Information

Name: Heart Shaped Lights
Version: Acoustic
Latest Update: 01/04/05
BPM: 70/140
Description: This is a song I wrote that I think is really cool and I never did a decent recording of. Since I really still suck at recording the stuff from my electric guitar, I decided to take a brand new approach by micing my acoustic. I've used my acoustic in recordings lots before, but I recorded "direct" from the pickup built into the guitar. This time I'm setting a mic up infront of the guitar's cabinet and recording that way. The result is a very "live" and full sound that I'm extremely pleased with (especially after being hell-bent on recording direct).

Hopefully I'll learn lots about micing guitars during this project and I will improve my knowledge of basic mastering and mixing (including use of delays, EQ, and reverb). On top of that, I'd like to create my own drum track with a software drum kit and possibly a program like Battery (made by Native Instruments).

 
Updates/News

01/04/05
I'm retiring this attempt at the song because I've improved my recording knowledge and abilities since I started :-). I'll record this song again and better, but with different method and setup.

12/09/04
I'm pissed because I didn't record it at a high enough BPM. I'm trying to decide what to do with this project now. I might have to go back and start at the beginning. The second time around would be a lot easier than the first anyway. We'll see...

12/02/04
Since I don't have a bass guitar, I recorded the bass tracks with my guitar then stepped them down a whole octave with BIAS Peak. Sounds just like a bass guitar now :-). I also added a lot of guitar tracks and got a lot more of the song layed out. I've listed the preview in the downloads section of the page.

12/01/04
I stayed up extremely late last night working on learning, via trial and error, how to mic up my acoustic guitar properly. My mic stand is busted, so I've got it ghetto rigged by just resting my mic on the edge of my computer table and sitting up very close to it in my chair to be level. So far I've got 4 guitar tracks mixed in pretty seemlessly and the result sounds pretty awesome. You can hear it here. It's about a minute long and there's no vocal or bass tracks yet. Not to mention, the drums are a crummy drum loop right now.

I'm anticipating problems with recording the vocals since I still have a lot of trouble recording vocals and having them sound ok. I'll keep working until I get it right though :-)

 
Download

Latest Version
- Awaiting Completion

Old Recordings
- HSL Acoustic Preview 2
- HSL Acoustic Preview 1

- Drum Loop

Other
- Original HSL Recording

 
Setup/Materials

- Shure SM-57 Mic
- Acoustic Pre-Amp/EQ
- M-Audio Delta 44
- NI Guitar Rig
- Digital Performer 4.5
- BIAS Peak 4

I've got the Shure SM-57 running (stereo) into my Guitar Research acoustic amp, then the line-out runs (mono) to my 4-track M-Audio interface (in3) which is caught by Guitar Rig. Guitar Rig then uses software splits, EQ, delays, and volume control to spiff up the sound. The output is sent through out3 and out4 of my interface, and back in through in1 and in2, which is then accepted by Digital Performer 4.5. DP records when I tell it to, then I organize each track the way I want it and get the mix volumes set right.

Peak is used for post-stereo editing of the mix or individual tracks. Usually lightweight stuff like normalizing.