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Post by watchtower on Apr 25, 2014 7:37:34 GMT -6
I am recording an electric violin for the first time next week, and need some advice on capturing it. The group is an ambient electric guitar and electric violin duo, and they want to play simultaneously, not overdub. They use a lot of FX and pedals, so I was thinking it would be best to capture DIs as well as their amp tones.
The guitar is straightforward - I'll plug him into my Little Labs DI and run the THRU through his pedals and mic his amp up.
Now the violin - I've never dealt with this. The violinist says she has a Realist pickup under the bridge. Is this a piezo pickup? If so, do I need to get a piezo-specific DI box like a Radial StageBug, or will a normal Passive or Active DI work? Either way, I will need to purchase one, and I need it to be cheap bc this band wants to record only ONE song, so it's a short session.
Once I have the violin DI, will I be able to "reamp" it like a guitar with my Little Labs Redeye, or will it sound different/off since the Redeye is usually meant for guitar, and the Realist might be a violin-specific piezo? I imagine it will be fine bc I think she is plugging into guitar pedals on her board and a normal guitar amp anyway, but figured I'd ask.
Thanks!
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Post by Randge on Apr 25, 2014 8:05:32 GMT -6
Yucko on the pickup! Maybe try one of these to help. www.radialeng.com/jdvpre.phpMy wife is a good fiddler and she has a beautiful instrument, but when we plug her in to play out live, she uses this Radial to loose some of the quack that makes acoustic instruments sound bad. It helps to have the current Fishman pickup for fiddle/violin as they sound far superior to anything else on the market at this time. Best advice I got for ya. R |
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Post by watchtower on Apr 25, 2014 9:32:02 GMT -6
Unfortunately I can't do anything about the pickup. The JDV costs more than I'm even making on this gig, so that's a no go. Mostly just wondering if I specifically need a Piezo DI, or if any DI will work.
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Post by Randge on Apr 25, 2014 13:30:29 GMT -6
You aren't in Nashville, are you? You are welcome to borrow mine. I have a stereo pair.
R
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Post by Randge on Apr 25, 2014 13:37:41 GMT -6
You aren't in Nashville, are you? You are welcome to borrow mine. I have a stereo pair.
R
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Post by watchtower on Apr 25, 2014 14:02:42 GMT -6
Your offer is much appreciated! But no, I'm currently in South Carolina. I will probably sell whatever DI I buy after the project, but I'd still like to keep it inexpensive, like a Radial StageBug, maybe.
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Post by cowboycoalminer on Apr 25, 2014 17:19:58 GMT -6
Have you thought about running her through an amp? I used to play a Zeta out live and that's what I'd use. Fender Blues Deville to be exact. Didn't sound great but I've yet to hear a fiddle sound great that wasn't miked. But it was a passable sound.
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Post by jcoutu1 on Apr 25, 2014 17:29:28 GMT -6
When I worked with electric violin with effects, I mic'd the amp rather than grab di. Best way to capture their sound, IMO, for some trippy stuff like that.
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Post by mulmany on Apr 25, 2014 22:11:40 GMT -6
Treat it like you would an electric guitar. Capture the tone that they have worked to perfect, unless it has to be reamped at their request. I have only had a di track save my butt 2 times in the past 10 years, they mostly clog up the session.
Sent from my SCH-I800 using Tapatalk 2
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Post by keymod on Apr 26, 2014 4:35:35 GMT -6
To be clear, you're talking about an acoustic instrument with a pickup at the bridge, rather than an actual electric instrument such as a Yamaha Silent Violin? I did a project some time ago where the Violinist used the Yamaha played through a Fender Acoustisonic Amp. Sounded pretty good.
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Post by watchtower on Apr 26, 2014 10:46:48 GMT -6
Yes, we're talking an acoustic violin with a pickup, going through a bunch of guitar pedals including reverb, into a guitar amp. I figured a DI would be useful in case she overdid one of the effects as she was playing live.
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Post by Randge on Apr 26, 2014 11:47:02 GMT -6
Can you at least put the amp in another room and mic the violin with a nice mic as well? That is what I would try to do. Then you have an option to blend in a clean natural tone to sweeten it at mix time and you will be much happier.
R
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Post by tonycamphd on Apr 26, 2014 11:50:06 GMT -6
how many pieces? Are you capturing the bulk performance in one room with bleed and all? Maybe consider isolating the guitar/fidd amps, and capturing the fiddle as the only acoustic instrument in that room? then reamp the DI's afterward, and have them re play the pedal boards? Of course that would require a stellar headphone mix for a band like this(or at least what i think your describing), it also could throw off their mojo? if you need to do it all at once, use some royer ribbon mics(great null points)/km84's like these this won an engineering grammy, Just throwing ideas out there, hope this helps
let us know how you do WT
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Post by jcoutu1 on Apr 26, 2014 11:58:00 GMT -6
I think the effects are their sound from the description. Acoustic fiddle doesn't seem to be what they're looking for.
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Post by Randge on Apr 26, 2014 13:05:03 GMT -6
Run them through a MOOG, then.
R
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Post by cowboycoalminer on Apr 26, 2014 18:06:54 GMT -6
Can you at least put the amp in another room and mic the violin with a nice mic as well? That is what I would try to do. Then you have an option to blend in a clean natural tone to sweeten it at mix time and you will be much happier. R Defiantly agree with this. Try to talk her into it if she resists  |
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Post by watchtower on Apr 28, 2014 9:10:50 GMT -6
Yes, I can put her amp in another room, or at least semi far away from the guitar amp, and use a R-121 to help isolate. I'm not sure I'll be able to isolate the violin enough to mic it up acoustically. The violinist probably needs to be pretty close to the guitarist for cues, etc. But I don't think they want an acoustic violin tone anyway.
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