Jens Wulvik

SM58, or the improved version Beta58 is great mics for a great price, but I have not tried alot of dynamic vocal mics, so I'd better let the crowd in here point you the right direction there. Have you used shotguns mics Dannthr? I thought they were condenser mics, which means they would pick a lot of background sounds, even if they got a focused cardiod pattern.

I guess your best shot, if you're trying to get a decent sound quality, is to use both the build-in condenser mics of your H4n, and a dynamic mic like SM58 to record your interviews. Then you can just mix your soundsources together afterwards, with the possibility to adjust the balance between direct voice and ambience! I find interviews being more natural to listen to, when you can hear the environments around them.

I have tried many different sampled pianos, including The Grand 2, Art Vista Virtual Piano and Synthogy Ivory. I have now recently got Alicias Keys, and for me it sounds like a true dream! I would describe the sound as being crisp, but not actually bright. It got a very full sound, with breathtaking detail. I recommend it!

As already said, you can do alot by editing velocities. What you also can do, is to "dequantize" the timings of your notes, just a little. As you can understand, a live musician will never hit all notes at the exact time they should be hit, and that is one of the things that makes live performance sound human. You can variate how much you do this dequantizing to different instruments. Drums and percussion should be very accurate though, but you can dequantize them a tiny bit. The same rule goes pretty much for the bass too, especially when they're working together with drums. Rythmic chord playing can be a little more dequantized, while lead instruments is usually what can take most dequantizing, since they're not in the first place there to build rythm.

I've tried Studio Devil Amp Modeler, Guitar rig and Amplitube, and I find Studio Devil Amp Modeler being the poorest sounding of those 3. -But that is for sure a matter of taste, we all prefer different tones from our guitar. What's left to think about, is the amount of different tones and sounds you can get out of your amp sim, and I'm pretty sure both Guitar Rig and Amplitube got loads more options there. But as already said, all this is kinda a matter of taste. Some musicians actually prefer it simple, so they don't get totally caught up for hours finding the best guitar sound for their song. Btw, I was not able to listen to your example here, but I will listen to it when I come home from work.

I've already cashed in an M1 ! Just waiting for it to ship. Can mention that I got it by buying the Røde NT-5 stereo matched pair, which is an amazing pair of mics that really make my guitar sound gold!

1+ for the M-Audio BX8a from me. The 8 " bass drivers really makes them cover at least the low end you need for most music. They cut off at 40 Hz. Talking about accuracy, I cannot really say I've had the chance to measure them, but everything I mix on them seem to sound good everywhere else as well, and that is kinda the meaning of studio monitors. They're awesome, compared to their price.

Axe-FX is the shit, if you want good guitar tone, with no amp miking. Not a budget solution though, but it's worth the money if you can afford it! Listen to samples: http://www.fractalaudio.com/experience.html

Actually, applying a such equaliser is the safest way to destroy the accuracy of your monitoring. And as Nekofrog says, scooping the mids is not the way to make things sound better. The reason that scooping mids looks like the ultimate mixing solution, is that the mids are what normally contain the mud in a mix. When you scoop the mids, you also scoop this mud...but you also scoop the meat of your sound.

Very funny guys

I got a condenser mic, and with the -10 dB pad switched on, it can record up to 135 dB. You can't scream at a level of 135 dB

Nice work! That's drumplaying that don't get me bored. I like drumplaying like that!

MP3 please!

Cool! Can you play them?

Of course you want the sound that is not distorted! It also seem to me, that you could gain great advantage by getting a better sound card.