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July 2003
Posts: 181
Location: North Carolina | Here is an interesting quote I got from a website on how to record acoustic guitars by Stephen Sherrard that I thought many of you would be interested in. The link is given after the quote.
"I also always had a negative image of the Ovation guitars, and never liked to record them.... I thought they worked better in live situations and would never consider using them in a studio, until I was working on a big album project with Jill Cohn, and her guitar player had a really nice, higher end Ovation (I didn't know there was such a thing) that actually sounded great in the studio. We did some tracks at the big studio as well as in my project studio, and it really suprised me at how well it sounded in both situations, even on songs where the acoustic guitar was pretty much the only instrument. Of course, he is an excellent guitar player as well, and that helped a lot, but he also knew how to pick a great sounding instrument for him. That was kind of suprising since I had the generalized notion that Ovations simply did not record well (from my limited experience with the cheaper ones I guess)."
http://www.music-and-technology.com/acgtr.html
Franklin |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | It's amazing how myths like this start. Ovations are amazingly easy to record, much easier than conventional wooden guitars. Large bodied wood guitars tend to have too much bass & not enough of anything else & consequently need lots of EQ in a mix. Ovations are generally better balanced. If you understand microphone techiques you can record an Ovation flat, & play it back flat & it'll sound fine. If you need to eq it's far better to take away what you don't need than try to eq in what isn't there in the first place, which again gives an Ovation a head start |
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December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I absolutely agree. An Ovation is one of the easiest instruments to record. The key to Ovation design was that you had the same projection/volume and tone all up and down the neck. A recordining engineers dream!!! Couple that with a signal from the pre-amp and nothing comes close.
The first time I tried I thought the pre would sound cold, but in reality, because it is part of the bridge I guess, it picks up all the subtle movement sounds you expect to hear from a microphone.
Most engineers are not familiar with Ovations and try all the normal mic tricks that are required to "fix" a normal guitar to make it sound good. Ovations require no fixing. The pre-amps on the mando's are amazing also and I find require no use of a microphone at all.
I must say whomever engineered Kaki Kings's CD knew how to record an Ovation. It is one of the few outstanding Adamas recordings I have heard. Like many things, it is easy when you know how. |
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January 2003
Posts: 1498
Location: San Bernardino, California | I wonder with her (Kaki Kings') playing style, would a split pickup work beter? By split I mean one sensor for the two lowest strings and another for the other strings both with seperate outputs. That way she could set the volume and eq seperatly and get a better balance (for her). Or maybe three sensors and outputs? |
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November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | Miles I couldn't agree with you more on the sound quality of the Adamas on Kaki King's CD. The first time I heard the CD was while I was driving in my car. And I remember thinking, that is what a great guitar sounds like when played by a great player. In fact I was so impressed by the tone of the guitar, that I ask her father what guitars she used. And yes, it was an Adamas. Great stuff |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | use good mics like neumanns |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Yep, a pickup sounds like a pickup & can be OK in the right situation. If you want your guitar to actually sound like a guitar then good quality condenser or ribbon mics are the only way. Combined pickup/mic sounds can be good also. |
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Location: SoCal | Last night I played my 1969 GC 12 with the OP 40 system in it, thru a large PA at band rehersal. Our lead guitarist made the comment that it sounded even more "acoustic" than any other guitar I had ever used (even more so than Big Blue with an OP 24). More like a fine acoustic guitar with just a mic in front of it.
Those Ovation pre amp systems are just amazing. |
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July 2003
Posts: 181
Location: North Carolina | Steve,
I got your email about the url not working and didn't know how to email you back so I'll do it here. On my end, the link works fine. I originally found the site off of studiocovers.com (a great site) and following the Instruments link. You can then find the quoted site plus alot of other good stuff.
Franklin |
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Quote about recording Ovations