BobMay

I think I found a low tech solution. I covered the sound hole on a new song/recording and it seems better. I will play with that and see what I can come up with. I don't like the idea of covering the sound hole but maybe a little less or more might do the trick. I put the new song (very rough) up on reverbnation if any want to listen to what happened to the resonance with the soundhole completely covered from the pick-up downward. Thanks again for all the suggestions. Bob

Hi Dave, I have read good things about the B1 but I am not looking to spend any more money on recording right now,..not in the budget. But if and when it would be #1 on my list. What I need to do right now is get the guitar sounding good and I don't plan on using any mic on that. Thanks for the feedback and good info. Bob

Hi John, I am using an old (very old) Shure 57. But it was not on the guitar on The Long Goodbye. I did separate tracks on that one. Just the pickup on the guitar. On Hard Dog I sang and played with mike and pickup both and it is worse as far as that resonance being more apparent. I also just noticed that the player on Myspace sound really crappy today. I will have to add reverbnation to my signature. http://www.reverbnation.com/robertmay?popup_render=%2Fcontroller%2Fartist%2Fadd_photo%2F1243327%3Ffrom_activate%3Dtrue Bob

I think you are correct about the natural resonance of the guitar. I tried lowering the pickup screws on certain strings the forth especially. Also I was sitting in front of my computer desk which it seems is also resonating. I think it is a bit better now, but not quite there yet. It is probably a combination of these things and I have always had this problem whether using mikes or pickups, tape or digital, and on different guitars. I thought it might be a well known type of problem with acoustic guitars. It is dreadnaught style which is pretty resonant anyway. Thanks for the tips. I will keep experimenting. Bob

I am having some trouble with recording my accoustic guitar. My basic recordings are not coming out as clean as I would like. Specifically, There is too much resonance on the lower and middle strings. It is too "boomy?" I have improved it somewhat on recent recordings because I am now using a Fishman Sixteen imaging pedal and a LR Baggs "body Sensitive" M1 magnetic pickup. It has samples of different accoustic guitars and I have been setting it on less resonant sounding guitars. This has helped somewhat. I don't know what I am looking for precisely. Just recording tips. I am looking to get good, clean first track of guitar so that I can add other tracks onto it. I am not satisfied with anything I've done so far and I'm going to re-do everything. Can I fix it with somehow with compression during recording or EQ afterwards? I've tried both after recording but cutting EQ at lower end makes the guitar sound too thin. I would appreciate anyone giving my latest 2 songs a listen and see what you think the main problem might be. The songs Hard Dog and The Long goodbye are recorded using my new pick up and sample pedal, and would and would give a good idea of where I am right now with my attempts. The two songs are on my homepage here or the link below. Thanks for any feedback. Bob

I bought an E-MU 404 stereo usb converter/pre amp so that I could use my old Sure 57 mic and go directly into the computer. I also plug my acoustic guitar pickup directly into it. And it is my sound card now. It came with free Sonar SE and some other programs which I don't use. I've upgraded the Sonar to version 8. Pretty simple, but that's all I need for what I do. I need to get more ram memory though because it crashed today and I lost what I was working on. I have to remember to save things before I start adding effects from now on. Bob

Really good topic. There are a lot of guiding principles for me. A lot of songwriting is instinctive and I have recently had to verbalize it for my sixteen year old son who is now doing very well at guitar and singing. The melody should move you emotionally. You should be able to transfer that emotion to the listener. They should feel the same emotion you felt when writing the song. The music (chords and melody) should fit the words. #1 rule in my book. There should be drama,..a building to the first chorus and the second and the bridge (if the song is layed out that way) to the ending. The drama should be created both by words and musically. (Adding embelishments as you go on, or volume dynamics, maybe a suprize ending or moral, etc.) Music is emotion. Songwriting can tell a story or capture a moment. And for a moment, it can change those who write it and those who hear it. I usually start out with a piece of a chord progression or a small thing I've learned to play on guitar and play it over and over and ask myself, What does this sound like? What does it feel like? It may be a song about a person who doesn't exist. That doesn't matter to me. What that person would feel if they did exist is what matters. Mike said for him it is like a wrestling match. For me it is like a puzzle. All the pieces have to fit. Bob

Hi Tom. Thanks for the welcome. Same year I graduated HS. I like your songs. Learned To Love the Rain is a lot like one of mine called The Coming of the Snow. Same sentiment, seeing through the bad to the good and learning from hard knocks, so to speak. Your recordings are nice and clear. You can hear every instrument clearly. Something I still have little experience with. Hope to learn more here on the forums. Bob

I bought an E-Mu usb 0404 (stereo) a few years back. It allowed me to plug guitars and mikes directly into my computer and came with a bunch of software for effects and such. Sonar LE is what I use but it is also able to be upgraded for free at cakewalk. It was about $200.00. I liked it cause I am able to use the equipment I already have. A sure 57 and guitar pick-up. You might want to look into it. Bob

Hi all, Hope I'm doing this correctly. I don't want to break any rules. I tried to pin my location but my browser couldn't find the page for Frapper map. I tried to put in my photo and avatar but I don't think that worked either. My name is Bob and I've been playing and writing (on and off) (mostly off) since about 1971. Mostly fingerstyle folk/country. Americana, I guess you would call it. I used to post on the myspace forum but they are so worried about spam that it is difficult even to have a conversation about songwriting. I just wanted to introduce myself and still need to do some exploring here. Bob