New folk album release - single mic, straight to tape!

[Aled Hughes]

Hello,

Perhaps this will be of interest to some of you.

My little folk label is releasing the first volume of old Welsh-language ballads by singer Gwilym Bowen Rhys. I had the pleasure of being in charge of the recording.

For fun, and a new experience, we decided to record with a single mic (1970s Neumann U87), Amek Rembrandt desk, LA3A compressor, and straight onto 1/4" tape. For the digital transfer the tracks went through an Avalon 2044 for some gentle further compression. Unfortunately the studio no longer have their old EMT 140 plate, so I used a little bit of Soundtoys' Little Plate after transferring.

We recorded the whole album in 3 hours, including lunch, and most of the songs are first takes.

The plan is to do a few more volumes of these. We also have an album on the way by a wonderful chamber-folk string trio, which I'll be sure to pimp here!

If it's of interest, you can pre-order the album (CD or download) here:
https://gwilymbowenrhys.bandcamp.com/al ... n-faledi-i

Aled

[garrettendi]

Sounds great! I couldn't imagine singing like that, so props to the singer Gwilym!

The single mic approach to my ears sounds really stripped back, in a very pleasing way.

All in all a great job!

[Martin Walker]

Hi Aled,

Nice work! I too like the stripped-down sound. Clean and to the point.

Bravo!

Martin

[Drew Stephenson]

Will be listening later

[Folderol]

Works well. The single mic seems to result in a very clean sound. He's a strong and very clear singer - even though I couldn't understand a word

[Aled Hughes]

Thanks folks!

He is indeed quite a performer - I wouldn't have gone with the single mic approach with most people!

Seeing as you're all so helpful around this place, and I've benefited a lot from that help, it's mean to just give you a single track... so here's a link to the whole album:

https://soundcloud.com/sbrigynymborth/s ... -o/s-23hWK

Still, feel free to order the CD if you so wish !

[ConcertinaChap]

Gorgeous stuff. Listening to it as I type. Many thanks for opening it up to us. Though I haven't any idea about the language I seem to have spent quite a bit of time listening to Welsh singers (probably because Mick Tems is a very old friend). Your Gwilym can put over an unaccompanied song beautifully and your recording captures it beautifully. Lovely. Made my day (and it was a good day to start with).

CC

[Aled Hughes]

Thanks so much for your kind words.

The CDs have arrived, and a copy has just been sent to Mick Tems, as it happens!

[ore_terra]

sounds great.

it definitively delivers the sensation that the guy is singing seating in front of you.

can I ask about the mic placement? where was it in relationship with the guitar-singer, and which polar pattern?

[Aled Hughes]

sounds great.

it definitively delivers the sensation that the guy is singing seating in front of you.

can I ask about the mic placement? where was it in relationship with the guitar-singer, and which polar pattern?

Thanks!

It was an U87 in cardioid, around 3-4 feet away (at a guess) in front of the performer at roughly chest height. I tweaked the angle and height to balance the voice and guitar where needed.

Aled

[Aled Hughes]

[Aled Hughes]

Here are a couple of reviews, including a 5-star one by the aforementioned Mick Tems:

"Fizzing and sparkling with humour, stunning wit and pathos... What an extremely fine album, and what a fabulous education."
http://folk.wales/magazine/?p=315#GWILYM_BOWEN_RHYS

"The allure, immediacy and spirit of his live performance has been brilliantly trapped - wherever its alchemy comes from, 'Detholiad o Hen Faledi I' captures Gwilym Bowen Rhys in full folk flight."
http://www.fromthemargins.co.uk/pages/r ... edi_I.html

[ConcertinaChap]

Well deserved. He's a good lad, is Mick, and knows his stuff.

CC

[Aled Hughes]

Thanks CC!

Here's a video of one of the songs being recorded - it might be of interest to anyone wondering about the mic placement etc.

https://gwilymbowenrhys.bandcamp.com/video

Aled

[Drew Stephenson]

[Aled Hughes]

Also played by Mark Radcliffe on Radio 2's Folk Show on Wednesday!

"One of these islands' best, in any language" said he.

[Martin Walker]

Also played by Mark Radcliffe on Radio 2's Folk Show on Wednesday!

"One of these islands' best, in any language" said he.

Bravo Ramirez!

[Aled Hughes]

Thanks Martin!

No point starting a new thread: here's a new track I recorded with the same artist last friday. This time with a small band, and at a different studio which I hadn't used before.

Drums, vocals and guitar were recorded together a few meters apart - the first session I've ever done where an unamplified voice threatened to overpower the drums!

