–click on the link to see the actual site–

Contest:         Honorable Mention, 2013 Indie International Songwriting Contest, “Dogs In Paradise”

Contest:        Finalist, 2012, 14th Annual Great American Song Contest, “Hayward Hawthorne”

Contest:        [...]]]> Reviews, Press, Contests

–click on the link to see the actual site–

Contest:         Honorable Mention, 2013 Indie International Songwriting Contest, “Dogs In Paradise”

Contest:        Finalist, 2012, 14th Annual Great American Song Contest, “Hayward Hawthorne”

Contest:        Finalist,  2012,  9th Annual International Acoustic Music Awards,  ”Surreal McCoy, The Hospice Nurse”

Contest:        Finalist,  2012  USA Songwriting Competition,  ”Surreal McCoy, The Hospice Nurse”

Contest:        Semifinalist,  2012  UK Songwriting Contest,   “Dogs In Paradise” & “Surreal McCoy, The Hospice Nurse”

Contest:        Semifinalist, 2012 International Songwriting Competition,   “Dogs In Paradise”

Contest:        Finalist,  2011  8th Annual International Acoustic Music Awards,  “Dogs in Paradise”

Contest:        Finalist,  2011  The Great American Song Contest,  “Surreal McCoy, The Hospice Nurse”

Press:           International Acoustic Music Awards Featured Artists of the Month

Review:       Americana UK,   Sept. 2012

Review:       Dangerdog Music,  August 2012

Review:      Paper Dragon Ink,    July 2012

Review:      Musesmuse.com        May 2012

Review:      Music News Nashville,     Dec. 2011

Review:      InstrumentalMusic@suite101.com    May 2012

Review:       Skope Magazine        May, 2012

Pod cast:    RockWired.com     May 2012

Review:      Neufutur Magazine         May 2012

Review:      Music Emissions           May 2012

Review:      Minor 7th                    May 2012

Press:         Urban Tulsa Weekly Hot 100    Jan 2012

June 7, 1970.  I was a month shy of my 16th birthday.  For a couple of years his music had already been playing through my stereo headphones.  I  was also listening to Cream, The Who, Led Zeppelin, any band with a soaring  guitar and a British drummer.  My [...]]]> THE DAY I MET JIMI HENDRIX

June 7, 1970.  I was a month shy of my 16th birthday.  For a couple of years his music had already been playing through my stereo headphones.  I  was also listening to Cream, The Who, Led Zeppelin, any band with a soaring  guitar and a British drummer.  My friends and I could not believe Jimi Hendrix was actually coming to Tulsa, Oklahoma!  The day tickets went on sale we arrived at the Carson Attractions ticket office about twelve hours prior to opening and were rewarded with fourth row seats.  My ears ring just thinking about it.

My mom and sister had been visiting relatives in Austin, Texas.  I went with my dad, my sisters husband and infant son to the airport to pick them up.  This was during the era when you could actually greet people at the gate and watch them literally walk off the plane.  We got there a few minutes early and watched the Braniff flight arrive from Austin.   As people began to file through the gate my dad said “there sure are lots of hippies on this plane.”  First off the plane were a group of about eight people who were young, hip, dressed in clothing of the sixties, and since it was early June I assumed they were college students flying home for the summer.   Wait a minute, college students don’t typically fly home! They drive Volkswagens and carpool!  (In the seventies, we carpooled before it was the environmentally right thing to do).  Then I saw him.

Even if not famous he would have stood out in any crowd.  From seeing him on photograph and film I had expected him to be taller.  After a few seconds of shock I walked straight over to him.  ”Mr. Hendrix, can I have your autograph?”  With a big smile he said “sure man, but you have to call me Jimi.”  The next thing I knew I was walking through the airport with Jimi Hendrix.  It was not a busy day.  All of his entourage was already at the baggage claim.  So my family and I essentially had him to ourselves.  At least for ten minutes or so. I am writing about something that happened 42 years ago!  Some specifics are a little foggy.  But one thing I remember very clearly.  His demeanor.  He looked at me when he spoke.  He asked me if I was going to the show and where he could get a good cheeseburger.  He had a 8 mm movie camera and shot a few frames of us.  He stated that my 14 month old nephew  ”looks like Charlie Brown,” and after handing someone his movie camera actually picked him up held him for a few minutes.  He was friendly, talkative,  in no particular hurry, and never stopped smiling.

