Josh Woodward
Production Notes

Home > Production Notes

My humble recording gear:

  • (2) AKG C-414 mics - These are my workhorses. All vocals and guitars are done through these.
  • (2) Shure SM-57 mics - I use these for toms.
  • (1) Sennheiser MD-421 II mic - Used for snare and guitar amp.
  • (1) AKG D112 mic - I only use this for the bass drum.
  • (1) Audio Technica AT822 stereo mic - This is nice small-diaphragm stereo mic used for random stuff.
  • (2) Apex 205 ribbon mics - Noisy, but an awesome value ($80) and a super-warm and comfy sound.
  • Aphex 1100 preamp - It rocks, very transparent and clean.
  • Mackie Onyx 400F - A beautiful little interface.
  • Roland DS-50A Monitors - Near-field monitors used for mixing down. I also use my crappy Labtec computer speakers for an embarassing amount of mixing and recording.

I use a PC recording rig with Sonar 7. I rely heavily on Waves effects, which completely kick ass. Every instrument is played by me, thanks to the wonders of overdubbing. My usual bag of tricks:

  • Acoustic guitar is usually recorded in stereo (unless it's a busy mix), usually with mics in XY configuration, panned 50-75%. I usually need to do a fairly big low cut, usually either as a hipass filter or a notch around 200hz. It usually gets some compression using Waves RComp to tame out the transients. When playing, I play with much less in the way of dynamics compared to live.
  • Vocals are usually miced about a foot back, with a pop screen near my mouth. I tend to use a decent amount of Waves RVox compression to tame my crappy mic technique. I often use a delay to add life. The usual is Sonitus:fx Delay, which lets you roll the highs off to keep the echoes from cluttering the mix. Here is a typical setting. I love to doubletrack vocals as well. Usually I de-ess the hell out of the doubled track to keep things synced up better.
  • Drums are usually the snare mic (MD-421), the bass drum mic (D-112), and two overheads (414s). I used to use either X/Y or spaced cardiods for the overhead configuration, but sometimes I use the Recorderman setup.
  • Electric guitars are always run direct in, and then through Amplitube for an amp emulator. Laugh at me all you want - I love the way it sounds. :) Update, June 2006: I finally have been getting good electric tones micing an amp. I typically use a Tube Screamer into my 1966 Pro Reverb blackface, or direct into my new Pro Junior. All electric on "Only Whispering" and before was with a Fender Fat Strat, and I'm now using mostly a Telecaster. The amp mic is a MD-421 or a 414 (more often lately).
  • Bass guitars are direct in, running through Amplitube. If I want them to "pop", I add compression with a lowish threshold and a medium attack time.
  • Piano and orchestra instruments are done using Soundfonts. I use LiveSynth Pro (which comes with Sonar) to render them.
  • All Hammond organ sounds come from Sonic Implants' impossibly good B4 software.
  • Crazy synth sounds are either using the powerful z3ta+, or the old-school MiniMoog emulator.
  • I'm not a reverb fan. Unless used sparingly, it almost always sounds amateur unless used for an effect. Delay can be better for ambience. My exception: spacy electric guitars sound great drenched in reverb.
  • My usual mixdown is with Sonic Maximizer at 2ish for sparkle, then Waves L3 for peak limiting.

Here is a description of the Sonar template I'm currently using.

Older stuff:

  • On roughly "Only Whispering" on back, the snare drum mic was a straight SM-57. But I hate 57s, so I've been using an MD-421 on the new stuff.
  • "Here Today" was recorded with a standalone VS-1680 recorder, using MIDI drums, and internal guitar amp simulation.
  • "Crawford Street" is mostly done with a computer rig running Sonar 3 and 4. The interface was a mega-crappy Roland VM-3100 mixer. Electric guitars were mostly done through Amplitube.
  • "Only Whispering" was started with the VM-3100, but most of the parts were re-recorded using a Tascam FW-1840 interface. Electric guitars were mostly done through Amplitube.
  • "Dirty Wings", "Not Quite Connected" and "The Simple Life" were recorded with my new Onyx 400F, which I'm very happy with. The Telecaster was my main electric guitar, usually through the Tube Screamer into the Blackface, recoreded with a low volume into a 414.

Email List

Sign up for updates about shows, album news & free MP3s!

Recent Demos

Most Recent Setlist

Dec 07 @ Ritz Theater
Me and Billy Barnum, Memorized, Don't Close Your Eyes, Saturday, Shadows in the Moonlight, I'm Letting Go, The Bottom, Afterglow, Frannie

More Setlists...

Search

Recent Posts

What I'm Listening To

· FRESHHH a.k.a. Padre P-YO: Doppia dose feat. Impatto Verbale & Maso - 10 minutes ago

· FRESHHH a.k.a. Padre P-YO: Nato per questo feat. Giusy - 15 minutes ago

· FRESHHH a.k.a. Padre P-YO: Ricominciare - 20 minutes ago

· FRESHHH a.k.a. Padre P-YO: Bombe a mano feat. Ketra - 26 minutes ago

· FRESHHH a.k.a. Padre P-YO: Di chi necessito (Scratches Jd One) - 30 minutes ago

· FRESHHH a.k.a. Padre P-YO: Sii me stesso (Interludio) - 32 minutes ago

· FRESHHH a.k.a. Padre P-YO: M.A.G.N.O.T.T.A. feat. Zozzoni de Noantri - 38 minutes ago

· FRESHHH a.k.a. Padre P-YO: M.A.G.N.O.T.T.A. feat. Zozzoni de Noantri - 41 minutes ago

· FRESHHH a.k.a. Padre P-YO: La famìa Iannotta (Skit) - 42 minutes ago

· FRESHHH a.k.a. Padre P-YO: Er culo - 45 minutes ago

More...

Nifty Blogs n' Stuff

Syndication & Such

RSS 2.0
Podcast
SMIL Playlist

MySpace
LiveJournal
GarageBand

 


Contact: - Log On Powered by BandSite Copyright © 2008, Josh Woodward