Well i am back from the studio, got the last four tracks for my cd recorded.  Yay!  Next Doug is going to mix then, and mastering will take place up here in Portland.  I am happy with the basic recordings, and am looking forward to the final product. 

Since i have been playing those same tunes for a while i am going take a break and change up my practice routine a bit.  I would like to be a better flatpicker, so i am working on some simple bluegrass and gypsy jazz stuff in standard tuning, to improve my improvising and chord vocabularly.  I would also like to polish up my fingerstyle technique a bit, and am going to revisit some basic classical guitar studies for that.  i think this will be refreshing and give my mind and fingers something different to do.

Ill still be playing celtic music, i just find myself bored at times and not inspired to play, and i think practicing some different things will fix that.

Anton

I am back in Doug’s studio to finish recording the last few tracks for the cd.  We experimented with some different mixing options and i am looking forward to how it sounds at the end.  I am aiming to have the cd out by the end of year ideally.

Anton

Hi Folks,

So it looks like i am scheduled to go back into Doug Young’s studio at the end of Sept.  We’ll be finishing up the rest of the tracks for my cd, and might shoot some higher quality video for Youtube.  I am looking forward to be working with him and Steve again. 

At this point it looks like we will be mixing at Doug’s, and i am going to be using Cass Anawaty at Sunbreak Music for mastering.  He is located here in Portland, so it will be nice to be using someone local for that part of the project.  Makes it easier to go in and talk about what kind of final sound i am looking for.  Cass has studied guitar with Alex De Grassi, and mastered Larry Pattis’s latest cd, among many other bigger projects.  I am glad to be working with someone who knows the solo acoustic guitar genre. 

I am tentively titling my cd New Traditions.  Hopefully it will be done before the end of the year.

Sorry no blog posts for the past two weeks.  I have one more version of Father Kelly’s i need to post, and i have been working on notating a nice arrangement of Princess Royal that i think folks will like.

Anton

I have a running interest in home recording, though my iMac at home is not really setup to do it now.  I have a pair of KRK RP5 monitors sitting in the closet, i just need to get an interface and some mics. 

I am always interested in how others record guitar, and when i was down at Doug’s recording my cd we had some good discusions on home recording technique.  Nowadays you can get some pretty good results using relatively cheap (by studio standards) gear. 

One thing we talked about was Mid Side micing. Its a kind of wierd mic position, do to it you need a figure eight mic and a regular cardiod mic.  This wikipedia link explains it better than i can. 

Mid Side Micing

So after our dicussion my buddy William Bajzek went home and tried it.  William is a great irish musician but also plays excellent classical guitar.  To my knowlege he used a CAD M179 as his figure eight mic, a Kel HM1 as the cardoid, and recorded into a Motu 8 Pre and Ableton Live software.  I think its a great sound for less than a $1000 worth of gear, not counting the software.  Here is his sound click page with the samples.

William Bajzek – Soundclick page

Out of all the home recordings i have heard him do this one sounds the best.  I am definitly going to investigate this mic position once i get some gear.

Anton

Hi Everyone,

So i am back from Doug Young’s studio down in California. I had a pretty productive weekend. I managed to record eight tunes, with Doug engineering and Steve producing. Very fun stuff, though kind of tiring at times. Listening back i think everything sounds pretty good so far.
I arrived at Doug’s on Thursday night, and we experimented with mic placement for a few hours. We settled on a spaced pair of Schoeps, and a pair of Nuemanns setup in XY. They both sounded pretty good on their own, and we figured we could just record them all, and then later figure out what we wanted to use.

Steve got there on Friday and we started in on recording. I sat in the recording chair, Doug was at the controls, and Steve sat behind me in a recliner taking notes on a pad of paper. He didnt want me seeing him writing and getting distracted. I would do a bunch of takes, and he would listen and write comments on each one. Then we would go back and find the best take to be our master, and then fix any mistakes we needed using edits from the other takes. I think this arrangement worked out pretty well. I only had to worry about playing, Doug only had to worry about editing and the computer, and Steve could just listen and notate things.

We managed to get three tunes done the first day, three the second, and then two on Sunday. Some took a few hours and others came quicker. I seem to recall doing 15 takes at one point. I would play, Steve would say “lets hear that again”, and i would play it again over and over. It was really good to have someone else there to tell me when things were good enough, or when it could be improved. If i had done this on my own it probably would have taken me forever.
I was amazed at Doug’s editing ability. Since we recorded with two sets of mics Doug had to keep all those seperate sound files lined up and grouped correctly when we edited. He did a fantastic job, and i am really appreciative.

A big thanks to Doug’s wife Teri who kept us fed with wonderful food, as well as tasty beverages and a never ending supply of coffee for me.  Its going to take another trip to get the rest of the tunes, then i have to get it mixed, mastered, artwork done, and duplication. Not a cheap endeavor. I hope to have it done by the end of the year.  I am really looking forward to it.  A big thanks to Doug and Steve, i couldn’t do it without you guys.

I am sitting here listening to Martin Simpson play clawhammer ukulele on his Righteousness & Humidity album.  Its great, makes me want to get a uke and play clawhammer on it.  Though maybe i should get a banjo instead….

So i am off in two weeks to start recording my solo cd.  Its something i have wanted to do for a few years, but time, money, general laziness, or lack of confidence in my music has always made me put it off.  But now i think its finally time to do it, i have a good collection of tunes arranged, and i think it would be a nice addition to the small world of celtic fingerstyle guitar. 

I will be recording at Doug Young’s studio in the Bay Area of California.  I met Doug several years ago at the Swannanoa Gathering Guitar Week and usually see him about once a year or so.  Doug has a very nice studio in his garage, with top flight gear and a comfortable atmosphere.  He is as knowledgable as it gets when it comes to fingerstyle guitar.  It will be nice to have someone else running the technical side of things, so i only have to worry about playing my instrument. 

In the producers seat will be Steve Baughman.  I first met Steve at Guitar Week as well, several years back.  I was lucky enough to be able to see him every year when i went back, as well occasionally catching him on tour with Robin Bullock.  Steve has been very generous over the years, taking time to sit down with me and discuss my arrangements and other aspects of playing.  Between him and Doug i can’t ask for better guys to be in the studio with. 

For this cd i did a rough recording at home of all the tunes that i want.  Some of them i have played quite a few years, others are pretty new.  I think its a good mix of dance tunes, slower stuff, and some rather obscure things hopefully folks have not heard yet.  On this first trip to the studio i have chosen seven to eight tunes to record over a three day weekend. 

Practicing has been alot of slower playing with the metronome, as well work in specific sections to help iron out the rough parts.  At times it has been kind of boring, as i have played alot of these pieces for years, and am now limiting my practice to only working on them.  Usually in my practice i will spread it around working on a few different things.  But i think it will pay off when i get into the studio, and hopefully the recording should be a smooth process.

 I’ll post some pictures of the recording session afterwards. 

I am racking my brain trying to think of a good title for the album.  Maybe i will just the easy way out and self title it.

Anton