The Acoustic Evening Project by h.o.n.u.r

As the sun sets over the Maryland countryside, the creative office of h.o.n.u.r transforms into a recording studio where acoustic melodies ring out. Inspired instrumentals, covers uniquely arranged and interpreted, captured through motion and sound, visceral and honest. Each track is recorded in a one hour session which includes just a few takes and mixing, and then it is sent for distribution and cannot be touched again. It lives in the wild as music in the key of life at that moment. The Acoustic Evening Project celebrates the love of music and all those who dare to take part in creating at any scale.

 

The Acoustic Evening Project Studio Space

The Studio

A fourteen foot by twelve foot sun drenched bedroom used as a creative space for nearly two decades, transforms into a recording studio. A large inset window heated by the sun during the afternoon acts as a natural loudbox. At full volume, the ceiling becomes a strong reflection point, sustaining a distinct downward bell-like ring into recordings as the guitar strings chime out and bounce back down into the microphones. Acoustic treatments include offset three inch thick foam panels positioned to limit traditional echo points while retaining the rooms bright character.

 

The Acoustic Evening Project Fender CD60SCE Acoustic Guitars

Instruments

Two Fender CD60-SCE dreadnought six string acoustic guitars built by P.T. Samick in Indonesia drive the sound of the project. A solid Spruce top and solid Mahogany top, respectively. Both guitars have been further modified for improved sound and playability. Ox bone nut and saddle's replace stock composite units, and African ebony wood bridge pins replace original composite units as well. Stock Fishman CD1 pickup/preamps remain installed, while the addition of a second passive Fishman Neo-D single coil sound hole pickup hardwired to a Fishman Switchjack End Pin jack were added. Modifications to neck angle and components were made to aggressively lower actions as well.

 

The Acoustic Evening Project Studio Recording Equipment

Equipment

As a small space, equipment placement is as clean as possible. At the far end of the room is the control/mixing area. Driven by a modified Macbook Pro and peripherals including JBL 104BT reference monitors and a PreSonus Eris 8BT sub, running multiple DAWs including Ableton. Picking up sound is a MOTU M6 audio interface at the player's location with a 20ft run of TRS cables and a USB cable to the mixing area computer/speakers. In use are two Shure SM57 dynamic microphones, a Shure SM4 cardoid condenser microphone, and a Marantz Pro MPM-1000 condenser microphone. Often having the SM57's Stereo mounted at the guitar's twelfth fret, or against the Fender Acoustasonic 40watt amplifier; and a single condenser mic pointed at the guitar's cutaway. The MOTU M6 allows multiple monitoring options for the player and sending back to monitors. A second Macbook Air is used on-the-fly to record into Garage Band via an M-Audio Solo interface.

 

Gear Rundown

Links to actual products purchased for the project from Sweetwater and Amazon are below.
We may earn a commission on products purchased through these links at Amazon.com.