Rick Alexander – Page 2 – Classical Guitar n Stuff

Morning folks!

Those of you who read the blog frequently may recall the fabulous Rick Alexander – if not, or you’re relatively new around these parts check out these posts:

* Q&A with Rick Alexander

* Album Review: Fine Light by Rick Alexander

* From Nylon to Steel and Back (a fantastic guest post that Rick wrote for the blog early last year)

Well, Rick has been kind enough to share his knowledge and experience of recording the classical guitar – how to get set up, gear and so on. And so much knowledge does he have that we have a little mini-series for you on the subject, and so for today and the next couple of Monday morning (AEST) posts I hand you over to Rick!!

Here you go folks. Thanks Rick!

Recording Classical Guitar: Part 1 – A Recording Setup – Plus Microphones

It’s now easier and cheaper than ever to make good quality recordings of your playing. In this series I’ve put together some tips from my own experience of home recording over the past 18 years.

Why record yourself?

It’s a lot of fun: You get to hear back the results of the practice you’ve put in. Our guitars and our playing vary over time. It’s great fun and very satisfying to capture your guitar sounding its best with your best playing.

Recording yourself can help you hear more clearly how you’re playing. Sometimes when you’re working hard on a piece you don’t hear it as others do. Listening back to a recording after a gap of a few days can help you hear problems in your playing. And help you hear what’s working well.

If you write your own music you can record as a piece of music develops over time.

It’s a way to share your playing. This is one of the most satisfying aspects for me.

A recording setup for classical guitar

Figure 1 shows a typical setup for recording solo classical guitar. The main components are:

Two condenser microphones for stereo recording (plus mic stands).
A USB digital audio interface to digitize the analog signal from the microphones.
A computer or tablet to record to.
Recording software on the computer or tablet.
Plus you’ll need powered speakers or headphones to play back on. (Connected either to the computer or to the audio interface.)

Figure 1 – Microphone Setup

Which factors affect the sound quality of your recording the most?

There’s a simple answer: the microphones and the microphone positioning have the largest effect. Next would be the room you’re recording in followed by the audio interface.

Microphones

Unfortunately it turns out that, like guitars, all microphones are not created equal! Generally, the more you pay the better the sound quality.

Dynamic vs Condenser Microphones

There are two main types of microphone: Dynamic and Condenser. While the dynamic type is more rugged the condenser type reproduces high frequencies better. This better frequency response results in a more realistic sounding recording. The small diaphragm condenser type is generally considered the best for instrumental recording. http://homerecording.about.com/od/microphones101/a/mic_types.htm

A popular dynamic mic is a Shure SM57. US $99. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SM57

Examples of small diaphragm condenser mics are:

Behringer C-2: US$60 for a pair. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/C2m

Rode M5: US$199 for a pair. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/M5MP

Rode NT5: US $429 for a pair. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/NT5

Shure SM81: US$700 for a pair. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SM81

and Neumann KM184. US $1600 for a pair. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/KM184Pair

When buying a microphone ideally try to find a store which will let you try their microphones. In fact I’d recommend asking if you can take your guitar along to the store and make some test recordings.

I think you’ll find that the more expensive mics do generally sound better but very acceptable results can be had from mics in the few hundred dollar range per mic.

For my recent CD “Fine Light” I used Shure SM81 mics for ten tracks recorded at a recording studio and Neumann KM 184 mics for six tracks recorded at home. I haven’t tried the Rode or Behringer mics I’ve listed here but you’ll find positive reviews on the web. E.g. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb14/articles/rode-m5.htm

Microphone Polar Pattern

Microphones vary in their sensitivity versus the angle of the sound source from the direction the microphone is pointing. This is called the microphone’s “polar pattern”. The most common polar pattern for microphones used for instrumental recording is the “cardioid” pattern for which the microphone is most sensitive straight ahead and sensitivity falls off to zero directly behind. The microphones I’ve listed above all have a cardioid polar pattern.

http://www.shure.co.uk/support_download/educational_content/microphones-basics/microphone_polar_patterns

Proximity effect

It’s an intrinsic feature of microphones with a cardioid polar pattern that their bass response is increased when the microphone is closer to the sound source. This is called the “proximity effect”. I’ve found that I need to position the mics maybe 25 to 35 cm from the guitar to get a natural sounding bass response.

