Obsessed with this song by Sam Farthing

Buco · August 18

Ha, yeah I just read where you showered the nylon string sound with love. I like the warmth that you get with it. Although I prefer to hear it played with fingers instead of a pick. But that's a little too much to expect.

It could be the natural tone of his guitar. It's got highs, it just doesn't shimmer. Which is what I've actually preferred lately. My only critique is that the instruments sit a little too close to each other in the mix, not enough space between. But Manoir de mes rêves is good though, nice and wide, so they didn't use the same formula for the whole album. Also to me, the bass is a touch muddy. I'd have experimented with the mic placement to find a spot where the low end is weaker, giving mids more room to breathe, maybe at the bridge or behind. I often record my guitar behind the bridge to avoid the boominess. Or eq it to bumb up the mids. The bass sound probably contributes to the overall color of the production. All that said, it sounds good, nothing to stop me from having it on repeat.

rarely_plays · August 18

It could also be pick choice. Here Henry is using a thin pick and you can hear him much more clearly than Sam, who is using a thick pick.

https://youtu.be/JRihMHOqRyk?feature=shared&t=8215

Buco · August 18

The guitar that Henry plays in this video is Sam's guitar that Craig Bumgarner built. It's a copy of Selmer ser #575. Here's when Denis interviewed Sam, where Sam plays it.

https://youtu.be/D-iz1lZ0mE4

rarely_plays · August 18

I figured it was the same guitar. This is why I believe that a thinner pick 1.5 or Big City 1.8 gets Henry the clearer notes. I prefer the sound of the thicker pick that Sam uses, but when it comes to a live performance with all the frequencies, I think that a thinner pick allows you to hear the individual notes more (playing style aside). I suspect that this is one of the reasons that Bireli and Stochelo use thinner picks.

pdg · August 18

The round side of a Dunlop 1.5mm (Bireli) and the regular point of the big city 1.8mm (Stochelo) produce very different levels of brightness/clarity. I've found that the shape of the picking tip -- its "radius" as well as its bevel, and the actual thickness of the tip itself -- are all important, in addition to the overall pick thickness. So is the pick material -- galalith "cuts" more than Wegen material or Dunlop material. But all other things being equal, you're more likely to get some extra treble (or less of the rest of the spectrum) with a thinner version of the "same" pick, up to a point (no pun intended).

voutoreenie · August 19

In that vid above I feel like it's more mixing/mic placement than the pick/guitar combo Sam's using which causes the level issues - mic in front of Henry is almost directly in front of the sound hole right where these guitars project the loudest while the mic in front of Henry is much more askew from the sound hole while he's further away from it as well