Home Recording Tips

[Greg Pasquariello]

Hi all. Long time member, but haven't posted in a long time. I'm hoping to get some tips.

I've recorded pedal steel a few times in pro studios, but now have a need to record some tracks at home, and looking for the best quality I can get. I'm primarily a guitarist, so most of my gear is tied up there. When I play pedal steel, I often play through a Fender Mustang III. I also have a Deluxe Reverb and a Vox AC15 my disposal. I've also got GuitarRig 5 available to try some direct options.

Any tips on mic placement, effects on the input, etc.? My first plan is to experiment with effects from the amp, little or no reverb, no compression on the input. It's a slow moody tune, and I'm thinking about mic maybe a foot from the amp.

If you can share any info or thoughts, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you all very much in advance!

[Les Cargill]

Start with what you are comfortable with. I tend to just track direct because that's what I bought my first steel for - to put on my own recordings* and to add as a offering for others' recordings, which worked out to mean I was tracking with no amp into headphones.

*which were designed just to play in the car...

But I mainly wanted steel for color, not to play complicated leads on. That came later. Comes later? Er, I'm still working on that

It's a bit of a pain in the neck, but you can always keep a direct track, a miked track and a line out track and defer deciding. I find the three approaches not all the much different for steel ( compared to six-string ).

An amp/speaker/mic pretty much does two or three things for you. It works as an EQ, it subtly changes dynamics ( as if it were a compressor of very low order ) and it adds distortion.

If you don't know what you want, then anything is possible.

[Ben Waligoske]

Hi Greg, didn't know you played steel! I recognize you from the Denver Music Gear Swap, nice to see you on here as well...

What Les said!

The real authority around our neighborhood (or anywhere for that matter) to rap with would be Denver's own John Macy, maybe he'll chime in, but for my part I've had good luck on home studio/remote recordings taking both a mic'd amp signal simultaneously as a DI signal, as mentioned....

The Peterson floor tuner I use has a handy DI function to facilitate this easily, but you could achieve the same result with most any DI box. Beyond that, I've just used my '78 Princeton and a close mic Shure 57 with solid results.... Nice vintage Fender sound (touch of reverb, bass 7-8ish/treble 4ish for me) on the Mic, and pretty much whatever the engineer's heart desires on the DI...

[Clete Ritta]

The beauty of recording digitally is that quite often the limits are that of your imagination. In other words, you can record as many tracks as you like. Id record a direct track with guitar rig, as well as a mic/amp track.

Since guitar rig is a plug in which can be changed and modified after the fact you are not pinned down to any specific patch until mix down. When recording direct, record the signal straight from the guitar with no processing. Flat and dry. Most DAWs let you add effect (like Guitar Rig) to monitoring while tracking dry. This allows you to experiment with EQ, effects etc. all you want after a good take is captured.

On the amp/mic track, listen to the mic as its recorded through headphones and move the position around till you like what you hear. You'll notice that as the mic is positioned closer to the center of the cone the eq will shift. Many engineers and sound people prefer to place the mic slightly off axis (not straight perpendicular) and point it somewhere between the edge of the speaker and the edge of the cone, usually pretty close (only a few inches). These are just observations and personal techniques, and there are no rules. Don't add reverb or effects on the amp. Two reasons: 1. Once you print an effect you are stuck with it! 2. Its going to be a mono effect, and all effects sound twice as good in true stereo if you add it from within the DAW.
Any decent mic will do (Shure SM57 is an old standard). Main thing here is watch your input level and make sure its not clipping! This goes for your direct track as well. Have fun!

[Ian Rae]

There's so much affordable gear around these days (I started working in studios in the early 70s) that the only real difference working at home is the room itself, which won't likely have such a controlled acoustic as a purpose-built space.

So keep the mic fairly close - in a studio you can often get a pleasant sound by moving further way, but at home that may just make it sound boxy.

[Geoff Noble]

I'm currently recording a track in my home studio, previously I'd go in direct but came to the conclusion that I can get a more natural sound mic'ing up.

I have a stereo setup so needed a few mikes, I used 2 Sennheiser e845 dynamic mics and an Audio Technica AT2020 large condenser mic.

I close mic'd the cabinets with the e845s, pointing on axis at halfway between the cone and the edge. The more you point to the cone the more brightness, more to the side of the cone less brightness, more balanced sound. The mics were about 1-2 inches from the speaker cone. I've found that you get much better definition close mic'ing with dynamic mics, just need to watch the levels.

I placed the AT2020 at a distance of about 2-3 feet in front of the cabs, centred above the two cabinets pointing down at the speakers. This gave a nice centre definition and picked up the natural ambience.

Combining the 3 tracks sounded really sweet and captured the sound of my live setup.

[Tony Prior]

Hi all. Long time member, but haven't posted in a long time. I'm hoping to get some tips.

Greg it would be very helpful if you informed us of what you are using for recording, DAW, Workstation, interfaces etc... Your question is wide open.

Recording at home uses the exact same processes as the big house studio's. Yes true , the gear cost may be much lower and the room is not up to snuff but the procedure to get a clean signal on "tape" is exactly the same.

Oh and don't be afraid to record direct...

