While the subway made for a good meme, I opted to stick to solid ground for my next session. What’s distinctly New York, but not a park, or a subway? Why, a parking lot of course!
Rig run down
- Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone
- BandLab Link Digital audio interface
- Pig Hog 10ft XLR cable
- MXL V67G microphone
- Beyerdynamic DT-240 Pro headphones
- Portastand Compact Mic Stand 2.0
- Gibson C-1
- Classical guitar strings: Ernie Ball Ernesto Palla Nylon Black and Gold Ball End
- Audio Evolution Mobile for Android DAW app
As can be seen, apart from the guitar, the gear is identical to the subway session, and the Central Park session.
Of course, here’s the Pinterest gear guide with all the pretty pictures…
Recording Dawn and Tim Gibson C-1 in a parking lot
Firstly, I had kind of planned on recording this elsewhere. But, the place I had in mind was a half-hour walk, and I was pressed for time. Now, I had been half-thinking about recording in this parking lot for a while, because I pass through it all the time.
So, when I was passing through to go elsewhere, and saw how quiet it was, I opted to just do it.
Because these are the decisions you can make in mobile, light, audio recording!
In reality, there’s not an awful lot of process to outline that isn’t repeating the Central Park session.
- I went through my usual step one – identically to Central Park, it went…
- Link Digital plugged into my phone
- DT-240 Pros plugged into the Link Digital
- V67G plugged into the Link Digital via XLR cable
- I think I had already done step two at home, meaning I could go ahead and take a level
Then, I was ready to arm the track, hit record, and go for a take.
Although – as usual – I wasn’t being to fussy about background noise, I think I was more concerned here than any other session.
Conclusion
| Ach, it’s just ridiculous: and long may that ability continue | Parking lots are gross: obviously I was surrounded by trash and pigeons |
| Surprisingly isolated: I was 100% not bothered by a single person; although, last time I thought that, I became a meme | This parking lot is close to the subway: so, it’s loud – it’de definitely better to mic up a guitar on the subway, rather than next to it |
Look at that subway bridge behind me.
Now, the C-1 is a very quiet guitar, because I finger-pick it. So, that means I have to give the gain knob on the audio interface a little bit of welly. Therefore, making it more sensitive to background noise.
As fellow Queens residents once sang, “it’s tricky.”
Despite this, I managed three takes. And here is the one I’ve decided to work with to complete the track.
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