Homage to the Earl of Scruggs...

Shuckin' the Corn

I tried an extra room mic on various tracks, but I couldn't hear an appreciable improvement in the ambience.

I can't listen to the track now, but it will take time to learn where & how to use room mics, but once you learn it you gonna like them. This is where ribbons & darker condensers come very handy, bright condensers usually pick up too much of the wrong stuff. BTW well treated room is a must for this to work. That was foolish of me not using room mics in the past, I wish I've learned earlier, it made a world of difference.

What mic did you use, how & how far did you place the mic? A slight change in the placement, like changing the angle a little bit can turn a "wew" into "wow". What headphones are you using?

AKG 414B XLS seems like the most logical choice...so that is what I tried. My room is a little on the dead side. I tried the omni setting and pointing it ever so slightly toward the (reflective) floor.

My phones are AKG K 240 (55 Ohm)

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I tried the omni setting and pointing it ever so slightly toward the (reflective) floor.

You will need to use either Cardioid or Fig8. Pointing it towards the reflective floor is probably not a good idea too, point it towards the source & then try to angle right/left. Follow 3:1 rule when adding a room mic, you don't want to go too far, but you don't want to get too close either.

bigger problem that trying to figure out the room mic: Playing this in the car stereo, the reverb makes it sound kind of stifled and pushed into the background. Wow. Big difference between what I am hearing on my Dynaudio BM5A's and the minivan speakers. May be a room treatment issue.

I love it, I don't think the space came across as too dead at all really... a little direct reflection and a couple beer bottle clinks and it would sound quite right! It just needs that depth to make the instruments stand out from the background a bit.

Great Job!

Damn Tracy, that is some mad crazy banjoization! The recording sounds great, no comments there.... but the banjo playing is Grade A! I'd love to incorporate some of those patterns into my playing style - any advice on where to start? Any website that might be a good resource on what exactly is going on with that madness?

Fun song!

Hey, Walker. Thanks. That's all just a pretty straight up Earl Scruggs knock off.
I learned the tune years ago by slowing the LP down to 16 rpm on my toy record player. My picking is pale and shallow in comparison, but you can't go wrong with his stuff. If you are interested, there is a book called "Earl Scruggs and the 5-String Banjo." Also, Google "Banjo Newsletter" for sound bytes and free tablature.

Wow!!! Once again how much fun can you have with your clothes on!!! That must be a gas!! Smokin' Banjo and the rest ain't to shabby either.
I got a big smile goin' on right now!!!

Thanks for the book recommendation, Tracy. I'll definitely be picking up a copy of that ASAP.

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Once again how much fun can you have with your clothes on!!!

Since this was all done at home, I'm not tellin' whether or not I had any clothes on at all! Brings a whole new meaning to the term "making tracks in my underwear"

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Thanks for the book recommendation, Tracy.

Also, go over and check out www.banjohangout.org

Them's fine pickin pardner!