Second Set of Ears

Anatomy of a song recording #2

admin — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 07:51:30 +0000

For my Dad’s birthday I recorded him a song. I’m posting it on here to give a slightly more complex breakdown of a song being recorded. For vocals and Saxophone I used an AKG Perception 220 (the same one featured in the radio drama). For acoustic guitar and bass guitar I used a countryman DI (the same one used in the last Anatomy of a song recording.) For electric guitar I put a Shure SM-57 in front of my guitar rig. The volume on the guitar rig was set very low. The AKG and countrymen-recorded sources have a medium room reverb plugin preset on them, and each source has an EQ plugin with a corresponding preset (i.e. vocals would have a vocal eq preset) Here’s how it sounds.

Anatomy of a song recording

admin — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 07:25:54 +0000

Here’s a song I wrote about 3 years ago the I did a quick recording of recently. The recording is very basic, as I recorded the guitar by plugging my Manuel Rodriguez e Hijos Mod. Cutaway B classical guitar into a countryman DI and running that into a Digi 003 rack+ interface for protools. What’s more is the vocals were done with a Shure SM-57 with a toboggan hat used as a windscreen/pop filter. Somewhat primitive on the vocal methods, I know. Nonethleess, here’s how the combination sounds with the help of some plugins.

AKG Perception 220 on multiple voices and sources

admin — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 07:16:31 +0000

I’ve done a radio mystery play that uses an AKG Perception 220 condenser microphone on several different voices and sources. All of the audio is recorded with this mic except for the music which was done with a midi keyboard in Xpand!

Gear demo: Mesa Dual Rectifier

admin — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 08:45:39 +0000

Here is the first gear demo for the site, featuring the Dual Rectifier 3-channel solo amplifier head from MESA Boogie. This is my (Ian) first gear demo that I’ve ever done. It serves two purposes: 1) to get a demo out there for this amp, and 2) to serve as somewhat of an example for how gear demos should be done on the site. Without further ado, here’s the demo. (there are 3 videos)

First off, I start with a tour and overview of the amp’s features:

Next, the actual sound of the amp:

and part 2 of the amp’s sound:

Guitar Gear Used

The guitar itself – ESP LTD EC-400VF
Amp – MESA Boogie Dual Rectifier 3-channel solo head
Pedals/effects – None
Cables – Guitar Store Guitar Cable (Specifically Sight and Sound in Muncie, IN)
Tone woods (both in the instrument and the cab)
Tubes
Strings – GHS Guitar Boomers
Speakers – Electro Voice 200w Classic
Speaker Cabinet (cab) – Crate
Pickups – Seymour Duncan Jb and 59
Power source – wall outlet

Recording Gear Used

Microphone – Shure SM-57
Cables – Guitar Store Mic Cable (specifically Muncie Music Center in Muncie, IN)
Preamp Digi Mic Pre in Digi 003 Rack+
Equalization None
Compressors None
Room/recording environment Rectangular/box shaped Apartment room.
Monitors – Computer Speakers
Mastering – None
Power source – Wall outlet into power strip

My demo was fairly long. There is no set length to how long the demo’s should be, but they should be long enough to show the gears features and sound in detail. The factors in the sound should also be listed in a similar fashion to how I did above. For a list of factors, refer to the factors page on this site.

Thanks for checking out the demo. Please provide your comments and I look forward to demo’s and such contributed by you in the future.

-Ian

Creator of Second Set of Ears: Ian Shannon

admin — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 08:31:15 +0000

I took a few minutes to introduce myself and my background to not only allow you to get to know me better, but so you knew why I decided to do this site in the first place.

Second Set of Ears (site intro video)

admin — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 08:28:29 +0000

I’ve created a video introduction of the site. It’s fairly brief, but I wanted to be sure to explain not only the function but the concept.

True Bypass for guitar stompboxes, and PGS.

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:11:48 +0000

I’ve got a reasonably sized pedal board as you can see from my guitar rig page. Something alot of people take into account when they are purchasing a pedal is whether it is considered “true bypass” or not. What’s interesting about this consideration is that it’s not so much about what the pedal does when it’s, but when its off. When a stompbox in your signal chain is turned off. Stompboxes in bypass are capable of coloring your sound even when they aren’t activated. Many people prefer to employ pedals that use true bypass so that their signal stays as clean and true as possible, which is admirable. Some people, however, appreciate the nuances that pedal circuitry can do to your sound when in bypass. I wanted to write about this for two reasons.

