RIALAS Bouzouki Lesson 006 Sentonaki
I have had a few enquiries asking me how I approach the recording of my bouzouki and the methods I use.
This is a brief rundown. You have to take into account that I have the video camera in front of me so I am in a little bit of a disadvantage as I have to bear in mind how its going to look visually, especially for the lessons.
Firstly I prepare a basic backing track with a guide bouzouki. Then I concentrate on polishing the backing track to make it sound as "finished" as I can. This enables me to give a better performance on the bouzouki when the video is running. You'll notice that mostly I do not wear the headphones as I have the speakers on at a low level so there is a bit of spillage if you isolate the bouzouki, but this is lost in the mix. If I did not have the video to worry about I would use headphones and record the bouzouki in sections and would be able to do a better job of the sound and the finished product, but there has to be a bit of a compromise for the you-tube recording in any case, once you have uploaded your video there seems to be a big loss of sound quality so there's not too much point in being too particular. I am not too fussed on the position of the mike.
It is about a foot away and you can see that it always varies a little. I can EQ just a little for a variation in the sound. I also add compression as this makes the bouzouki stand out a bit more in the mix. I use an AKG 414. They use this a lot in Greece and I find it to be a very nice microphone. I also use a space designer reverb built into Logic. My instruments also have a nice sound and I also try to play as cleanly as I can. Having said that, You can make an average instrument sound good but you can also make a good instrument sound terrible and there is too much emphasis on "expensive" instruments and not enough on solid clean playing. Not to say that I am ever completely happy with my playing but I am trying to polish up where I can.
On the subject of backing tracks. They are only available from me for the lessons I am doing here on You-tube. These are not midi files but backing tracks that have taken me some time to put together. You can appreciate that I cannot give away all my backing tracks. Due to work commitment, I shall be off for a while and wish everyone happy pennies.
Watch video RIALAS Bouzouki Lesson 006 Sentonaki online, duration hours minute second in high quality that is uploaded to the channel RIALAS 13 December 2007. Share the link to the video on social media so that your subscribers and friends will also watch this video. This video clip has been viewed 119,647 times and liked it 231 visitors.
