This is a short audio book recording of "Yertle The Turtle" that myself and a few other classmates recorded for a class project.

All audio was mixed and mastered by myself. 

YertleTheTurtle

Acoustic Guitar: Jeremy Goodell
Electric Guitar: Gerardo Trevino
Keyboard: Joshua Poole

For my music recording piece, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and record a song that incorporated both acoustic and electronic instruments. I had the pleasure to record a Rogue natural acoustic guitar, a Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar, and a M-AUDIO ProKeys 88 electric keyboard. 
My approach with this recording was to allow the talent to be as creative as possible in the direction of the song. Each artist played from emotion in this recording, so there wasn't any precomposing prior to any of the recording sessions. I actually really enjoyed this relaxed approach as I feel I was able to capture the raw talent from each artist without any constrains or guidelines. The full song was recorded in two different takes. The acoustic guitar was recorded first. The electric guitar and keyboard were recorded at a later session.
In regards to the recording of the natural acoustic guitar; I decided to use four different microphones, each for a different purpose. I used an Apex210 ribbon mic placed near the sound-hole and saddle of the acoustic guitar. I used this microphone because the diaphragm has a fairly slow pick-up; this way I was able to capture the natural sound of the guitar. I patched this mic line to the Avalon VT-737sp and used it as a preamplifier in order to get a stronger recording. I noticed that the microphone had a pretty prominent hiss that resonated in the high frequencies. A low pass filter took care of this issue with ease. 
I also used a Shure SM81 as a second microphone placed near the fret board and neck of the guitar. The cardioid pick-up pattern of this condenser microphone ensured I captured the strings and finger sounds of the guitar.
A stereo pair of AKG C 414 mics were used in a XY stereo mic technique in order to capture the sound of the room, and expand the capabilities of getting a wide stereo recording. In fact, I used this same miking technique with the electric guitar and keyboard during the second recording session of this song. 
I decided to place studio foam absorber panels behind the talent. I used these absorbers to try to close the room off a bit. This way the XY stereo recording technique was a lot more tailored to mimic a smaller and intimate room environment. 
The second recording session was a bit more complex to setup. Luckily, the artists were really familiar with their gear and we got the sound they wanted out of the recording. The signal path for the Gibson Les Paul Studio started to be routed to the ART MP Preamp, then to the ISP Decimator, which was used as a noise gate, then routed to the Line 6 Spider IV amplifier. We took the line out of the Line 6 Spider and sent it through a Behringer DI box. The signal out of the DI box was the signal recorded. 
The keyboard was recorded in a similar fashion. A 1/4 inch out signal from the M-AUDIO ProKeys 88 to a J48 DI box, which was then sent to a Hartke KM60 Keyboard amplifier for the artist to listen to his instrument. I took the ‘thru” signal out of the Hartke amplifier, which was the signal I recorded. 
As mentioned earlier, I also used a stereo pair of AKG C 414 in an XY stereo miking pattern in order to get a wider stereo recording.
The mixing process was fairly simple. I applied EQ, compression, and reverb to all instruments. I didn’t feel I had to over process this recording. I was really pleased with the sound I got out of the recording, and I feel the slight adjustments I made during the mixing process added dynamics to the song in order for the song to stand out in the mix while maintaining balance throughout the audio spectrum. 

audioandres