(more later, still writing…)

http://www.charliehillguitar.com/music/the-landing/

This is my current setup (click on the photo for larger view).  I am always experimenting.  I had the pleasure of seeing Michael Hedges live at several different venues.  If you saw him live you understand what I am talking about.  Monster Sound.  His live and recording setups are nicely described [...]]]> LIVE GEAR

This is my current setup (click on the photo for larger view).  I am always experimenting.  I had the pleasure of seeing Michael Hedges live at several different venues.  If you saw him live you understand what I am talking about.  Monster Sound.  His live and recording setups are nicely described on his website www.nomadland.com and is required reading for those interested in live acoustic sound.  He used a FRAP pickup  under the treble side of the bridge and a Sunrise Magnetic sound hole pickup.  (FRAP stand for “Flat Response Acoustic Pickup, created by Arnie Lazarus, similar pickups are also made by Trance Audio under the name “Acoustic Lens.”)

I have one Acoustic Lens and the Sunrise in both of my 6-strings (one is for C tunings, the other for D, G, and standard tunings).   The lens reproduces the high end and percussive/wood sounds, and the Sunrise the low end. From the guitar they run stereo out into a Trance Audio Amulet  (see photo, the Amulet is the blue box on the lower right).  From there stereo out to a Rane AP-13, a product that has been unfortunately discontinued by the Rane Corporation.  With the Rane I have 6 bands of EQ for each pickup, and effects send/return for a loop pedal, tuner output, and a mute button which is VERY useful when switching guitars.

Because of the very hot signal coming out of the Amulet, the AP-13 has had its preamps altered, or essentially disconnected (the procedure for which was kindly provided to me by the nice people at Rane and completed at Tulsa Guitar and Electronics).  Prior to this alteration, the signal was being overly pre-amped and was too hot to handle, even with phosphor-bronze strings (Hedges used medium gage nickel stings, as in electric guitar strings, which makes the Sunrise magnetic pickup sound like a roaring lion, and was controlled by Hedges other-worldly ability to use parametric EQ).

The signal of each pickup then exits the AP-13 and enters two channels of a Mackie 1202 mixer which is bolted to the top of a 4-space wooden rack box (by now I know you are thinking:  OVERKILL!!).  I plug the Lexicon MX-200 into two separate  Mackie channel inserts so that I can use reverb and delay on only one or both pickups  (by accident I placed delay on the Lens pick and not the Sunrise, so the high end was delayed, not the low end, cool sound) (see below).  An Alesis Nanoverb unit is routed via one of the Mackie aux send/returns to provide signal to my vocal mix, or anyone else who may be joining me.  The other aux-send I use for a monitor out.  The Mackie main-outs go to my powered speakers or the house PA.

I came up with this complex mess because I wanted to have a system to use at home and stage.  I only play about 10 – 20 gigs a year, so most of the time I am playing/experimenting at home where I can mess with various tones, delays, loops, etc.  The loops and delays are fun and inspirational and help me in coming up with new material.  When I play out I just haul this beast around on a small dolly.  I have tried using pedals but just do not get the tone I am looking for.

Players such as Andy McKee and Antoine Dufour are having great success using K&K pickups, the Radial Tonebone, and D-Tar products.  This sounds like light-weight heaven!  I am currently checking this out because I’m tired of lugging all this stuff around!!

7/2012

Below I have tried to demonstrate the signal flow:

|——————————-   guitar  ———————————————————————–|

|                                                                                                                              |

|                                                                                                                              |

Acoustic Lens pickup                                                                                     Sunrise S-1 Magnetic pickup

|                                                                                                                              |

Trance Audio preamp                                                                                    Trance Audio preamp

|                                                                                                                              |

Rane AP-13          <——— Boomerang loop station————————>          Rane AP-13 (or Rane 30 band eq)

|                                                                                                                              |

Mackie 1202  <–> channel one of Lexicon M200                                          Mackie 1202  <–> channel two of Lexicon M200

|                                                                                                                              |

XLR out                                                                                                            XLR out

]]> http://www.charliehillguitar.com/music/live-gear/feed/ 0 http://www.charliehillguitar.com/music/home-recording-gear/ http://www.charliehillguitar.com/music/home-recording-gear/#comments Tue, 16 Aug 2011 02:57:22 +0000 Charlie Hill http://www.charliehillguitar.com/?page_id=286 HOME RECORDING GEAR

I enjoy reading about how others have recorded projects at home.  My own decision to record at home evolved from issues of time constraints, comfort, and expense. I have a very busy day job.  Showing up at a studio at a specified time and being well prepared, new strings in tune, relaxed, [...]]]> HOME RECORDING GEAR

