Tracking Rooms and Guitars

D

David Katauskas

New member
Just a few tidbits I found useful in my tracking room with regards to guitars:

I have several acoustic guitars in my tracking room. Whenever there is sound from another source (guitar, amp, voice), the acoustic guitars will resonate and will ultimately be picked up by the mic(s). Paper towels (or other dampening devices) between the strings and fretboard will work wonders.

Secondly, dampening the strings above the nut on any guitar that you are tracking will also remove unpleasant noises. I don't understand why this isn't a defacto feature of any production guitar...?
 
Man...I wish I could remember what acoustic law it was...it discribes what you're talking about.

It's not a malfunction with the instrument, it's just a property of sound.

Basically, the law states that any source that's in the same "tuning" as another source, will cause that vibration. Like it will transfer that energy and vibrate the other instrument. The same reason your snare vibrates when you hit a conga across the room that's tuned in the same range. And when I say tuning, I'm probably talking about it's formant pitch.

So it's kind of like the "cup with a string with a cup" physics, but not really.

I suppose the very reason that if you hit a timpani tuned in F, all the instruments in the same range will vibrate as well. Even the piano down the hall and to the left.


I know I have some of that information ass backwards, so not to be taken word for word. I only heard it once in my life, and the guy explained it to me in like 5 minutes 3 years ago. :D

If I can remember the correct name for it, I'll have to read up on it.
 
Sympathetic vibrations...

I once tuned the acoustic in the room to an open D when tracking a lead guitar in D pentatonic, (miked both the cab and about 4 ft. from the acoustic) made for a neat effect - wish I had a copy of that to play for you, but alas, it's long gone (a long with 4-track cassette recorders).

I keep a few blankets and T-shirts around the studio to throw over other gear when tracking. We have two kits in our studio, which sometimes can be used as echo chambers, but mostly just muck things up. So we just throw blankets over the drums and cymbals when necessary.

"Secondly, dampening the strings above the nut on any guitar that you are tracking will also remove unpleasant noises."

My twelve string was especially prone to this - most noticeable when play staccato. I just used a small piece of cloth under the strings after the nut at the headstock.
 
RezN8 said:
Sympathetic vibrations...

I once tuned the acoustic in the room to an open D when tracking a lead guitar in D pentatonic, (miked both the cab and about 4 ft. from the acoustic) made for a neat effect - wish I had a copy of that to play for you, but alas, it's long gone (a long with 4-track cassette recorders).
Click to expand...

I wish you had a sample too. That sounds like an interesting experiment. Maybe I'll try it someday.
 
I'm sure I've read somewhere about drums being tracked between two pianos with bricks on the sustain pedals and them bein mic'd up too...can't remember where I picked that up from though
 
that's something i'm doing purposefully with my "live" room (unused bedroom)
i've gone and made it dead with a number of absorbers, because it's a small crappy sounding room, and i had to.

but i hate dead rooms, so i'm going to line the walls with every cheep, string able but probably unplayable instrument i can find to give it back some life.
o'course the room could be made dead again with the paper towel method, or by removing the instruments.
 
This is very interesting. I'm trying to eliminate that "noise", but it sounds like it can indeed be used as an effect. I'll give that a try with some vocals later today and let the guitars "sing" with me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top