Little Labs IBP - a great little problem solver

Recording vocals and guitar at the same time

Singer/songwriters love to sing and play at the same time. Many engineers think this is a lot of trouble because it makes their job harder. I had one guy in the studio who told me an engineer told him it couldn't be done! Amazing!

The person who has the hardest job is the one performing the song. They're the ones who are trying to express something and open up. Since they are always playing and singing when doing a gig or writing a new song, it stands to reason the most comfortable way for them to record would be the same.

I've had great luck with the previously mentioned mid side technique but also using a couple different mics. The Shure SM7 is pretty directional and sounds really good on some voices. If you usually use a condenser on the guitar like a Shure SM81 or and Audio Technica 4033, maybe you've encountered phase problems.

A cool box to correct this is made by Little Labs - it's called the IBP. Infinitely variable phase, not just 180. You can dial in the exact phase location - it's like having the capsules completely lined up. It's also a super over engineered little box - very high quality.

Rode K2 and Shure KSM 32

mid - side microphone technique

I've been doing a lot of mid - side mic stuff lately. It's really cool on guitars and works well if someone wants to sing and play at the same time and have stereo tracks. Done correctly it's rock solid and the musician can move their head but the voice is still centered in the mix.

I use a Rode K2 in figure 8 position on the bottom and a nice condenser like a Shure Ksm 32 on top. The null side of the figure 8 mic is aimed straight at the guitarist / singer and so is the condenser - cardiod is fine. The top of the K2 right side up and the top of the Ksm 32 upside down will almost touch.

The condenser is routed to one track and the figure 8 is routed to two tracks, with one track phase reversed and both figure 8 tracks panned opposite each other. Great stereo image, no phase problems and the width can be controlled by raising or lowering the figure 8 levels.

Shubb partial capo

YOUTUBE partial capo videos

Maybe you're interested in doing something a little different on your guitar but retuning is a pain. Ever try partial capos? Shubb makes a great one that goes over three strings and allows you to play many of the same chord voicings but with a different sound. Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/billkahler

Akai E2 Headrush Looper - click track idea

recording to a loop instead of a click track

In the studio I have quite a few singer/songwriters come in to do projects. Often we will start with them and add the band later so there is the need for a click track. I abandoned the straight click track idea a long time ago and have been using a drum pattern with a kick, snare high hat or some combination of those - maybe a shaker or whatever. Somewhere along the way it occurred to me to add a person-played shaker to humanize it a bit.

The biggest revelation came when a guitar player was having a difficult time with the machine rhythm and we tried the Akai E2 Headrush looper. He played a few bars of the tune and when he had the tempo, he muted the strings and I looped a bar or two with the E2. Just like that we had a very human track to play along with - in fact he was playing along with the most natural rhythm possible - his own. We used the same method for all the tracks and not only did it work well, it was way faster than programming a machine and deciding on a temp etc.

New CD is available

"Love Handed Down" is my latest CD and as usual it is in a sort of folky rock vein. This time one of the big changes/challenges was I played all the instruments, recorded it, mixed and mastered it and even did the art work. This is my fourth title and all cds are available at cdbaby.com/all/billkahler though it may be a couple weeks before this one shows up there. I am also trying a few new things that fly in the face of traditional music marketing. Very soon all of my CDs as well as random songs will be available on my website billkahler.com in the form of an honor system download.

This blog is a new step for me as well. I have some ideas about recording, songwriting, and various miscellaneous things that don't seem to fit anywhere else. I also think it may be a point of contact to meet new people - musicians and music lovers.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to bookmark it as I will be putting stuff up here often.