I enjoy reading about how others have recorded projects at home.  My own decision to record at home evolved from issues of time constraints, comfort, and expense. I have a very busy day job.  Showing up at a studio at a specified time and being well prepared, new strings in tune, relaxed, and “in the zone” was difficult.  If you are a player that can do the above, I recommend you stick with studio recording and save yourself a bundle of time, and possibly  money. Gear can be expensive.  But considering work, families, and other obligations, home recording makes sense.  It is  there waiting for you 24/7.  Plus, recording at home helped me overcome the syndrome of RBP (record-button phobia)!  So I did my homework, bought some stuff, drove a couple of friends crazy with questions, and managed to record my CD at home.  It was mixed and mastered in Tulsa by Steve Thornbrugh.  He has a wonderful home studio (Home of Tone) and tons of experience.  For me, recording the tracks was the big hurdle and the most time consuming.  I discovered that mixing and mastering is an entirely different art form requiring a completely different skill set.  I was very fortunate to work with Steve.

–I record on an iMac with Logic Pro.  If you take the time to learn, Logic has plenty of mixing, effects, and mastering options.  I attended several teaching sessions at the Apple Store.  They helped me get things rolling and never seemed  to tire of my stupid questions.  The iMac is quiet enough to keep in the recording room.

–Audio/digital interface:  Apogee Ensemble, which has built in preamps, and able to record several channels at once.  I will always love analog, but digital opens a big world of do-it-yourself recording.  In my opinion the solid-state preamps on the Apogee are as good or better than some nice tube preamps I test drove.  Not having to purchase additional preamps allowed me to use few gadgets as possible in the signal chain.

–Inputs:  Two small condenser mics in a x/y pattern,  placed  8 – 10 inches from where the guitar neck joins the body.  This position made it easy to move back and forth between the computer and the recording chair.  A 3:1 mic position would possibly yield a better stereo field but requires more attention to positioning.  I also ran a direct line from the guitar pickup, a Trance Audio Acoustic Lens. (a very sensitive pickup, glued to the underside of the bridge on the treble side, and picks up everything, including strings, taps, rubs, thunks, all of which i try to use musically).   In summary, three total inputs.

–Room:  I use a spare carpeted bedroom.  Any room will work as long as you can make it as quiet as possible.  For weeks I obsessed about soundproofing techniques, microphone angles, electrical buzzing noises, reflection issues, all in an effort to create the most quiet environment possible.  I soon realized that my ears are not trained to hear such subtle differences.  I settled for a few packing blankets from Home Depot to cover some mirror closet doors and a few inexpensive acoustic foam tiles  scattered around the room.  Once I handed my tracks  over to Steve, he was able to take a digital sample of my “room noise” and run it though a filter to make my tracks less noisy.  Thus, another advantage of the digital domain.  Also, another advantage to having another set of ears listen to your music.  At some point I intend to learn to do all this myself.  But until then…

(more later)

THE LANDING CD

All  tracks recorded in my home studio.  Mixed and mastered by Steve Thornbrugh at Home of Tone Studio, Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Percussive sounds were made by right hand tapping, thumping, rubbing, ect.

-NOW AVAILABLE at CD Baby, where you can get the actual cd and case [...]]]>

THE LANDING CD

All  tracks recorded in my home studio.  Mixed and mastered by Steve Thornbrugh at Home of Tone Studio, Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Percussive sounds were made by right hand tapping, thumping, rubbing, ect.

-NOW AVAILABLE at CD Baby, where you can get the actual cd and case for only $10.  Digital downloads at CD Baby, iTunes, and Amazon.

Samples from the album – “The Landing”   (full length cuts can be heard at www.sonicbids.com/charliehill)

1. Dogs in Paradise – solo guitar

2. The Landing –  solo guitar

3. Hayward Hawthorne – solo guitar

4. Intro/Crosscut – guitar and bass

5. Aileen – solo guitar

6. Surreal McCoy (The Hospice Nurse) – solo guitar

7. Polaris Pass – solo guitar

8. Simple Song – guitar and vocal

9. Love Letters from Arabia – harp guitar

TUNING GUIDE

I use approximately 14 different tunings.  Most are variations of C, D, and G.  The instructional videos of Martin Simpson, Preston Reed, and Patty Larkin (available at

TUNING GUIDE

I use approximately 14 different tunings.  Most are variations of C, D, and G.  The instructional videos of Martin Simpson, Preston Reed, and Patty Larkin (available at Homespunvideo.com) were extremely helpful in expanding my tuning horizons!

Tunings used for my cd “The Landing”