1) to let people know about this issue in general. In my pedal setup, only my Hardwire Delay/Looper pedal is claimed to be true bypass. I will be interested to see how each pedal colors my sound by plugging them into my signal chain and testing them one at a time in bypass mode, which I will cover at a later date with a video. That way if you are considering purchasing any pedals that I have in my setup you can be better informed.

2) I wanted to let everyone who might stop by here know about a site called Proguitarshop.com. I am not at all affiliated with this site at this time other than I have purchased a pedal from them once before. what’s nice about PGS is that they do video demos of the gear they sell, which is helpful when you can’t tryout the gear yourself in person. I will be doing something similar, but take it one step further. Nonetheless, this is a valuable resource that guitarists and guitar techies should take advantage of. At PGS, a fellow by the name of Andy, who does video demos for PGS, also has a column on the PGS site titled Andy’s Corner. Here I found him writing about two relevant things to secondsetofears.com. His first post is talking about his own guitar rig, which is something I would like people to start doing here as well. His second post to his column is one this topic of True Bypass. Andy makes a decent argument for why true bypass isn’t always good and why coloring your signal chain can do wonders for your tone. You can check out Andy’s corner here . If you are required to sign up, I apologize. Hopefully you are able to view the content without too much trouble.

How is secondsetofears.com different from PGS? Why not just go to a place like that instead? I am not against anyone using PGS, as I use it myself, among many other sites that I will talk about on here at some time or another. The difference between this site and PGS is two-fold. One, While PGS mentions what guitar and gear they use, they don’t mention the mic, cables, power, pre-amps, plug-ins, etc, that might be coloring the sound, just as we mentioned about in true bypass. Coloring the sound can be a good thing. In this case, it can be too good, because it can detract from the honesty of the gear you are trying to hear. Here, every factor in the sound will be mentioned so you know exactly what you are hearing. Secondly, secondsetofears.com is not limited to my gear setup. PGS has an expansive inventory of guitar gear to demo, but a web community of musicians and audiophiles have a potentially infinite inventory. You can post your gear demos here to help everyone be more informed. Just be sure to be detailed in what you used to capture the sound and how you created the actual tones you are showing off.

This site is also not restricted to guitar gear as PGS is. If you have a PA or recording setup or a drum kit you would like to show, its your prerogative. This site is a network of musicians, audiophiles, and music techs that are able to learn from one another. It would be quite pricey and painstaking to own every peace of musical equipment ever created, let alone knowing how to use it properly. Here, anyone who can afford to adhere to the standard criteria is welcome to participate. Stay tuned for those standard criteria so we can get this community rolling.

Ian

Over and Out

Get to the Gear

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:38:25 +0000

Before I get going on music gear and techniques, where you get your gear should be taken into account. This site is not affiliated with any stores or other businesses. So this post is not pushing any one way of attaining your gear. But not all of these ways are created equal. You can go to online stores, walk in to a music store, go to a pawn shop, hit up ebay, or know a “guy.” What do I mean by knowing a “guy?’ I mean two things, you either know someone personally who owns what you want and is willing to sell it to you, or you know someone who can get what you want for you. Let’s take a look at all of the means of getting your gear and the benefits of each.

Stores

Be it online or in person, stores are a very conventional and traditional way of getting music gear. In-person stores range from Guitar Center to locally owned and ran stores specific to your area. Most in person stores differ from location to location, even with chain gear stores. The benefit to either of these is that you have the security of dealing with someone in person and get to play the gear firsthand. You also have a physical location to return and complain to, or return to if you were satisfied. the disadvantage to shopping with these stores as apposed to online is that you must drive to and from stores and this can be both troublesome and costly if you are shopping around.

Online

Online has many benefits to it. Its extremely convenient and shopping around is simplified greatly. You also have a great deal of selection at your fingertips as online stores have HUGE warehouses full of gear. Most online stores also send out catalogs displaying available gear on hand. The many different online stores available have different pros and cons. Let’s compare 3, shall we.

Music123.com is an online store that has a crucial selling point, a lowest price guarantee. This means if you find a lower price at any other online store, they have to beat it. If your main purchasing incentive is a low price, a site like this is a pretty good place to check out. They also have a decent selection.

Musiciansfriend.com is one of the most popular online stores for music gear. It has a massive selection and they often have competitive prices as well. The main issue with this site and many others is customer service. Superstores often lack in customer service and knowledgeable staff. This of course doesn’t apply to all circumstances, and its up to you whether you have a pleasing experience with an online store’s service because that kinda judgment call is subjective. Selection seems to outweigh service as a priority at musiciansfriend.

