Poor quality recordings

Thanks guys, seems like I'm making some progress. I recorded my guitar plugged in + with my condenser mic aimed at the soundhole (so i even get a bit of a boomy bass which is good), I panned them (not all the way) left and right and can say I'm happier with the sound. I also put some plugins (including Binaural Pan which widens my sound) on my output main bus channel, which means that I have these effects on all my tracks including vocals which are sitting a bit better in the track. :)

I'm still a while off getting that nice professional sound, but guess I'll get there eventually.

I'll be uploading my before and after mixing little test sample in the next hour or so
 
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Hey Boris, just to repeat what some other guys have said, try recording your guitar with the mic and pan that to one side. Then record the same guitar again and pan it to the opposite side. You can't get the results you're after with one guitar take, you need TWO different takes. The slight differences of both are whats going to help give you the sound you're after. Also IMO, i would avoid placing the mic on the soundhole.
 
musicgeekandlvr said:
Hey Boris, just to repeat what some other guys have said, try recording your guitar with the mic and pan that to one side. Then record the same guitar again and pan it to the opposite side. You can't get the results you're after with one guitar take, you need TWO different takes. The slight differences of both are whats going to help give you the sound you're after. Also IMO, i would avoid placing the mic on the soundhole.
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To save myself having to do 2 guitars, I also tried duplicating the same guitar track and putting delay (one at like 6ms and one at -6ms) to make them slightly out of time. I saw this on a tutorial, it cames out ok on some of my tracks but others doesn't sound so good. I thought maybe since they're delayed it wouldn't be an identical copy.
 
BorisMusic said:
To save myself having to do 2 guitars, I also tried duplicating the same guitar track and putting delay (one at like 6ms and one at -6ms) to make them slightly out of time. I saw this on a tutorial, it cames out ok on some of my tracks but others doesn't sound so good. I thought maybe since they're delayed it wouldn't be an identical copy.
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The only bit of advice you weren't given. :p
At least you learned something. ;)

What you made there is the beginnings of a DIY chorus effect.
You can offset timing slightly, like you did, and/or adjust pitch by a few cents to create difference,
but the outcome will be an artificial chorus effect. You might like it for some things, but it wont hold up as a stand-in for stereo guitar, or even double tracking (two takes).
 
BorisMusic said:
Thanks guys, seems like I'm making some progress. I recorded my guitar plugged in + with my condenser mic aimed at the soundhole (so i even get a bit of a boomy bass which is good), I panned them (not all the way) left and right and can say I'm happier with the sound. I also put some plugins (including Binaural Pan which widens my sound) on my output main bus channel, which means that I have these effects on all my tracks including vocals which are sitting a bit better in the track. :)

I'm still a while off getting that nice professional sound, but guess I'll get there eventually.

I'll be uploading my before and after mixing little test sample in the next hour or so
Click to expand...

It's good to try things and learn but I can't stress enough how much I would not bother with plugins and additional tools right now.
If you're at the stage where the concept of stereo is new to you, get a guitar, two microphones, and headphones, and experiment with that.

There's a ridiculous range of tones and widths you can achieve with those tools.

Additional plugins, particularly ones which mess with the stereo image, can complicate matters and blur the fundamentals that you're learning right now.

Not meaning to discourage; Any experimentation is good.
I'd just get really familiar with the basics first. :)
 
Steenamaroo said:
It's good to try things and learn but I can't stress enough how much I would not bother with plugins and additional tools right now.
If you're at the stage where the concept of stereo is new to you, get a guitar, two microphones, and headphones, and experiment with that.

There's a ridiculous range of tones and widths you can achieve with those tools.

Additional plugins, particularly ones which mess with the stereo image, can complicate matters and blur the fundamentals that you're learning right now.

Not meaning to discourage; Any experimentation is good.
I'd just get really familiar with the basics first. :)
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Yeah I spent much of today doing this, but couldn't really achieve that width I was after until I got to the mixing stage and found out about this Binaural Pan which is supposed to widen the sound. I called up one of the guys from a music shop who has 40 yrs experience and worked with some top artists and he simply told me to plug the guitar straight in, and that he does the same thing when recording. Hmmmm stuck at a cross-roads here

Though yes i still need to figure out mono/stereo and the technical differences there.
 
BorisMusic said:
Yeah I spent much of today doing this, but couldn't really achieve that width I was after until I got to the mixing stage and found out about this Binaural Pan which is supposed to widen the sound. I called up one of the guys from a music shop who has 40 yrs experience and worked with some top artists and he simply told me to plug the guitar straight in, and that he does the same thing when recording. Hmmmm stuck at a cross-roads here

Though yes i still need to figure out mono/stereo and the technical differences there.
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How are you monitoring?

I'm going take a couple deep breaths and step away from the recording-acoustic-direct topic.
 
Hey Boris,
I'm just realised I missed the obvious here. The reference you posted as 'This is what I want' is in a Recording guitar 101 thread.
The author has detailed his equipment and processes, and shown pictures too. :P

Did you go through that thread and take it all in?

