Hey folks.
I’ve been working on my home recording since purchasing my new microphone, a Rode NT1a. Capturing clear and clean acoustic guitar audio recordings is notoriously difficult and there is no way around it other than getting a good microphone, so that’s what I finally did.
I have been experimenting with the microphone at home for a month or so to familiarise myself with it and I am starting to get the hang of using it. Its crystal clear clarity and hyper sensitivity means I am picking up the obvious mistakes in my guitar playing and I am trying to eliminate them. Clothes rustling, heavy breathing, fingers squeaking as I change chords, etc.
One of my university lecturers always said ‘the best way to get a good guitar recording is point a microphone at a good guitarist’. With that in mind, I have been focussing on improving my playing first and foremost instead of trying to clean up my guitar takes in post production or over relying on ‘comping’ (mixing and matching from different ‘takes’ until I have a clean one).
This means I haven’t finished many of my original songs yet but I have been practicing my live acoustic ‘cover’ set with the microphone. These are the songs I play when I perform at functions and events as an entertainer. I have several set lists for different occasions but my favourite is the folky, chilled out set that I play at relaxed cocktail bar gigs. This song is from that set but isn’t included in my ‘party’ set for obvious reasons.
I enjoy using it to mic up my voice and guitar simultaneously so I can capture an entire acoustic performance live. This is how I perform (just me and a nylon string) and feels more authentic than step recording and mixing different tracks together. I like to bus the audio through a reverb channel as I love the warmth that reverb adds to my voice. And like most vocalists, I dislike the sound of my own voice when it is played completely ‘dry’. I have been criticised for over using reverb in the past and I have tried to limit my usage of it, but I feel it works well on this song so I left it in.
The song I am covering is ‘Older Chests’ by Irish singer/songwriter Damien Rice from his debut album ‘O’ which was released way back in 2002. I was 17 back then and instantly fell in love with this album. I could cover all the songs but I normally stick to this song, ‘Cannonball’ and ‘Volcano’ in my sets.
I have always adored this song, but it has become more and more important to me as I have gotten older and the nostalgia that Rice is portraying in it has become ever more relevant to me.
I still don’t know the legalities of posting cover versions on Substack but as I have had some on here for 6 months now, I’m guessing it’s similar to YouTube where you can post them freely as long as they are not monetised. Thus, all my cover versions will always remain free to view. When I finish some of my original songs however, most of those will be released behind the Substack paywall.
If you want to support me so I can make more videos/music in the future (with ever improving audio and video recordings), you can do so by becoming a paid subscriber for just £3.50 per month or by scanning the QR code below and leaving me a one off ‘tip’.
I hope you enjoy this song, it’s one of my absolute favourites.
Thanks for listening - Pete Brennan (Musician/Writer)
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