24 Responses to “Acoustic Guitar recording tips”
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March 26th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
When I 1st heard it I said it was super cool.
Now, after travelling with it through creative construction I dig it even more.
I’m impressed by it & the how.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Looks a good thread…haven’t got time now, but will check it out tonight.
Love trying to record acoustic guitar
March 26th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
This was very interesting……Any "reasonable" sounds Ive ever had from recording my… not so expensive acoustic..tended to be accidental :*( This has given some inspiration to experiment.
thanks !
March 26th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Awesome sounds, great posts. This will help a lot of people including myself. Thanks a lot.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
WhiteStrat, I want to thank you for this contribution. I found this track-by-track explanation to be extremely helpful. It really shows how a track can be built upon to have that "lushness" as you say. I’m sure you’ve heard this a lot already, but excellent playing and recording.
Cheers,
Michael
March 26th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Very nice, Strat! I sometimes experiment with cables of other colors, but keep going back to black as well
Learning / knowing the room you’re in is really important (at least as much as the color of the cables) - I recently moved to a new house - this weekend I set up with my normal XY, silk rug, etc., etc., in the new living room and got some really crappy tracks where I know I would have had good ones in the old living room. Live & learn! Also, I’ve been using my ACMP73s for a lot of things, but haven’t tried them on the acoustic yet — I’ll have to soon. Despite all the sturm und drang of the group buy, I think we made out like bandits with those pres - I like them more every time I use them.
Your description is awesome - while it’s ultimately true that there are no rules and your ears need to decide, and stuff like that, having a detailed description of one great approach is immensely valuable for folks who are trying to figure out how to approach the problem.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Thanks a lot for doing this! It’s really great to hear everything come together bit by bit, and your thorough explanations are greatly appreciated.
Great-sounding track.
Edit: Too many "great" references, huh? Sorry.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Excellent thread..and thanks for taking time out to post it.
I have difficulties recording my acoustic (most instruments in fact lol) I have a condenser and a dynamic…would it be best to have the condenser near the hole and the dynamic on the neck? or just use the condenser?
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Wow! That’s a great sounding track. I’m definitely going to try some of these techniques the next time I record with the acoustic. Great job!
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Hey Chef!
I’m with you–black cables are the foundation of my sound. And I agree about the pre’s–I love my 73’s. I bought 2 in the GB and then 2 more off of someone here.
Thanks for the props.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Thanks dudes!
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
In that situation, if I were going for a stereo recording of a single take, I’d put the condenser on the neck side and the dynamic down on on the body. But if I were going to double track (which I always do if it’s not complete improv) I’d probably not even use the dynamic. I’d use the condenser on the neck–experimenting with placements slightly closer to the soundhole to get some more bottom end–and play it twice for my stereo effect.
It sounds odd, but of the two placements, the neck mic (angled towards the hole) is the "main" mic–not the body mic. Both give you some stereo, but if you use just one, the neck position is usually a more balanced picture of your guitar’s sound.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
very cool post.
I have always saw the need for an acoustic guitar stand that holds the guitar in the playing position. Especially for the homerecording artist, because sometimes you need to get up to tweak this or or that or better yet go to take a piss and not have to worry about placement when you sit back down. I hate having to set the guitar down, picking it up , and knocking shit over in the process.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
thanks mate..i will try this out..really helped
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
There’s a stand like that, but it ain’t cheap, and it ain’t comfortable. I’ve used it in a live setting to leave my electric on my body, and switch to the acoustic real quick.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Thanks Ray. I really appreciate it!
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Thanks for sharing this Strat!! I think it’s worth stickie status.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
I’ve been recording in stereo (nearly hard left and hard right), but because a majority of my recordings are simply acoustic guitar and vocal, the sound wasn’t quite full enough for me. I just tried out your doubling and "opposite" panning technique, and I must say I’m astounded by the difference it made! A much fuller sound, while maintaining an intimate, acoustic sound. I have so much to learn…
Cheers,
Michael
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Great article WhiteStrat. I love those NT5’s. They hardly require any processing and those black cables are pretty sweet too.
I know you said you did pretty close micing but can you tell us about the room too? -Thx
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Thanks! The room is what I call my "future studio." It’s the size and shape of my studio, and it’s got all my gear–but it’s nowhere near finished. It’s in the basement and has a 10′ tall cement wall running down one side, and open 2×4 stud walls on the other three sides (the "room" is 16′ x 26′).
I actually use the unfinished walls to my benefit. I always face out through the long unifnished wall when tracking my acoustic. There’s a touch of natural ‘verb there, but no harsh room or wall stuff, because there’s no room or walls! Seriously, the basement is big, so the nearest solid wall or corner is over 20 feet away. So for intimate stuff like that, I get close to the mics and nothing comes back.
I do have a rather large collection of 703 panels. They’ll go on the walls someday, but I’ve built stands for them, and I use ‘em as gobos to make psuedo-booths. So when I’m recording a bigger banging acoustic sound (or vox or drums for that matter), I use those panels to make an odd shaped room for tracking. For acoustic, I’d play inside a "shell" of 4 panels arranged somewhere between a "V" and a semi-circle.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
If you think so, go for it. I’m okay with that.
EDIT: Never mind. I see you already did.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Whitestrat, thanks for posting this man, this is a really cool walkthrough of your acoustic process.
Out of curiosity, what were your MBC settings?
I’m surprised you really needed that second mic on the lead - I was reading that section before I listened to the clip, and my initial reaction was that you were crazy.
But yet, when I then went to listen to it, it did sound kind of thin…. Maybe a single LDC in its place…? Idunno, I should try doing something like this and see where I end up.
The other observation - that mono track definitely sounds a lot smaller and darker than the full stereo spread… But I could totally hear that sound working for, say, an unaccompanied guitar and vocal introduction, and then when the rest of the band kicks in panning it wide and bringing up the second mic and second take. It wasn’t a "lush" acoustic tone, but it was a pretty damned cool one, IMO.
I guess the only other note I would add to WS’s excellent post here is, more so than any other guitar situation I can think of, the source sound matters SO much when tracking acoustics. It doesn’t have to be an expensive guitar, necessarily - I’ve played some great sounding budget guitars - but if it’s not a particularly lush sounding guitar, or if your strings are shot or if there are weird rattles and resonances or something, then almost nothing you can do will fix that sound. Acoustic guitar is something we as listeners are used to hearing very "pure" and intimate, in ways you wouldn’t say about a clean or distorted electric, really, so far more than anything else in the signal chain a good source is going to be crucial. I’ve heard great rhythm tones out of shitty 15-watt solid state combos, but I’ve never heard a bad-sounding acoustic be made sound good on tape.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
This is troof! I certainly didn’t mean to gloss over the need for a great guitar sound before you even hit the red button. I bought mine with recording in mind (don’t play out much at all) and didn’t have tons of money at the time. I spent over 4 months researching and playing guits. I like the Seagulls because they’ll sacrifice the bling to get a great sounding guitar down to a lower price point. Since then, I’ve thought of upgrading, and believe me, I’ve looked. I have found numerous $2,000 and $3,000 that play as well–and certainly look better–but none that sound any better. So I’ve not bought another one.
I’m pretty sure I got lucky–they can’t all sound that good. But every time I pick it up–it passes the smile test. (And FWIW–I haven’t recorded a ton of other acts, but I’ve only had one that didn’t use my guitar after hearing it tracked.)
Yep…gotta have the sound first.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
People are always looking for ways to get better acoustic guitar recordings, myself included. This has given me some new ideas, as I’m sure it has many others. Thanks for sharing this! It surely took some time and effort.