Ukulele Practice

JovianPyx · Last edited by JovianPyx on Mon Oct 01, 2018 5:12 pm; edited 3 times in total

I had lots of problems trying to record my ukulele, but finally overcame most of them. The remaining problem is that the contact mic adhesive needs to be pressed more so that there is better acoustical contact.

uke_2b.mp3

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Ukulele Practice Recording

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uke_2b.mp3

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PHOBoS · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 8:35 am Post subject:

Lovely!

JovianPyx · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 8:57 am Post subject:

Thanks!

I plan to make more out of it, add acoustic guitar and KS for bass.

Hmm. Seems I misspelled Ukulele in the title.

robsol · Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 4:15 pm Post subject:

Very nice indeed. Very Happy

JovianPyx · Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 6:03 pm Post subject:

Here's another one. I'm finding that just leaving the recorder on while practicing is a good idea. Anyway, this one is a boogie on a ukulele with too much reverb.

ukaboogie_1.mp3

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ukaboogie_1.mp3

boogie on an ukulele.

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ukaboogie_1.mp3

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1.15 MB

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JovianPyx · Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 7:58 pm Post subject:

And another

picking_2018_10_16a.mp3

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picking

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picking_2018_10_16a.mp3

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elmegil · Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 10:45 pm Post subject:

A couple questions:

All the recording done with contact mics?

What kind of strings? They sound a lot more metallic than the typical nylon.

A soprano?

My eldest has been quite taken with the ukulele for nearly a year now, and he's been noodzhing to get a studio together when we can afford it (and when he meets my requirements about school) and I'm interested in what special things we might need.

PHOBoS · Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 6:38 am Post subject:

sounds wonderful scott flower

JovianPyx · Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 7:56 am Post subject:

Thanks PHOBoS Smile

elmegil: The instrument is a Mele Tenor Ukulele. The last two recordings were done using a new contact mic "John Pearse" with the mic on the treble end of the bridge. The signal was recorded through a DigiTech Polara reverb into Audacity. The recording was then mildly EQ processed to slightly boost bass and slightly attenuate highs.

The strings are nylon for the upper two and wire wound nylon for the two lower strings. This instrument uses the low G tuning (not traditional Hawaiian). I have a 10 band guitar EQ pedal that I want to try to preprocess the mic signal before sending it to the reverb. The mic is very sensitive and tends to respond lop-sidedly well to highs. I will also try putting the mic on the bass side of the bridge.

What I've read about ukulele is that it's a difficult instrument to mic and I can understand that conclusion.

The mic comes with two methods of installing - there is a permanent adhesive dot (circle) on one side with the adhesive covered by a sort of wax paper. I did not use that. There are also 2 pieces of temporary adhesive included which is what I used to stick the mic to the bridge. It appears to work with the temp adhesive on the side opposite the permanent. The instructions say that the permanent adhesive can be removed if not used. I've not tried that. I read from one reviewer (who seemed really pissed about the permanent adhesive) that it's difficult to remove. From my experience, the mic is sensitive on both sides. Watch hanging sleeve touching the mic while playing, it will cause noise. I play with short sleeves.

elmegil · Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 8:43 am Post subject:

great, thank you for the detailed reply Very Happy

JovianPyx · Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2018 3:43 pm Post subject:

Another tune, this one is called "6 to the bar for Ukulele"

uke_2018_10_28_a.mp3

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6 to the bar for Ukulele

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uke_2018_10_28_a.mp3

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JovianPyx · Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2018 8:29 pm Post subject:

I just got both ukuleles back from the luthier shop where both were intonated and both had Aloha Twin mics installed. The 4 string tenor also had a problem with the fingerboard which they fixed. Action was setup on both instruments. They are so much better to play now. And since both have built in mics, it's too easy to plug in and record when I practice.

So here are some snippets of working with the 4 string tenor Mele ukulele.

Played through a DigiTech Polara on plate setting.

seg_00_rec_20181228-172931.mp3

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segment 00

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seg_01_rec_20181228-172931.mp3

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segment 01

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seg_02_rec_20181228-172931.mp3

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segment 02

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seg_02_rec_20181228-172931.mp3

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seg_03_rec_20181228-172931.mp3

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segment 03

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seg_03_rec_20181228-172931.mp3

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JovianPyx · Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 7:05 pm Post subject:

Some more ukulele stuff, these were done on my 8 string Baritone ukulele.

seg_00_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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segment 00

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seg_00_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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seg_01_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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segment 01

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seg_01_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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seg_02_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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segment 02

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seg_03_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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segment 03

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seg_04_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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segment 04

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seg_04_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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JovianPyx · Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 7:15 pm Post subject:

more

seg_05_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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segment 05

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seg_05_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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seg_06_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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segment 06

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seg_07_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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segment 07

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seg_07_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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seg_08_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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segment 08

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seg_09_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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segment 09

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JovianPyx · Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 7:21 pm Post subject:

more

seg_10_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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segment 10

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seg_10_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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seg_11_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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segment 11

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seg_11_rec_20181229-132912.mp3

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JovianPyx · Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2018 4:26 pm Post subject:

a bit more Tenor

seg_00_rec_20181230-133625.mp3

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segment 00

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JovianPyx · Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 8:59 pm Post subject:

More practice stuff, some a bit rough...

20190424_two_bits.mp3

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two bits

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20190424_two_bits.mp3

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JovianPyx · Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 6:06 pm Post subject:

Some baritone ukulele harmonics

20190510_snippet_20190528.mp3

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Baritone Ukulele Harmonics 50 seconds

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20190510_snippet_20190528.mp3

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JovianPyx · Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 7:10 pm Post subject:

Here is what I call PinklePinkle.

20190510_eq_end_snippet_PinklePinkle.mp3

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PinklePinkle

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20190510_eq_end_snippet_PinklePinkle.mp3

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JovianPyx · Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2020 4:02 pm Post subject:

I had a very difficult time with the set I did on the last solstice. I had a problem hearing because of two pieces of gear that were more than 40 years old and were both contributing noise.

I've improved my studio getting rid of a 40+ year old noisy mixer and a 40+ year old noisy graphical EQ. I replaced the mixer with a much newer one and replaced the EQ with a simple passive second order high pass filter with cutoff at 100 Hz. The filter (and EQ) is intended to reduce body thumping while playing an instrument like ukulele.

Here is a snippet of practice time recorded through my new setup.

20200423uke-practice.mp3

Description:

Short bit of practice.

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20200423uke-practice.mp3

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