I then added my double bass as an overdub at home. I still haven't figured the best way of recording it in my lounge, but it's not too bad.

This one's a free download. Enjoy!
https://gwilymbowenrhys.bandcamp.com/track/clychaur-g-g

Aled

[Martin Walker]

This one's a free download. Enjoy!
https://gwilymbowenrhys.bandcamp.com/track/clychaur-g-g

Aled

Yet more tasteful music, and with double bass - thanks Ramirez!

Martin

[Drew Stephenson]

Very fine!
I do have to ask how you're recording the double bass though as you're definitely getting a better sound out of yours than i am mine.
Though that could easily be the player...

[Aled Hughes]

Very fine!
I do have to ask how you're recording the double bass though as you're definitely getting a better sound out of yours than i am mine.
Though that could easily be the player...

Thanks.

This particular recording was an M-Audio Sputnik mic, perhaps a 12-18" in front of the bass, fairly high up around my plucking hand, on the treble string side. There's a little bit of a magnetic pickup (Krivo) mixed in as well for some low end. In that room (fairly typical lounge) I find it really hard to get the balance between too roomy and too boomy - too far and it becomes indistinct very quickly, and too close gives a horrible boomy sound.

Of my own mics, I find that the Sputnik gets me closest to what I want (I also sometimes use a Beyer M88 and a Line Audio OM1) but I'm still not happy with it - and there's some pretty heavy (for me) EQ too - a formidable treble shelving boost, as well as another boost around 3/4k and yet again at around 300Hz, as well as some fairly assertive compression. To be honest it always comes out a bit dull, boomy and uneven, hence the EQ and compression. I think that's mostly the room, as I've had better results elsewhere, but I'm not a great player - nor very experienced - and it's a fairly cheap instrument as double basses go.

I have mixed it a bit louder than I initially did or wanted to - it sticks out a bit too much to my ear - but that's how the artist wanted it.

If it's of interest, the rest of the recording was:

Voice: Neumann U87i

Main 6 string guitar, 12-string guitar and mandolin: Neumann KM184 (very taken with this on the main part - best result I've had on that particular guitar (a Martin), and I've recorded it quite a lot)

Drums: Coles 4038 pair
Bass drum: Beyer M88

There was a Beyer M201 on the snare as well but it's not used in the mix.

Aled

[Drew Stephenson]

Cheers Ramirez,
I know what you mean about trying to balance the room and boom. I've been using a ribbon about a foot from the sound hole and then an SDC up near the fingerboard. Haven't tried blending in the pickup though, I should definitely give that a go and roll off a bit of the bottom of the mic.
I've found that not just the position in the room but the angle of bass makes a difference, but I am recording a dirt cheap bass in an untreated room so I'm not making things easy for myself.

My only tip, if you haven't discovered this already, is to try a wooden end pin. At the risk of sounding like a snakeoil salesman (or buzzfeed article), I was amazed by the difference it made.

[ConcertinaChap]

Thanks CC!

Here's a video of one of the songs being recorded - it might be of interest to anyone wondering about the mic placement etc.

https://gwilymbowenrhys.bandcamp.com/video

Not speaking Welsh, I have to ask, is that The Farmer's Boy he's singing or something else with the same tune?

Cheers,

CC

[Aled Hughes]

Thanks CC!

Here's a video of one of the songs being recorded - it might be of interest to anyone wondering about the mic placement etc.

https://gwilymbowenrhys.bandcamp.com/video

Not speaking Welsh, I have to ask, is that The Farmer's Boy he's singing or something else with the same tune?

Cheers,

CC

It is indeed! From the album sleevenotes:

Hogyn Gyrru’r Wedd
The Ploughboy

Words: Richard Davies ‘Mynyddog’ (1833–1877)
Melody: ‘Ye Sons of Albion’ (Trad.)

This popular Welsh translation of the English folk song ‘The Farmer’s Boy’ is the story of a poor farm labourer seeking work. He explains to a farmer that he’s the eldest of seven of his widowed mother’s children. The farmer’s wife and daughter takes pity and agrees to employ him. Eventually the farmer and his wife dies, the farm labourer marries their daughter and becomes the owner of the farm. Years later he reminisces about the time he was only a poor ploughboy.

Aled

[ConcertinaChap]

In its day Farmer's Boy was one of the most widely distributed traditional songs in England and beyond, so much so that when folk song collectors went out, er, collecting a common strategy was to go into a rural pub and ask if anyone present knew The Farmer's Boy. The hope was that once someone had sung that the collector could lead singers onto other songs, perhaps less well known to the collector. No surprise it made its way to Wales. Its transition from bad to good fortune must have been very appealing.

CC