals and the vocal track contains some guitar. And on a cassette tape 25 years ago, this wasn't a very noticeable problem.

This is not so true when mixing for CD. Because the vocal signal arrived at the guitar mic later than it arrived at the vocal mic, there's an annoying phase problem which causes the vocal to sound hollow. And the louder I was singing on a song, the larger the phasing problem is, because there's more vocal in the guitar track to interfere with the vocal on the vocal track.

In what should not be a great surprise, the interference is the greatest on "Space Is Dark". Yes, space is dark and I was loud. *sigh* In space, everything could hear me sing.

The good news is that there are tools that you can use to fix phase problems like this. I auditioned one of them tonight, the Little Labs IBP.

And happily, it seems to make things better.

Also happily, I had a $50 off coupon.

So I now have yet another plug-in sitting in the toolkit.

Whee!

Comments

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Are you ever tempted to just get your guitar and sing the song over again?

[billroper]

I actually did for one track that was completely unsalvageable for a great many different reasons (I had a bad cold, it was pitched too high, the guitar was pitch-shifted with a 25 year old bit of gear that made it sound very odd).

But re-recording, for the most part, defeats the purpose. :)

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

Re-record them and call it the Grimmer Roper, or the Re-Grimmed Roper and put the originals, bad as they are, on as 'Bonus' tracks.

[rono-60103.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering how this will impact whoever does the final mix for the hoped for recording of the Westercon 68 / Conjecture 13 / Conchord 27 concert (Spider Robinson, Steven Brust, Seanan McGuire, Vixy & Tony).

The plan is to make separate (I believe digital) recordings of each input during the concert {we scheduled the concert specifically to be able to borrow the board from San Diego Folk Heritage because it supports this easily}, and then do a recording mix after the fact.

I know for Seanan and Vixy & Tony the guitar won't be being played by the vocalists most of the time, but will be an acoustic live on stage. On the other hand, Spider will be playing guitar, and I have no idea about Steven. So there will be the issue of the guitar arriving at the vocal mic at some point along the line.

The reverse may or may not be true. I'm pretty sure (having seen him in concert at Chicon 7) that Tony's guitar has a pick up. But I don't know about the guitar that Spider will be borrowing, nor have any clue about Steven's concert setup. And, if we manage to get a group number, we'll probably have multiple live guitars just to add to the problem.

But, this is a fairly well known and solved problem. And I won't be doing the mix (a good thing since I last did a recording mix sometime in 2005 or 2006 - and then I had to do it real time, in the same space as the live mix, and with a Clearcom unit on one ear and the monitor headphones on the other).

{Two details we haven't worked out are who will do the final mix, and who will do the mastering for distribution - not to mention will we be distributing by CD, MP3, or both. I do know at least two dealers I'll offer CDs to if we go that route}

[hms42]

If you make a CD, contact me. I would be interested and can point you at other dealers who would be interested in carrying a new filk CD. (Plus, I would be interested in a couple of copies.)