Recording Acoustic For good Stereo sound

phriq

phriq

Freon Productions
Hey Everyone,

I have been trying to get the best acoustic sound I can in my recordings, I was curious if anyone knew the techniques used to get GOOD stereo sounding acoustic guitar. In a lot of the acoustic songs I hear it sounds like certain strums take place in certain ears and you only hear the fingers sliding against the fretboard in one ear. For example the Song "Retreat" here:

www.myspace.com/fightingatacollegelevel

or the song "Love VS Life here:;

http://www.myspace.com/jamestownstory

I am guessing you use two mics? one maybe towards the back of the guitar pointing slightly behind the soundhole and another around 12th fret? Is this correct? Also when you mix together, to you pan one mic to one ear and the other to the other ear?

Any knowledge on how to get good sounding stereo acoustic guitar would be Very much appreciated! Also what kind of effects would you use? thanks!
 
phriq said:
Hey Everyone,

I have been trying to get the best acoustic sound I can in my recordings, I was curious if anyone knew the techniques used to get GOOD stereo sounding acoustic guitar. In a lot of the acoustic songs I hear it sounds like certain strums take place in certain ears and you only hear the fingers sliding against the fretboard in one ear. For example the Song "Retreat" here:

www.myspace.com/fightingatacollegelevel

or the song "Love VS Life here:;

http://www.myspace.com/jamestownstory

I am guessing you use two mics? one maybe towards the back of the guitar pointing slightly behind the soundhole and another around 12th fret? Is this correct? Also when you mix together, to you pan one mic to one ear and the other to the other ear?

Any knowledge on how to get good sounding stereo acoustic guitar would be Very much appreciated! Also what kind of effects would you use? thanks!
Click to expand...

I would do it this way:

Record one acoustic track with the mike about 4-5 inches from the soundhole (I use an Audio-Technica AT-4040, but you can use whatever you have). Make sure the signal is not too hot... that you're not recording the guitar too loud. Pan this track hard left.

Record another acoustic track. Don't be tempted to just electronically duplicate the above track: do a whole new one. Then pan this track hard right.

Playing little subtle variations on the above tracks (in other words, playing your parts a little bit different) will create a nice dimensional feel to the track. They don't have to be EXACTLY the same... its these differences that make the track sound cool.

If you have these two tracks playing for the whole song, maybe for the choruses, you could record a third acoustic track that you can pan to the center. Or you can come up with variations. Maybe you can record a third acoustic track, and pan it 1/2 way between left and center. And then record a fourth track, and pan it 1/2 way between right and center. Or do that with an acoustic track that features strumming, as opposed to plucking notes, and so forth. The possibilities are endless!
 
Hey Thanks very much for the reply! I actually have played around with doing that, but what i have noticed that during each strum, if the guitars are even milliseconds off from each other that the sounds gets almost sloppy sounding.... I record with a metronome, but its impossible to have perfect accents on your strumming between both tracks. Is this a problem you run into?
 
phriq said:
Hey Everyone,

I have been trying to get the best acoustic sound I can in my recordings, I was curious if anyone knew the techniques used to get GOOD stereo sounding acoustic guitar. In a lot of the acoustic songs I hear it sounds like certain strums take place in certain ears and you only hear the fingers sliding against the fretboard in one ear. For example the Song "Retreat" here:

www.myspace.com/fightingatacollegelevel

or the song "Love VS Life here:;

http://www.myspace.com/jamestownstory

I am guessing you use two mics? one maybe towards the back of the guitar pointing slightly behind the soundhole and another around 12th fret? Is this correct? Also when you mix together, to you pan one mic to one ear and the other to the other ear?

Any knowledge on how to get good sounding stereo acoustic guitar would be Very much appreciated! Also what kind of effects would you use? thanks!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't place a mike near the neck of the guitar... that's just me. If I were mic'ing using two mikes... then I would always have one 4-5 inches from the soundhole, and another maybe 3-4 feet away (in front) for ambience. You could also experiment using baffles, or record yourself playing in a hallway or bathroom for the echoes.
 
phriq said:
Hey Thanks very much for the reply! I actually have played around with doing that, but what i have noticed that during each strum, if the guitars are even milliseconds off from each other that the sounds gets almost sloppy sounding.... I record with a metronome, but its impossible to have perfect accents on your strumming between both tracks. Is this a problem you run into?
Click to expand...

The tracks I've written that featured acoustic guitars haven't been at fast tempos, and they haven't featured intense strumming, to be honest. But I think that what you feel is sloppy (those variations) is the stuff that I actually LIKE!

