How many of us engineers/producers have a musical instrument under our belts and what

dav nagle

How many of us engineers/producers have a musical instrument under our belts and what instrument do you play?

PaulBrewer

I am a dreadful drummer, a 1 finger keyboard player, an awful guitar player and sub standard bassist.

dav nagle

PaulBrewer wrote: »

I am a dreadful drummer, a 1 finger keyboard player, an awful guitar player and sub standard bassist.

Lol!

I am a 1 finger dreadful keyboard player, a well dodgy bass player, a pathetic excuse for a drummer, a decent guitarist at best!

studiorat

I know the notes on a piano and I can play stringy things like guitars and basses.

dav nagle

studiorat wrote: »

I know the notes on a piano and I can play stringy things like guitars and basses.

sexcellent!

bedbugs

i'm a one fingered drummer.

TelePaul

Play drums very very badly.

Handy enough on the guitar I guess.

dav nagle

bedbugs wrote: »

i'm a one fingered drummer.

Kinda like this I guess?

dav nagle

TelePaul wrote: »

Play drums very very badly.

Handy enough on the guitar I guess.

And is this you ?

dav nagle

studiorat wrote: »

I know the notes on a piano and I can play stringy things like guitars and basses.

A little like this maybe?

bedbugs

dav nagle wrote: »

Kinda like this I guess?

Where did you get that picture of me? I'm reporting you right now.

teamdresch

I play guitar.
Bass I can get by on, in a I'd need a couple of drop-ins and an 1176 kinda way. With plec, naturally.
Keys I can do the odd little bit on, but certainly couldn't jam on.
Every guitarist secretly wants to be a drummer, and I'm no exception.

studiorat

dav nagle wrote: »

A little like this maybe?

Exactly like that! 'cept with a midi lead up me hoop and a french horn down me under-clackers.

Now find me a picture of that...

ogy

i play guitar, bass and keys

as teamdresch said id love to be a decent drummer but my feet don't seem to comply

jtsuited

i'm a full one man band.
renaissance man and all that.

ironically my new career involves no singing, banging, strumming, or tinkling of ivories.

DamagedTrax

guitars, bass & keys.

im a great drummer with pencils.. although i'm not to hot with a kit and sticks!

dav nagle

Have we any music teachers that record too?

11811

not that I'm an engineer, yet - I play bass, little guitar and some synth.

Neurojazz

Guitar/Bass/keys fine on. Not so clever with drums and have court orders stopping me from ever singing.

thebookofbob

Taught Classical Piano from 8, did 5 grades.. went onto Violin for Orchestra did 2 grades.. that got uncool as a teenager so learned Guitar.. cut two tendons in my left hand so that screwed that up ( didn't matter too much as was in a Hardcore Punk band ) .. went back to piano/keyboards.
Been told I can sing but don't.. Did a number of African Drumming Djembe courses and the like.

Out of that keyboards get regular practice, nothing else really.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

well im just a beginner engineer / producer if you could call it that ! as a newbie - specifically to record and produce drum tracks for others
and to record and produce my own music.

I play drums at a high level ,
guitar at a good level ,
bass at a passable level ,
sing at a passable level - and am still studying vocals
and am just learning piano - but am using it already in recording - twas easier than I thought.

ZV Yoda

I'm a complete newbie to home recording. For the past year I've been doing the Masters in Application of Boardsie Recording & Production Techniques. Here's the link to the University I'm attending.

I've played consistently average drums for the past 18 or so years.
I've played consistently passable guitar for about the same time.
I've recently gotten a few piano lessons (only kicking myself I didn't do this years ago) so can now do enough to play chords on one hand & a melody on the other.
I just ordered a bass guitar, so I plan to develop my playing to the same dizzy heights of technical brilliance#
… and I wouldn’t calling what I do singing as such, but it’s an approximation.

The objective of all of the above is to record original material written by myself & other musicians/singers/songwriters I work with. The overall quality of the end result will dictate what does (or doesn’t) happen next…

dav nagle

So in general we all have a decent instrument under our belts and one or two other instruments.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

actually , I have a seriously good instrument under me belt , but I dont like to talk about it ;-)

raindog.promo

DaDumTish wrote: »

actually , I have a seriously good instrument under me belt , but I dont like to talk about it ;-)

Ba Dum, Tish.

TelePaul

dav nagle wrote: »

And is this you ?

Uh no?

