Steel Guitar on 'Come On Over'

[Shan]

Mike, could you give any details on the Steel Guitars recorded on 'Come On Over'. Specifically 'That Dont Impress me much'. The amp, mic, pre, comp, combo etc. I'm going to record some steel soon and have no experience in this area. Basically I was going to record it like a regular Gtr. Anybody else have with suggestions and experience to share please post. Thanks.

Shane

[JYoder]

Mike can probably give plenty of advice on things you can do, but I can tell you that Paul Franklin comes with his sound. He's got most anything that you'd want in his rack including custom effects that make him sound like he's playing anything but a steel guitar.
He hears the sound in his headphones and adjusts to that. He asks for a seperate reverb so that he can play with plenty and not annoy anyone else. But you can throw up 57s or 421 or just about anything else and he will adjust the sound according to his role in that particular song.
I think you have it right to just treat it like micing a guitar amp. Make sure you set up your gain structure correctly, you can really use the headroom of a high quality preamp, steel players usually play with a huge dynamic range.

[Shan]

Thanks for the tips Jerry. I also just read what Mike does for mixing in the other thread on 'Steel Guitars'

Shane

[Dave Martin]

Originally posted by JYoder

I think you have it right to just treat it like micing a guitar amp. Make sure you set up your gain structure correctly, you can really use the headroom of a high quality preamp, steel players usually play with a huge dynamic range.

Jerry's right - sometimes they'll give you too much dynamic range. When I'm producing, I'm not afraid to ask the steel player to use more or less of his volume pedal, and I'm not afraid to manipulate the way he plays through the use of the headhones either. (Want him to play harder - or louder? Turn him down in his phones...)