Alternative Folk

[Mike Derrick]

Voice and Acoustic Guitar.

Jack describes himself as,
"plain-spoken alternative folk. If you like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Johnny Cash, you will be into what I do."

Here are some mixes from a recording session done here at Black Cherry Studio with Jack back in January this year.

[Edit] Jack has been switching up the songs on his myspace quite frequently, so the following songs may or maynot be there currently. If any of the 5 songs listed below are posted on his myspace, they were done here.

- This Time Around
- Secret Behind the Sun
- I Was Lost But Am Returning
- Be Not Your Failures
- Coming out of the Woods

If the songs don't start playing immediately, click on the song titles to activate the player for each song.

MySpace.com - Jack Harlan - CA - Alternative / Folk / Lyrical - www.myspace.com/jackharlan

Enjoy!

[illuminatedwax]

Only "This Time Around" is left up on the myspace. Unfortunately, not a lot to say here. I really like the tone you got on the guitar and I dig how far back in the mix it is. It seems kind older-school folk to me. But other than that the only other instrument in the mix is the vocals, and myspace's encoding is kinda crap. It certainly still sounds good after losing so much bit rate, though!

[jeep]

i'm loving the everything about those 3 songs
any info on signal chains, positioning etc?


i'm about to record a very similar artist
i could benefit from a few tips!

cheers

[Mike Derrick]

Thanks Jeep.

For Jack Harlan we kept it simple. Live takes, vocals and guitar, no headphones, one medium sized room, 20x15'.
Vocals > SM7 > BuzzAudioMA2.
His Gibson Guitar > (2) M94's > Crane Song Flamingo.

I forget the model of his Gibson, 80's dreadnought I believe.
He played without a pic, using his fingers for finger-picking and strumming.

Positioning.
Vocals,...obvious.
Guitar, close micing. It changed almost every song, depending on the dynamics of the performance. Typically one mic near 12th fret, and one for the fingerboard.

Tips.
Listen, listen, listen, and move stuff around until you find what you like.
If you have a dynamic performer keep levels conservative, better safe than clipped.
The room can play a strong role in a live recording like this, so beware of the acoustics.

I hope your recording works out well.

cheers