Been tracking an EP with the new band and the new tape machine. Tascam 688, my second crack at a working one. Having a blast. Micing/setup has been minimal for convenience: now once we've learned a song and are playing it well, we turn off the PA and I hit record and that's basically it. Vocals and a few overdubs to come.

Mason wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 2:07 pm Been tracking an EP with the new band and the new tape machine. Tascam 688, my second crack at a working one. Having a blast. Micing/setup has been minimal for convenience: now once we've learned a song and are playing it well, we turn off the PA and I hit record and that's basically it. Vocals and a few overdubs to come.

Seems like a ton of fun

Bump - this thread has been neglected

This setup is fun because it shows how sometimes what looks right and what sounds right are very different.

Doing the spaced pair thing I've come to like the ride side coming from behind the drummer. The drummer's body takes so much hi hat out of the ride side mic. I often start with the mics essentially focused on the toms since the cymbals carry fine. The initial playback had such great tom sounds from the overheads the close mics were obsolete.

I wasn't satisfied with the width when he was playing the ride though. It was so heavily in the hi hat side that the planning wasn't giving enough of a spread. So I brought the mics down lower and made them more cymbal focused. These guys have kind of a Karate meets Weakerthans sound. They're a trio and they have some nice space and jazzier moments so there's a goal of not piling on too many extra guitar tracks. So you need stereo information from somewhere for those one guitar moments (no I won't pan the bass).

The other reason this setup looks weird is I stick to the equal distance from the snare approach, especially with a center mic to keep phase in order. Inevitably the stand farther from the snare is placed lower.

This thing is the shit. Never saw/heard one before. Dudes recommended putting a mic with some low end behind it. I'm always down to try people's ideas. I put a d112 behind it and flipped the phase. Huge low end. More than we'll need probably, but it's nice to have next to the more mid centered SM7b on a low wattage combo. Hoffner bass too. Unique rig around these parts.

Oh hell yes. I am looking forward to more of these from you!

Zach Dracula recording with Mark Rains at Station House Studio with FMmdc sitting in on drums.

I wanna know more about the Cartographer head!

losthighway wrote: Mon Jun 10, 2024 10:07 pm I wanna know more about the Cartographer head!

It started off life as a Traynor YBA-1 that had been poorly modded. Since it was already messed with, I took out the bad crap and modded it into something like a Marshall 2204 circuit (JCM800 or JMP mkII). The "presence" control was not derived from negative feedback, and had been removed, so that became the master volume.

About once every 3-6 months I'd make some mild change to shape the tone or adjust the gain. Finally, about 6 years ago, I added the presence and depth controls, and two push pull pots for bright switching. I had the amp at work and my coworker suggested that I should model it for Helix. I did, and then named the amp model after my band. It made more sense than "totally rewired traynor."

The band Cartographer stopped being a thing when the drummer died in 2021. The band name lived on in the amp model, and people in the amp model world were starting to know of this custom amp. So, about a year ago I decided to order the name plate. It seemed like a way to make sure the amp was its own thing, and to honor the band and my friend.

losthighway wrote: Mon Jun 10, 2024 10:07 pm I wanna know more about the Cartographer head!

I wanna know more about that dog!