I despise super-strats anyways.

iquinn

teamdresch wrote: »

Every guitarist secretly wants to be a drummer, and I'm no exception.

and i thought it was just me.
i play guitar mostly, bit of bass/keys/piano, but i'm quite obsessed with drum sounds and learning to play the drums.

nicknackgtb

Piano, Guitar, Drums, Percussion, Saxophone, Voice, Computer!!

i57dwun4yb1pt8

trust me , drums are very limited as an overall creative instrument - 99% of the time you aint writing any good tunes on a drum kit .

its a long learning curve to become competent enough to be good - but its not gonna full fill you creativly unless you learn another instrument or practise 10 hours a day and become a clinician / super drummer - and play jazz/ or fusion etc.

i think all musicians should learn piano first , or in parallel with their main one.

the world and his mother can play guitar -

piano / synths are a revelation to me any way - so bloody creative .


that said - understanding drums and drumming is a serious bonus to have knowledge wise as its still the meat of any popular recording

johnnylakes

If you can make noise with it...I'll 'play' it...#why not like

dav nagle

Perhaps you might post some pics and details:

Tanglewood TW1000
Records well with a capo on but without one it is a wee bit sloppy. Lovely dreadnought rip off al the same considering it is relatively a cheap guitar

Fender Telecaster Corona California:
Very 'Dire straits'

Gibson Les Paul Custom Black beauty:
Slash would be proud of this heavy beast

trackmixstudio

I have an organ under me belt

I am a guitar player. Hence my enviable collection that my clients love.
Gibson LP standard
PRS Custom 24
Gibson ES 137
Rickenbacker 620
US tele deluxe
US strat with EMG set
Yamaha "Compass North" acoustic

US P bass (they got it right first time!)
Warwick corvette

MANY effect pedals
H&K Triamp, ENGL powerball, Peavey 6505, Marshall 8100 heads
Orange, Marshall and ENGL 4x12 cabs

Next thing I want is either a (not chinese) Vox AC30 or a Fender deluxe reissue.

dav nagle

trackmixstudio wrote: »

I have an organ under me belt

I am a guitar player. Hence my enviable collection that my clients love.
Gibson LP standard
PRS Custom 24
Gibson ES 137
Rickenbacker 620
US tele deluxe
US strat with EMG set
Yamaha "Compass North" acoustic

US P bass (they got it right first time!)
Warwick corvette

MANY effect pedals
H&K Triamp, ENGL powerball, Peavey 6505, Marshall 8100 heads
Orange, Marshall and ENGL 4x12 cabs

Next thing I want is either a (not chinese) Vox AC30 or a Fender deluxe reissue.

Would you mind going into a small amount of detail with regards to what type of sound you get from each of your guitars please? For instance, how does your strat fair out?

trackmixstudio

Very hard to describe sound using words.
Usually the type of music indicates which guitars should work (but not always).
Normally when it comes to laying guitars we will try all of them and see what works best with the song. The Tele is nearly always there (unless it's metal), the strat is rarely there (strats are VERY out of fashion), the LP is there a lot, The ES137 is there a lot, the Ricky sometimes and the PRS is very hit or miss. Some players nearly drop when they find out a PRS is available for them while others think it is a w@nkers guitar. Metal heads LOVE the PRS.

The most versatile guitar is the Tele. It has the "s1" switch that puts the 2 single coils in series like a humbucker. This setting gives you a superb combination of bridge attack and neck warmth. Tele left and Ricky right sounds great and makes the guitars very wide.

You are welcome to call over some day and try them all or even bring over a session file and track them to see which you like. I pretty much have all the "standards". You know where I am.

dav nagle

''Tele left and Ricky right sounds great and makes the guitars very wide.''

Very nice tips coming out of you today between that and the reverb post, thanks. When I was last visiting your studio you were using a variety of microphones in different positions, is this technique for thickness?

trackmixstudio

I normally use a 57 and an audix i5 on different cones.I put the amp lowish then get in front of the cab with headphones and sweep the mics. What I look for is a combination of clarity (phase coherence) and the least amount of "fizz". This usually ends up with the i5 just off the centre of one cone and the 57 half way centre>edge of another cone. In isolation the i5 sounds fizzy and the 57 sounds dull but together they sound great. It takes a lot of practice to get the positioning of 2 mics right without phase problems but it is worth the effort. I find it much better than the usual single 57 that a lot of people use.
I often put a neumann room mic up about 4 feet back but rarely use it in the mix but when I do I always zoom in to put the waveform in phase if it's out.

dav nagle

trackmixstudio wrote: »

I normally use a 57 and an audix i5 on different cones.I put the amp lowish then get in front of the cab with headphones and sweep the mics. What I look for is a combination of clarity (phase coherence) and the least amount of "fizz". This usually ends up with the i5 just off the centre of one cone and the 57 half way centre>edge of another cone. In isolation the i5 sounds fizzy and the 57 sounds dull but together they sound great. It takes a lot of practice to get the positioning of 2 mics right without phase problems but it is worth the effort. I find it much better than the usual single 57 that a lot of people use.
I often put a neumann room mic up about 4 feet back but rarely use it in the mix but when I do I always zoom in to put the waveform in phase if it's out.

I have to say Michael I am digging the idea of mixing different microphones for different tones and color, thanks a mill.