Stuck a mic up in a bar and ...

[JJ Gross]

... recorded this with my 3-piece band in a little bar in rural Wisconsin.
Excuse the sloppy-stilted guitar timing & lack of swing the song should have, I'd had a few shots of Jose & a couple beers by the time this one came around.
That'll teach me to have fun playing wanker guitar in a bar! :beer:

No processing, fixing or anything - not even a compressor. Just the raw band in a bar. Literally a couple mics stuck on stands in the back of the bar right into a recorder completely dry. PA on a stick was used with me mixing from the stage.

1988 HM Strat (bone stock) into a 1996 USA made Fender HRDx with EL84 power tubes (GT Substi-tube converters), all 1960s GE preamps & a 1980s 100w Carvin British Series speaker. Miced into the PA with an old Beyer dynamic mic - EQ flat. A homemade Bluesbreaker clone pedal pushing the amp deeper into overdrive & a very slight chorus used to open it up a tiny bit, not to make it all swirly-girly. No other effects used on the guitar.

Cheers,
- JJ

[Kazz]

I like what I hear....brave soul even attempting a satriani song.....

[just strum]

Sounds good. I don't know squat about recording, but I like what I hear.

[oldguy]

Nice job, JJ!:AOK:
That recording came out pretty decent for a live bar situation, I thought.
I wish you'd been just a tad louder (or the drummer a tad quieter).
Nice playing, good sound from that setup.:bravo:

[Jimi75]

Drummers always believe they play a stadium gig! Bing bang, full range!

Quality is good for a live recording, the music is well played. The drummer must definitely play wiht less power and put a little more musical dynamics in his playing.

[Katastrophe]

Very good! If that's playing after some shots and beer, you must be downright scary sober! Great tones, too.

[sunvalleylaw]

Nice! Must be a fun show to see! I agree that the drummer could be a bit quieter and more dynamic in the mix, but doesn't sound too bad for bar standards to me. :AOK:

[t_ross33]

Astounding! Really good quality considering the low tech approach. Our drummer has been nagging on getting something recorded as well. What did you use for mic's and recorder?

Oh, the guitar playing was pretty good too :rockon:

Rawk on, brother!

Trev

[Jipes]

Sounds great I like this Satriani number you played a very nice cover really greasy ! I would say maybe your guitar sound is slightly too compressed to cut through the mix, needs a bit more clarity but the overall performance is really great nice boogie :dude:

Jipes

[JJ Gross]

Thanks for all the props!

We used a pair of CAD GXL2200 mics (loaned from a friend) and placed them mostly deciding where they were least likely to be knocked over. :D

As a result, my guitar amp was pretty far off axis to the mics and the only thing picked up in the recording was what I had pumping through the PA mains as fill for the room. That would explain the compression effect on the guitar sound. Had the recording mics been more in line with my 1x12 guitar combo, you'd hear it just fine. I angle my amp up at me so it's not beaming straight into people's faces and slightly to my side so I get it either at my mic singing or when I step back from it. It sounded pretty well balanced in the room - gotta love being wireless for doing this stuff. I'm not a big fan of stage mixing (it's my job by default), but we're pretty cheap so I do it rather than pay a professional. :rotflmao:

Everything was recorded directly into a Yamaha MD4 recorder, then transfered to my PC right through the on-board sound card's line-in for cutting the sets down to individual songs & conversion to MP3 using Sound Forge.

My drummer thinks he plays with great dynamics all the time, but even after playing this for him he doesn't get it. He sees nothing wrong with the recordings we did at all, in fact he loves them. Of course he does - it's all drums!
Good thing I don't let him mix from stage. :nono:

Overall, I'm pleased with the sound we got just recording the room. I would like more guitar in there, but that's just the way it hit the mics where they were placed. We really did this mostly to show the drummer how a lack of dynamics shows badly on the whole band, which is only reinforced by the comments here. I've heard demos bands have posted on websites that don't sound much better than this so I guess it's better than a sharp stick in the eye. :poke:

Cheers,
- JJ

For even more poorly mixed tunes from this gig (and heavily compressed by MySpace to boot), go to:
http://myspace.com/dirtyernieroadhouse
:beavisnbutthead:

[mark wein]

My drummer thinks he plays with great dynamics all the time, but even after playing this for him he doesn't get it. He sees nothing wrong with the recordings we did at all, in fact he loves them. Of course he does - it's all drums!
Good thing I don't let him mix from stage. :nono:

Overall, I'm pleased with the sound we got just recording the room. I would like more guitar in there, but that's just the way it hit the mics where they were placed. We really did this mostly to show the drummer how a lack of dynamics shows badly on the whole band, which is only reinforced by the comments here. I've heard demos bands have posted on websites that don't sound much better than this so I guess it's better than a sharp stick in the eye. :poke:

Cheers,:beavisnbutthead:
- JJ

For even more poorly mixed tunes from this gig (and heavily compressed by MySpace to boot), go to:
http://myspace.com/dirtyernieroadhouse


I thought you guys sound great....I agree that the drums are too loud in the recording...

[Justaguyin_nc]

Was the Drummer to loud?...or the guitars to soft?

All I know..I likes it....:rockon: :bravo: :rockon: