Joined: Nov 20, 2007 Posts: 1988 Location: West Red Spot, Jupiter
Audio files: 237
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2018 9:20 am Post subject:
Ukulele Practice Subject description: Ukulele Practice
I had lots of problems trying to record my ukulele, but finally overcame most of them. The remaining problem is that the contact mic adhesive needs to be pressed more so that there is better acoustical contact.
Time flies like a banana. Fruit flies when you're having fun. BTW, Do these genes make my ass look fat?corruptio optimi pessima Last edited by JovianPyx on Mon Oct 01, 2018 5:12 pm; edited 3 times in total
Joined: Nov 20, 2007 Posts: 1988 Location: West Red Spot, Jupiter
Audio files: 237
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 6:03 pm Post subject:
Here's another one. I'm finding that just leaving the recorder on while practicing is a good idea. Anyway, this one is a boogie on a ukulele with too much reverb.
Joined: Mar 20, 2012 Posts: 2179 Location: Chicago
Audio files: 16
Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 10:45 pm Post subject:
A couple questions:
All the recording done with contact mics?
What kind of strings? They sound a lot more metallic than the typical nylon.
A soprano?
My eldest has been quite taken with the ukulele for nearly a year now, and he's been noodzhing to get a studio together when we can afford it (and when he meets my requirements about school) and I'm interested in what special things we might need.
Joined: Nov 20, 2007 Posts: 1988 Location: West Red Spot, Jupiter
Audio files: 237
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 7:56 am Post subject:
Thanks PHOBoS
elmegil: The instrument is a Mele Tenor Ukulele. The last two recordings were done using a new contact mic "John Pearse" with the mic on the treble end of the bridge. The signal was recorded through a DigiTech Polara reverb into Audacity. The recording was then mildly EQ processed to slightly boost bass and slightly attenuate highs.
The strings are nylon for the upper two and wire wound nylon for the two lower strings. This instrument uses the low G tuning (not traditional Hawaiian). I have a 10 band guitar EQ pedal that I want to try to preprocess the mic signal before sending it to the reverb. The mic is very sensitive and tends to respond lop-sidedly well to highs. I will also try putting the mic on the bass side of the bridge.
What I've read about ukulele is that it's a difficult instrument to mic and I can understand that conclusion.
The mic comes with two methods of installing - there is a permanent adhesive dot (circle) on one side with the adhesive covered by a sort of wax paper. I did not use that. There are also 2 pieces of temporary adhesive included which is what I used to stick the mic to the bridge. It appears to work with the temp adhesive on the side opposite the permanent. The instructions say that the permanent adhesive can be removed if not used. I've not tried that. I read from one reviewer (who seemed really pissed about the permanent adhesive) that it's difficult to remove. From my experience, the mic is sensitive on both sides. Watch hanging sleeve touching the mic while playing, it will cause noise. I play with short sleeves. _________________ FPGA, dsPIC and Fatman Synth Stuff
Time flies like a banana. Fruit flies when you're having fun. BTW, Do these genes make my ass look fat?corruptio optimi pessima
Joined: Nov 20, 2007 Posts: 1988 Location: West Red Spot, Jupiter
Audio files: 237
Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2018 8:29 pm Post subject:
I just got both ukuleles back from the luthier shop where both were intonated and both had Aloha Twin mics installed. The 4 string tenor also had a problem with the fingerboard which they fixed. Action was setup on both instruments. They are so much better to play now. And since both have built in mics, it's too easy to plug in and record when I practice.
So here are some snippets of working with the 4 string tenor Mele ukulele.
Played through a DigiTech Polara on plate setting.
Time flies like a banana. Fruit flies when you're having fun. BTW, Do these genes make my ass look fat?corruptio optimi pessima Last edited by JovianPyx on Mon Dec 31, 2018 8:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: Nov 20, 2007 Posts: 1988 Location: West Red Spot, Jupiter
Audio files: 237
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2020 4:02 pm Post subject:
I had a very difficult time with the set I did on the last solstice. I had a problem hearing because of two pieces of gear that were more than 40 years old and were both contributing noise.
I've improved my studio getting rid of a 40+ year old noisy mixer and a 40+ year old noisy graphical EQ. I replaced the mixer with a much newer one and replaced the EQ with a simple passive second order high pass filter with cutoff at 100 Hz. The filter (and EQ) is intended to reduce body thumping while playing an instrument like ukulele.
Here is a snippet of practice time recorded through my new setup.
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