Thanks for the compliments JW. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sound of it. To my ear, it doesn’t have that round, deep throaty sound that you often hear in grass. Of course part of that is probably me. I can’t pull tone out of an instrument the way some people can. But with that said, the mando has a sound I really think works well for live and so far, recorded as well. It’s very resonant and you pick up all sort of harmonics.
It was my first time recording it, so I was playing with different things. What you heard on that MP3 was simultaneously recorded with two mics, the (new) Shure SM7 and the MXL 990. I had them fairly closely positioned, about 8 or 10 inches in front of the mando. The SM7 was in front of about the 8th fret, pointed towards the neck joint, the MXL 990 was near the tail end of the mando and below the centerline and pointed back up towards the center of the body. The SM7 didn’t sound as I expected, but it provided a nice sound. I thought it would sound deeper than it did which is why I positioned it higher (to prevent any muddiness). Instead, it provided a lighter sound. I think the SM7 is very sensitive to how close you are to it.
In my opinion, I would suggest giving recording through the computer a bit more time before throwing in the towel. Once you get over the hump of learning your way around, it provides so many convenient, time saving, capability enhancing features. It’s kind of like the difference between digital and film pictures. Digital is not necessarily a better medium, but millions of people get better pictures simply because they can preview them immediately and take a bazillion shots to get one good one. If I were recording on a dedicated physical workstation (like a digital version of what I used to do on my Fostex), the results would be much diminished. Not because I couldn’t do the same thing on it, but because the software interface makes things so much easier, I can accomplish much more in much less time. That applies to every aspect of the process, including recording, mixing and mastering. I wish you could visit one of us that use them. In less than an hour, I think you’d be convinced (and over the hump). If you give it another shot, I would be happy to help get you going with it.
On a related note, I am going to get “more better” DAW software. I am bumping up up against the limitations of my free version of Ableton software a bit too often. I can work around it by ping ponging tracks and using effects loops, but it doesn’t make much sense to keep wasting my time when I could get past that with a fairly modest amount of cash. Pro Tools is widely held in great regard. I might go down that road. But before I do that, I am going to try out Reaper (http://www.reaper.fm/). I have read about it and seen some reviews, and I think it might be a great fit. In addition, their pricing is incredible. For the fully functional package it’s only $60 for a home user like myself. The software is the same as what is sold to commercial studios for several times more. They have a 60 day test drive for free, and I am going to do that. Once I try it, I’ll post a review on the forum.
I bet (with it aged as it is) that would make for some awesome sounding tops. So yes, do keep me posted on that.