Recording a violin

[RoadDog]

nice, I hear a bowed bass or cello part holding this track up, what do you think?

[Jef]

I like this song. Is this the final arrangement on it? Because (as Keith mentioned) maybe another filler instrument or some backing vocals ...might be worth doing some experimenting with, but maybe not. I just listened to it for a second time and it's a pretty good song as it is.
I wouldn't mind hearing a couple different versions though... just to see.
Good job capturing the violin, it has a very pleasant tone to it.

[Mathieu Benoit]

The original song is actually a cello part. Most of Damien Rice's songs off that album have cello. So it's not for nothing that you guys are picturing the fuller spectrum of a cello in there. However the violin is a nice touch and I'm Nick doesn't have a section for cellists in his Rolodex. Wait a sec- Do people still uses Rolodexes?

[Nick H.]

I might as well post a couple things about how I recorded everything. The acoustic guitar was a Martin, and I close mic'ed it with a 57, and then we double tracked with a fairly distant mic placement with my KSM141.

The vocals were recorded with the KSM as well. In the past we've just used a 58, but I really liked the KSM for this one.

The drums, because I only have 2 inputs right now; were recorded in kind of a weird way. The first verse, I was playing with brushes, and I recorded the hats and snare in one take, with the Blueball and 57. I then did the kick seperately with a D4. Then in the chorus I overdubbed the ride (Matt's old broken Zildjian) using the 141. The rest of the song, I used the 57 and KSM as kind of overheads, then re-recorded the snare on its own with a 57. I know this isn't the best way to record drums, but with 2 inputs, it's as good as I can do.

The violin was fun, I used the KSM mostly, but in the second chorus, where I wanted it to sound thicker, I used the 57, and the KSM together. After experimenting a bit with mic placement, it seemed to work out well.

Also, for anyone wondering, that weird sound at the start is the sound of a needle dropping onto a record. I don't remember why I thought to do this, but it was kind of fun...

[Mathieu Benoit]

Walk us through the vocal mic setup. You used the 141 but didn't you try something new?

[Nick H.]

Walk us through the vocal mic setup. You used the 141 but didn't you try something new?

Actually yes, I set it on omni-directional, and positioned it straight up, at about a 90 degree angle to the floor. Then I got Jarrett to sing about 3/4 pf a foot or so away from it or so. It seemed to capture more of the room, so I didn't put any extra reverb on it, just a bit of compression, and delay. It seemed to work alright..