When I first started doubling my vocal and guitar tracks... I was always off. But over time (I've been recording since 2002), it's gotten easier... to the point where I can really double myself well. I'm not sure how good your technique is, or how long you've been playing... but keep trying. Eventually, you'll find THE ZONE and double those parts perfect.

Obi-Wan: "Turn off that metronome, phriq. Let go, phriq!"
 
"retreat" sounds like two separate acoustic rhythm parts to me - even playing different notes at times- one panned left one panned right. In addition there is another guitar on a third track playing fills so its hard for me to tell exactly what's going on.

"love vs life" seems like it was stereo mic'd - again one panned left the other right and one track nudged slightly out of time with the rest of the song. Nudging one of the doubled tracks a bit can intensify the stereo effect.

There may even be some automated panning throughout both of these songs moving the rhythm guitar around in the stereo field.

It's OK to use two mics while recording acoustic - in fact that's how I do it 99% of the time. Two matched stereo mics set up on an X Y stand is a good method for acoustic guitar - placed close to where the neck joints the body. You can get interesting variations in tone and sounds using mics in two different locations and even two different types of mics. Just remember to keep the 3:1 rule in mind = the distance between the mics should be threes times greater than the distance between the mics and the source. This rule falls under good best practices category to ensure the sound waves reach both mics at nearly the same time. Aim one mic at the guitar body and one at the neck.

Another approach is to place one mic near the 12th/14th fret and the other one a boom stand pointing at the floor near the player's ear.

You will have play around with placement no matter what method you choose to find the sweet spots. But, don't get your mics too close to the sound hole or you may end up with a lot of boominess in the track.

Most software will give you the option of recording stereo to one track or recording on two separate tracks. Use two separate tracks -if your interface will let you record two+ simultaneous tracks.You can set different levels, pans, effects, and EQ for each track independent from the other.

As always start with the basics, learn the fundamentals and branch out/experiment from there.

Using three mics on one acoustic guitar is not unheard of to capture room sound. Do this only if your room sounds good, otherwise ambient micing my take away from your overall tone and sound quality.
 
D28Flatpickr said:
"retreat" sounds like two separate acoustic rhythm parts to me - even playing different notes at times- one panned left one panned right. In addition there is another guitar on a third track playing fills so its hard for me to tell exactly what's going on.

"love vs life" seems like it was stereo mic'd - again one panned left the other right and one track nudged slightly out of time with the rest of the song. Nudging one of the doubled tracks a bit can intensify the stereo effect.

There may even be some automated panning throughout both of these songs moving the rhythm guitar around in the stereo field.

It's OK to use two mics while recording acoustic - in fact that's how I do it 99% of the time. Two matched stereo mics set up on an X Y stand is a good method for acoustic guitar - placed close to where the neck joints the body. You can get interesting variations in tone and sounds using mics in two different locations and even two different types of mics. Just remember to keep the 3:1 rule in mind = the distance between the mics should be threes times greater than the distance between the mics and the source. This rule falls under good best practices category to ensure the sound waves reach both mics at nearly the same time. Aim one mic at the guitar body and one at the neck.

Another approach is to place one mic near the 12th/14th fret and the other one a boom stand pointing at the floor near the player's ear.

You will have play around with placement no matter what method you choose to find the sweet spots. But, don't get your mics too close to the sound hole or you may end up with a lot of boominess in the track.

Most software will give you the option of recording stereo to one track or recording on two separate tracks. Use two separate tracks -if your interface will let you record two+ simultaneous tracks.You can set different levels, pans, effects, and EQ for each track independent from the other.

As always start with the basics, learn the fundamentals and branch out/experiment from there.

Using three mics on one acoustic guitar is not unheard of to capture room sound. Do this only if your room sounds good, otherwise ambient micing my take away from your overall tone and sound quality.
Click to expand...

This was VERY helpful... It actually reiterated an article I had found about recording Stereo Acoustic guitar (http://www.humbuckermusic.com/acguitrectec.html) I have an interface where I can do different tracks for each mic so I will for sure try this!

One question I do have, however, Is with the nudging of tracks. This is something i have utilized in the past, however, I have used it to give more of a pan effect. What I have noticed is that if I nudge one track to the right just slightly (02 or 03 miliseconds) and keep the other normal and pan the tracks, I find that it is louder in one ear. (this is inevitably the same thing that one of my pan presents does)... If you nudge a track, how to you keep it from getting a panned effect so that it is equal in both ears?
 
The rhythm gtrs in Retreat are two separate performances panned.

Blumlein Config can create a very nice and natural Stereo field.

M/S can also work, but be mindful to the keep the bass centered and balanced.
 
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