Mic positioning

Now that you have some microphones the question is how to position them in order to get the best sound quality. In the next post I’ll talk about mic positioning.

For those of you who are regular readers you would have seen the name of Melbourne guitarist-composer Rick Alexander a few times on the blog in the last year or so, including a guest post written by the man himself*.

Well, in September 2013 (yes, I know I’m late in reviewing this – naughty me!), Rick released his latest (and might I add greatest) collection of pieces for solo nylon string guitar. Actually, to call the tracks on the album “pieces” doesn’t seem to fit quite right, I like to think of them as rather songs without words, such is their beautifully melodic quality.

Fine Light is a wonderful collection of imaginative, lyrical and reflective songs, some of which Rick began writing in the early 2000s and completed in 2013. For me this album is a perfect accompaniment to a lazy Sunday morning, or a quiet reflective evening in – there’s certainly more than enough melodic and harmonic interest there to keep you humming along (and even making an earworm or two), but without overly taxing the noggin. If you like simply beautiful instrumental music, delivered in a cool, clear crisp and emotive manner by the composer themself then this is a recording to add to the collection.

Of the 16 tracks on the album here are some of the highlights for me:

Missing You – Rick wrote this one for his wife after she’d just left for a long trip overseas, a tune with a sweet, longing disposition but without being overly melancholy. Rick makes great use of some alternative tuning on this track, tuning the A string down to G, which lends a fantastic depth and resonance to the tune.

Intersection – overdubbed duet of interweaving lines, originally intended and recorded purely as a solo piece, but Rick then decided to overdub an improvised second part over the top to great effect

Gliding – a song with wistful, slightly melancholy feel. Rick brings in a key change midway through that offers a glimmer of positive hope, with shimmering chords and a delightfully positive ending.

Frozen Space – another with a slightly wistful feel to it, but with some lovely guitaristic effects including perfectly timed use of harmonics. Simply beautiful.

PJ – not a song about his pyjamas! This is a tune Rick wrote in 2012 whilst in Petaling Jaya (PJ), Malaysia and features a wonderfully laid-back, upbeat melody, featuring a really lovely ending with a nice little jazzy chord for good measure. Up there in the running for my favourite track of all.

Fine Light – an intriguing opening with plenty of breathing space, making you wonder where it’s headed…..Before Rick then launches into this great toe-tapper of a tune. In fact I dare you to listen to this one and not tap along! I’d go so far as to say that this is my favourite track of them all – most definitely. It’s just an all-round great tune, a great up-beat feel, some really nice harmonies with a little bit of spice, contemporary cross-flavour nylon string guitar writing at its best.

If you head on over to Rick’s website he’s got Missing You and Fine Light up there as free tracks to listen to. He’s also been kind enough to transcribe them and post up the sheet music for you too, so you can play along!

I definitely recommend you head over and check it out: http://www.rickalexanderguitar.com/finelight.html

And if you wanted your own copy of this gorgeous recording, the same link features the various ways you can get hold of a copy for yourself – CD or a download through iTunes or Amazon. The CD is also available through Amazon, CD Baby and CD Universe. Alternatively if you’re in Melbourne you can buy the CD from Hans Music Spot, Croydon or from Audiophile Reference Recordings at 2 Florence Street, Burwood.

* Just in case you missed out here are those previous posts featuring Rick:

https://classicalguitarnstuff.com/2013/09/23/introducing-rick-alexander/

https://classicalguitarnstuff.com/2014/03/17/qa-with-rick-alexander/

https://classicalguitarnstuff.com/2014/02/03/from-nylon-to-steel-and-back/