If you told someone at a music shop that you're seeking width/stereo image and he suggested plugging in in directly, I'd probably not go back to him for advice in future. :P
 
BorisMusic said:
What do you mean? With my headphones like always
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I was referring to monitoring the “mix” vs. while recording. The focus on stereo width seemed to suggest headphones to me, so I guess I was looking for confirmation.

So, is this a solo acoustic song? I just don’t worry much about the “width” thing until I’ve got more to work with, regardless of whether I used one or two mics.
 
Hey Steena, I didn't understand half of it though. I think he was using older equipment (as the post was made in 2009 afterall) and technology has changed since.

And Keith, I pretty much listen as I'm recording. I already have all the effects on top of my tracks plus EQ, because I like to see how the end product will be straight away. Then I just press play and play it back to make sure that's how I want it. I don't feel comfortable recording RAW because I'll just dismiss it as a bad take.

YouTube This is an example of how I want mine to sound, listen to how clean and full everything is, it's like the sound takes up all the space. Hopefully you guys have a better ear than me and can tell HOW it was recorded.
 
BorisMusic said:
... This is an example of how I want mine to sound, listen to how clean and full everything is, it's like the sound takes up all the space. Hopefully you guys have a better ear than me and can tell HOW it was recorded.
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Terrific room with above average equipment and skills. (Keep telling myself to build one of those diffusers but the weight would probably tear out a wall in our quickly built spec house ;).)

Obviously no close mics there, and I tried really hard to find the cord coming out of the guitar, but couldn't see it.

Maybe XY but I'd go out on a [RNFI] limb and guess M/S mics just out of frame, or some other 3-mic setup. Probably not more, but I've not been lucky enough to get asked to watch that kind of session.
 
keith.rogers said:
Terrific room with above average equipment and skills. (Keep telling myself to build one of those diffusers but the weight would probably tear out a wall in our quickly built spec house ;).)

Obviously no close mics there, and I tried really hard to find the cord coming out of the guitar, but couldn't see it.

Maybe XY but I'd go out on a [RNFI] limb and guess M/S mics just out of frame, or some other 3-mic setup. Probably not more, but I've not been lucky enough to get asked to watch that kind of session.
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It's also possible it was recorded elsewhere and they were overdubbing. Good points there though
 
Hey guys, what if I duplicated my guitar and reserved phase on one of them to make them cancel each other out, then pan them left and right?

I just came across this technique in a different tutorial.
 
BorisMusic said:
It's also possible it was recorded elsewhere and they were overdubbing. Good points there though
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Yeah, it looks and sounds like it was recorded separately and the musicians sung and played over the recording. Experiment with stereo micing and I think a nice subtle reverb will put the guitar in a nice space like the guitar in that video is. Stereo widening plugins wont help much unless you really really understand how its affecting the sound. I also disagree with the guy at the music shop. You'll get an okay sound plugging direct in but you wont really get the sound you're after.
 
BorisMusic said:
Hey guys, what if I duplicated my guitar and reserved phase on one of them to make them cancel each other out, then pan them left and right?

I just came across this technique in a different tutorial.
Click to expand...

That seems like it's getting more complicated than you need to get and it probably wont yield the results you're after.
 
BorisMusic said:
Hey guys, what if I duplicated my guitar and reserved phase on one of them to make them cancel each other out, then pan them left and right?

I just came across this technique in a different tutorial.
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I think that's a terrible idea. It wouldn't add anything to the mix in stereo, and it would totally cancel out if anybody ever listened to it in mono (like on just about every cell phone or tablet on the market).

If you want a wider stereo image, record a take of your acoustic guitar part. Then do another take of the exact same part on a new track (a new performance, not copy/paste). Pan one track left, pan one track right.
 
Tadpui said:
If you want a wider stereo image, record a take of your acoustic guitar part. Then do another take of the exact same part on a new track (a new performance, not copy/paste). Pan one track left, pan one track right.
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I'll never knock someone for thinking about other ways or experimenting but, honestly....Spend some time with stereo recording or two-take recording.
If you can't get that to sound good, the issue is with the guitar, room, mics, or performance.
It might want a touch of eq like a meal might want a touch of salt, but the core should be good.

Any tricks, effects, or gimmicks on top of that should be because you want tricks, effects, and gimmicks.
 
BorisMusic said:
Cool, I might try these few techniques as well Stereo Miking Techniques for Recording Acoustic Guitar | Universal Audio
Should I use a pop filter for my condenser mic as I'm recording the guitar? What's the difference in sound if I use one or not?
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The difference will be negligible. It might shave off a tiny tiny bit of high end. Pop filters are meant for stopping bursts of air from reaching the diaphragm of the microphone. I don't think there would be any arguments that you would leave it off except when recording vocals.

In the video, I don't hear any real trickery going on. The acoustic guitar sounds mono and centered, close-miked, with a bit of compression on it. It's a good-sounding guitar in the first place. Relatively new strings and set up pretty well. There's probably some EQ on the guitar to get rid of some low end, since it's a pretty large dreadnaught and it doesn't sound boomy.

Both voices sound centered and compressed as well, and there is some subtle reverb on the vocal and even subtler reverb on the acoustic. I think that the reverb is providing the only stereo content in the song.
 
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