Here is a very recent track, everything direct

https://soundcloud.com/rumbleroomaudio/ ... edal-steel

thx

t

[Ernie Pollock]

I have been using Audacity program for about 7 years, I do my own guitar tracks, bass tracks etc with it, I think you can about God knows how many trks, then it will mix them for you. I love it, & I have made tons of CD's with it.
My Son gave me the program CD before he died in 2007, I have been using ever since. Oh, I have recorded in a couple of local studios over the years, but this is a heck of a lot more fun & you can do it 'Your Way'..

Ernie Pollock 301-264-4172

[Billy McCombs]

Tony your playing on that Emmons PP Is soooooooooooooo smooth. Really nice.

[Dale Rottacker]

Tony, I agree with Billy... that was beautiful, both in tone and playing...
Here’s a couple of recent ones I just did, and though they sound very different than Tony’s, they too were done direct... in fact, 3 channels direct... one out of the XLR of my Session 500, and two running my Lexicon MPX1 into my Revelation Tube Preamp and then into two separate channels on the PreSonus Mixer...

The track I used for They’ll Never Take Her Love From Me was done in the Key of G and I REALLY wanted to do it in the Key of C so changed it in the my Studio One DAW... that may have been a bit too big a Key change, but I’m learning... lol

Old Rugged Cross was done in the Key I got it... It’s a John Hughey track going from Bb-B-C... I recorded the steel the same way as They’ll Never Take Her Love From Me

https://soundcloud.com/steelinatune/the ... ve-from-me

https://soundcloud.com/steelinatune/old-rugged-cross-1

[Tim Russell]

Tony, to add to the others posts -

Great tone, beautiful phrasing, I really like the sound of the "slow engaging" on pedals/knees licks.

Simple, elegant, quality sound. Not filled to the brim like most of todays' stuff.

[Scott Duckworth]

I go direct into a Tascam DP-008EX, then pull the file in to Audacity for editing.

[Tony Prior]

Billy, Dale and Tim, you guys are killing me ! I appreciate the nice comments but it's all the Steels fault !

These days, as I get a bit older, I am playing a bi-monthly Country Show and it's about the songs and the music etc, not those fancy hot licks which nobody really gives a hoot about. HWY 40 Blues , whats that ? Ha !


When and if I finally grow up I wanna play like Dale R. ! Those are great tracks !

[Dale Rottacker]

Billy, Dale and Tim, you guys are killing me ! I appreciate the nice comments but it's all the Steel fault !

These days, as I get a bit older, I am playing a bi-monthly Country Show and it's about the songs and the music etc, not those fancy hot licks which nobody really gives a hoot about. HWY 40 Blues , whats that ? Ha !


When and if I finally grow up I wanna play like Dale R. ! Those are great tracks !

Wow Tony, I started reading this and was going to joke with you that even “Old” guys need a word or praise and encouragement now and then...
and then I got to the bottom of this and I’m speechless and humbled,
unless you meant Dale Rivard then I’m just plain embarrassed for the assumption and in full agreement with you...
Thanks, the other Dale R

BTW, there’s a LOT to learn from you, and thanks for what I’ve learned from you so far.

[Tony Prior]

Ha, Dale R as in Rottacker

funny guy !

[Greg Pasquariello]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the tips!

I ended up going direct (from a volume pedal) into GuitarRig 5 with a clean amp, and some delay. I added a bit of reverb in Logic and it sounded excellent!

Tony, your track sound great, thanks!

Unfortunately, I'm now gassing for a new instrument

[Greg Pasquariello]

Hi Greg, didn't know you played steel! I recognize you from the Denver Music Gear Swap, nice to see you on here as well...

What Les said!

The real authority around our neighborhood (or anywhere for that matter) to rap with would be Denver's own John Macy, maybe he'll chime in, but for my part I've had good luck on home studio/remote recordings taking both a mic'd amp signal simultaneously as a DI signal, as mentioned....

The Peterson floor tuner I use has a handy DI function to facilitate this easily, but you could achieve the same result with most any DI box. Beyond that, I've just used my '78 Princeton and a close mic Shure 57 with solid results.... Nice vintage Fender sound (touch of reverb, bass 7-8ish/treble 4ish for me) on the Mic, and pretty much whatever the engineer's heart desires on the DI...

Hey Ben,

Yeah, I do play. Just had my second "pro" release on Kenny James' new album. I played some PSG and dobro on one of the tracks.

Playing with New Ben Franklins now, and it's way more PSG than I've played in a long time, including some stuff that John is currently recording that I'll need to learn! So hopefully he'll keep it simple!

[John Macy]

Hey Greg, my middle initial is "S" for simple...

[Greg Pasquariello]

Hey Greg, my middle initial is "S" for simple...

I appreciate that!

[John Macy]

I was never a really big direct fan until I got the Sarno V8 with the XLR out, into a Neve preamp. Usually I like to mic it--a Sennheiser 421 into a Neve or API being my favorite...but the V8 is a winner!!

[Tony Prior]

I was never a really big direct fan until I got the Sarno V8 with the XLR out, into a Neve preamp. Usually I like to mic it--a Sennheiser 421 into a Neve or API being my favorite...but the V8 is a winner!!

So John, as Elaine would say, you switched teams !

[John Macy]

Weeelll...I still like to mic it up, but the V8 sure gives me some great options!