Studio
All recording is currently done on an 8 core Mac Pro using Avid Protools 8. The signal chain consists of Apogee A/D converters, Avalon 737-SP pre amp and either a Neumann U87, Neumann TLM 103 or KM 184. Monitoring is done through Yamaha NS-10s or AKG Studio K270 and Studio K271 headphones.
Instruments
Most of the acoustic violin and viola tracks are recorded using one of 2 Barbera
5 string acoustic violins. Rich Barbera does a beautiful job selecting these instruments for customization. For live applications I use the Barbera bridge but because of the density of materials it's too dark
to be played acoustically so the recording instrument is fitted with a traditional bridge.
Barbera
Systems Ultralight 5 string is the warmest electric violin I've ever owned.
The Barbera sounds really smooth but unfortunately Rich no longer makes them. Rich
Barbera's multi-transducer design gives a really even response across
all 5 strings. It's still a very "direct" sound so I only use it for live
or tracking electric and synth violin parts.
For
electric guitar tracks I usually use a 1961 Fender Strat. It's almost entirely
stock with the exception of the bridge pickup, a Dimarzio
vintage blues.
I either use a Vox AC30 top boost with vintage Celestion 30's, a Dave Vidal hot rodded Fender Princeton, or various amp modelers. I'll DI using the Avalon U5.
Occasionally,
for fiddle tracks I use my Grandfather's 1920's
German Amati knock off with a Bagg bridge and Mills mic, run through a Rane
AP13 pre-amp. The coolest thing about the Mills condenser mic is that
it's in a constant fixed proximity so you never step out of the sweet
spot. It adds some really nice "air" that you can't get with
just a bridge. The advantage of using both the Bagg
bridge and Mills
mic is that there's an additional fundamental response with the
bridge pickup.
For
acoustic guitar I mike up an older Japanese made Tackamine and occasionally mix in the line
signal using an Avalon U5. The
direct signal from these guitars always sounds a bit bright so using it
with a mic and tube pre smoothes that out and is helpful in getting
some body to the sound. Tackamine's split bridge is brilliant for intonation.
The Godin
A8 Mandolin is a really solid live instrument. These guys really did their homework, it sounds
quite acceptable when you just plug it in and run it flat. The action comes
pretty high so I had to shim the neck to lower it. I also had the nut
replaced with the spacing cut in half so it plays a lot easier than stock.
Had
to throw in a shot of my old Roland GR synth guitar. This is the most radical
production guitar ever. Definitely looks better than it plays. It rarely
ever comes out of the case.