Sweetwater.com is another highly popular online music gear store. Sweetwater has an advantage over most other music gear services due to its customer service style. Even though a pleasurable experience is subjective, their service at sweetwater is set apart by many factors. They have expert sales staff who help guide you through the buying process and can give you firsthand advice on how to get the sound you are looking for. They also send out “gear encyclopedias” which differ from the normal catalog in that it shows practically everything they have available rather than just the profitable selection. Sweetwater also assigns you a sales engineer to follow up with you on your purchase to make sure it went well and help you with future purchases. This helps compete with in person stores as well. Sweetwater doesn’t have a low price guarantee and they don’t always have the best prices available and if you like to purchase gear quickly and not be bothered then you may not prefer having someone talk to you or follow up with you. While they do have a broad selection, they don’t carry some brands (for example with guitars they carry high end Gibson and Fender guitars, but they don’t carry ESP or G&L guitars).

Each store has they own style. Though I’ve spoken seemingly more in depth about sweetwater than the others, this is due partly to the fact that the buying experience at sweetwater has a little bit more to it than the others. Some may prefer to keep to themselves while others prefer more involvement from the store as well as reinforcement for their purchase. These are situations you find in both online and in-person stores.

Pawn Shops, Ebay, and knowing a “guy”

These means of attaining gear are competitive due to the price point factor. Each of these is unique but function differently from an online or in-person store.

Pawn Shops can be a treasure hunt for musical gear. Sometime you can find amazing gear, sometimes just typical garbage. Pawn Shops are competitive though in their prices. Pawn Shop prices can beat the hell out of in-person and online stores. There’s no telling what you might find and for what price. The down side to pawn shops is lack of quality control on the products as well as customer service and knowledgeable staff. Their prices are sometimes based of of the price on ebay. If you are selling gear, pawn shops are a last ditch effort if you are in need of cash. They will not be able to pay you competitively or at all comparably to the products actual value.

Ebay is like an online version of a pawn shop. You will be able to get gear at fair prices because it functions like an auction. As long as you out-buy the gearhead below you, you in the clear. Buy-it-now prices are usually much better than retail as well. Ebay also can give you a much better payoff if you are selling gear as well, especially compared to a pawn shop. The downside to ebay is that you don’t always know what you are buying until it is too late. Even detailed photographs can’t replicate how a product functions and sellers don’t always have the best service either.

Knowing a “guy” is the secret weapon of gear. You may know a relative or a friend who has gear they are selling and they may give you a great price for what you want. This beats the pawn shops because you have someone to turn to if you are dissatisfied. What’s more is if the “guy” you know has an inside advantage. This could mean that your “guy” deals with distributors directly or has an employee discount at a store to get gear at-cost. If you in with one of these guys, you can get the best price (aside from used prices) and highest quality possible. The only issue is if your “guy” is shady or has reliability.

These are just a few ways to get your gear and the disadvantages and advantages to each. Hopefully this let’s you purchase your gear knowledgeably and suited to your tastes and situation. What are your thoughts, suggestions, tips on how to get the best gear at the best price or best service?

Thanks,

Ian

SecondSetOfEars.com, LAUNCH!

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:37:37 +0000

Audiophiles, techs, musicians, rejoice! I am about to put more control in your hands in regards to your gear and techniques. How? you may be asking. By letting nothing get between you and your sound. Musicians and techs of all walks of life strive to create a sound that is right for them. But when you’re looking around online for new gear, techniques, etc., you run into biased reviews and sales techniques among a host of other things. Even when you are just listening to demos of gear or songs that use the sound you are looking for, there are numerous factors that are affecting the sound. Here, the factors and biases are pointed out so that you can approach your sound more knowledgeably and ultimately be more successful in creating the sound that you love. After all, what matters is what sounds good to YOU!

Not only will this site help expose the mysteries of how things sound the way they do, I will post some interesting things that others have found and allow you to post some things that you have learned. This way we can all learn from each other.

Added Bonuses! In relation to music I will post all sorts of cool stuff I come across, whether it be tech related, good deals, new gear, up and coming artists, and other goodies. This site will provide you with all sorts of great things with music and music technology.

While you are here, check out some of my links to my other sites. While being an audiophile, I am also a musician. Check out some of the other places you can find me and interact with me there. Now without further ado… this is SecondSetOfEars.com