started recording here...( long post)

[Hardass blues]

Helluva ingenious studio setup, John. Especially using the SUV in the garage to isolate the bass amp/cab. :

The BR1600 is a nice DAW to track with.

I haven't listened to the recordings yet, but I do have a few questions:
1. What are you using for your control room and/or main room monitors...or are the headphones the only means of monitoring in there?
2. Are all your headphones the same or are they a variety of models?
3. Which MXL condensor mic are you using? Is it a small or large diaphragm (LDC) mic? I'm guessing small, if you use it on the harp instead of the Bullet, a 'standard' harp mic.
4. Interesting using the bullet for distorted vocal effect... The 58's a good vocal mic...but you might try a LCD condensor...especially if you do any multi-part (group harmony) vox, since its higher sensitivity will pickup better than the 58 from a distance. If that MXL is one, have you tried it? To distort the vocal signal, you might try running the vocal mic(s) through either a tube pre-amp (ART, Behringer, Samson make good inexpensive ones---$30-$60) and/or through a chorus unit, live. Or you can try juicing a dry vocal signal at mixdown adding chorus (experiment with the settings) with the BR1600's onboard effect.

1.I am using Behringer Truth monitors in the control room.
2.all headphones are audio technica mth-30 models
3. The MXL is the 990 large diaphram in a shock mount. What I did was set it up in a low stand have the two amps (champ & sonny Jr. on the floor) up loud and project the sound at the mic. My singer/harp player is in the other room blowin & singing through his old bullet (custom element) run into a custom pedal board of mass proportion with pre amps and all kindsa stuff. I put a a/b splitter, one line to the amps the other direct via the 12 channel mixer. He has spent years getting the sound he is happy with. I thought guitar guys ( like me) were nuts. When you get a harp player in the band look out! HAHAHA! My ears aren't trained to the tones he's looking for but once I set this up this way and he heard it through the phones & monitors he was waaayyy happy. So that in itself was a accomplishment! I then have a straight sm58 going through a 12 channel mixer for just standard vocal.

Hey, thanks for your interest and reply. I really appreciate it. I'm using a 58 micing a 4-12 what do ya think of that. I ws running out of time and didn't a- b the sm57 with it and just went with the 58 (bottom right) & a EV (top left) for a blend (stereo?) guitar mix. Whats your experiance? Is the 57 better?

Oh, by the way the recordings on myspace are a completely different environment . It was my first time with the BR and was strictly live no dubs everyone in the room(basement dead as a doornail). Sun records style and mostly 2 takes.Thanks,John

[wingsdad]

...Hey, thanks for your interest and reply. I really appreciate it. I'm using a 58 micing a 4-12 what do ya think of that. I ws running out of time and didn't a- b the sm57 with it and just went with the 58 (bottom right) & a EV (top left) for a blend (stereo?) guitar mix. Whats your experiance? Is the 57 better?
...

Frankly, I've never recorded a 4x12 cab...never anything bigger than a 2x12. If mic'd, with a 57 close (4-6"), off-axis, and an LCD condensor to pickup the room sound, about 12' out. But usually, I prefer to record guitars DI'd off the amp or pre-amp into a mixer, and add just reverb and/or delay at that point and track it...how much depends on how big a room I want or need to simulate, but in any case, I track with an ear on the side of less than I want in the final mix, then adjust the guitars' space, distance and positions in the overall scheme at mixdown.

Live or studio, I've always only DI'd bass, never mic'd a bass cab to record. The way I learned it, it was the way James Jamerson's P-Bass was tracked by Motown's engineers, with his Ampeg B-15 isolated in his studio space and he monitored himself with cans. Adjust the eq bottom end, add compression and reverb in the mixdown...again, to get the right space and place.