Nord User Forum

So, I'm in the midst of a new project which involves me recording my Nords for a variety of different music. Thought I'd share my impressions and others will as well?

#1 -- They record really well.

I get to review the raw stems, and the sound quality of the Nords is pristine. Doesn't really matter what I play. OK, a few bits sound lame, but generally speaking, almost no effort involved.

#2 -- How they sound live isn't the same as how they sound recorded.

Voices I though might have sucked live sounded wonderful recorded. And vice versa. I needed to re-dial my voices through the recording chain. In particular, some of the more nuanced pianos (Rain, Bambino XL) sounded super cool recorded but can be ineffective live. Digging into the library as a result.

Also, things like string resonance and pedal damper noise are totally blown out in a live situation, but you hear the nuance in a decent recording. I'm in.

#3 -- Easy on the effects, OK

I love the Nord effects for live playing. Really. While the Nord effects are pretty good, the DAW effects have much more control for things like chorus, reverb, leslie, etc. Compression is not my friend, it seems. Nor do I need much in the way of EQ. Record raw (no reverb, etc.) and adjust later.

#4 -- Leslie is the exception.

I have a Vent II in my signal chain. In almost all cases, it sounds richer and creamier than either the internal Nord sims, or the effects available in the DAW. No, I haven't checked out the recent crop of Leslie software plug-ins, but the Vent sounds pretty durn impressive to my tender ears.

Context? My rehearsal studio recording, low budget. We're doing demo tracks to get gigs and satisfy our fans.

Grateful Dead material plus some other similar Americana. 16 inputs to a Behringer XR-18 Air, USB to my slightly dated Macbook Pro with an external 256 GB flash drive, Presonus Studio One 3 as DAW, no third-party add-ons. Everyone playing through IEMs, so totally clean recording. Drums are isolated enough that they don't bleed.

Pristine stuff, exposes each and every flaw in our playing

I'm not going to get into an extended debate, but my opinion is that the Nord boards record really, really well.

Thanks for sharing. I think many of the points are similar to my own observations -- and also, there is a big (perceived) difference between playing the board and listening to it being played, even when it's just yourself you're listening to So it's good to adjust the resulting sound by listening to a recorded performance and not try to tweak too much when you're playing yourself.

Thanks for sharing!

We play grunge and record by tracking our instruments separately with my trusted YAMAHA AW16 G.

baekgaard wrote:there is a big (perceived) difference between playing the board and listening to it being played, even when it's just yourself you're listening to

Very much so! And it can go both ways - some parts really come to life on a recording that don't feel so stellar while you're playing them, and some parts where I think I'm red-hot... well, I'm not.

Another thing I've noticed is that the dynamics seem to be different compared to rehearsals or gigs. The guitar players merely do what they always do and end up right in the mix with little or no compression, whereas I'm constantly tweaking the keyboards afterwards. But that is also true for the bass, so maybe that's just the way it is.

Tracii wrote:Another thing I've noticed is that the dynamics seem to be different compared to rehearsals or gigs. The guitar players merely do what they always do and end up right in the mix with little or no compression, whereas I'm constantly tweaking the keyboards afterwards. But that is also true for the bass, so maybe that's just the way it is.

Couldn't it be that the guitars already are quite compressed, if they're using any kind of overdrive/distorsion in the sound?
Whereas bass and keyboard is a cleaner sound to begin with, where the "unwanted dynamics" are more obvious and need smoothening out.

fieldflower wrote:Couldn't it be that the guitars already are quite compressed, if they're using any kind of overdrive/distorsion in the sound?
Whereas bass and keyboard is a cleaner sound to begin with, where the "unwanted dynamics" are more obvious and need smoothening out.

Sure! It was just an observation that those dynamics are anything but "unwanted" when we're playing, but when we're recording, I don't get away with it as easily as other folks in the band.

The headphones and studio monitors you likely are using to listen likely have audio quality that is far superior to that of most performance audio systems that are optimized for filling a large space, not for high fidelity. When compared through high quality studio monitors, differences in sound quality from sound engine to sound engine become more obvious, and those like Nord keyboards that are good enough for recording work are separated from those that are not.

Funny this topic should come up this week.

The fusion band held a "sound" rehearsal in the back room of a bar this past Sunday. We recorded our room sound using a Zoom H2 in the back of the room to hear the blend and overall volume of the band. At the same time, I set up my Zoom R16 and recorded 8 tracks up close. Bass and keys went in direct, I tapped off the sax player's sound system (he carries a QSC K10), we close mic'd the guitar amp and put three mics on the drums (including a pair of Rode NT5's for the overheads).

I play through a pair of QSC 8.2's, and set my EQ up to optimize the sound of the Stage through those speakers. The room recording sounds just like I would expect it to. The APs have good tone and carry well. Organ sounds, well, organic and the EPs are smooth and natural.

The direct recording is different, most notably in the APs. They are a bit more brittle sounding, and require some warming up in post production. But I knew this would happen. When recording in a studio environment, I find that most of the APs can be recorded with little to no EQ. Ironically enough, it's usually the Rhodes sounds that need a little love in the studio.

So you did it Rusty Mike? You asked for advices on this topic on KC forum...Good, congrats!!!

Quai34 wrote:So you did it Rusty Mike? You asked for advices on this topic on KC forum...Good, congrats!!!

Funny that I didn’t actually buy anything. The Rode mics belong to the drummer.

I’ve decided for now not to buy anything. I concluded that I would just be spending money needlessly.

I did splurge on Cubasis for my iPad. This way I can mix and master from my easy chair! And it was half price.

Good point. Learn to use what you have vs. buying new crap. I should learn that lesson.