Here's a short instrumental that I put together from two quite different pieces. I'm actually very happy with the sound quality of this piece (if not the playing, where I keep goofing up a triplet in the chorus of the first piece). I've managed to solve, in a measured way, a problem with getting better sound from my guitar.
The problem is with the producing a resonant bass, which would be nice since I'm playing an alternating bass-line on most of the fingerstyle accompaniments. But since I've been making do with Garage Band and my Mac's built in mic, it's been difficult getting the bass line to register strongly. I think part of the problem is that my guitar doesn't really sing out in the lower registers. So, some of the solutions I've contrived include: 1. using a thumbpick 2. playing around with the EQ in Garage Band 3. getting one of those fancy boxes that allows you to jack your guitar's pickup straight into the computer 4. getting an amp. Of course, given my reluctance to spend money, I've only tried out options 1. and 2. with very little success.
However, totally by accident, I think I've solved the problem. My mac was on the carpeted floor of our living room yesterday when I decided to record an instrumental. Instead of unplugging it from it's power source and the speakers I had it hooked up to (I was listening to Jacqueline Du Pre ...), I just sat on the floor with my guitar and did the recording. I immediately knew something was different from the sound waves that Garage Band was picking up. So when I played the thing back -- it was amazing, especially cause my mac was still hooked up to the speakers. Here's what I think happened, because I was on the floor and the guitar was touching the carpet, the sound must have gone through that straight to the mic, instead of being dissipated into the air. Not the most "scientific" of recording techniques I guess, but it worked well.
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