Help Me Make My Acoustic Guitar Sound More Interesting?

[Centropolis]

I have questions about how to record vocals and acoustic guitar at the same time. I want to be able to make the acoustic guitar sound “better” than what I have now and I don’t know how to properly do this without getting a different interface.

Right now, my setup is Seagull S6 and a Rode NT1-A plugged directly into a Lexicon Lambda (instrument and MIC 2 inputs). Each input is routed to individual audio tracks into Cubase LE. So I now have one track recorded with vocals and one track with acoustic guitar.

My question is, since I only have one inpout from the guitar, my recording now sounds like a lame mono flat not-interesting song. Because the Lambda can only record 2 tracks at the same time (USB 1.1), there is no way for me to put 2 mics on the acousitc guitar while recording vocals too.

Without buying a new interface, is there a way with the setup I have to make the acoustic guitar sound more interesting? There isn’t much panning I can do because it’s only one track for the guitar. Any suggestions?

 

[miroslav]

... is there a way with the setup I have to make the acoustic guitar sound more interesting?

Get an electric guitar and an amp!


Why not record the acoustic with two mics in stereo...and then do the vocals on a second pass?

 

[stevieb]

What he said- but about recording the guitar with two mics, not about the electric guitar. Your vocals will be better, as you will be able to focus on singing and not have to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Lots said here and elsewhere on acoustic guitar mic placement- find that wealth of info and proceed accordingly. I love Seagulls, so IMO you got that end nailed.

 

[miroslav]

What he said- but about recording the guitar with two mics, not about the electric guitar.

Aww 'cmon....you can't argue with an electric guitar crankin' away in a nice tube amp as being more interesting than any acoustic...well, maybe not around a campfire or serenading your girlfriend.

 

[Centropolis]

What he said- but about recording the guitar with two mics, not about the electric guitar. Your vocals will be better, as you will be able to focus on singing and not have to walk and chew gum at the same time.

I understand that to do this better I would benefit from recording the guitar and vocals separately with 2 mics on the guitar. But what I am doing is to record a video of myself playing and singing a song while recording the song at the same time. Then I would overlay the finalized audio from the recording (not from the video camera) over the video.

That's why I need to do this at the same time.

 

[Centropolis]

Aww 'cmon....you can't argue with an electric guitar crankin' away in a nice tube amp as being more interesting than any acoustic...well, maybe not around a campfire or serenading your girlfriend.

Yeah, but I don't have a nice tube amp. I am more of an acoustic guitar kind of guy so I only own a MIM Strat and a Vox DA-5 practice amp.

 

[diggy_dude]

Dude, Cubase is a multitrack recorder. Record the guitar on a stereo track, then rewind it and record the vocals on another track.

That said, I don't think a stereo guitar track will be that much more interesting than a mono track. Just work on recording a clean signal with good mic placement, then do stuff to it when you mix it down.

 

[miroslav]

I understand that to do this better I would benefit from recording the guitar and vocals separately with 2 mics on the guitar. But what I am doing is to record a video of myself playing and singing a song while recording the song at the same time. Then I would overlay the finalized audio from the recording (not from the video camera) over the video.

That's why I need to do this at the same time.

Learn to lip-sync!


So you have (2) of the same RODE mics or is the Seagull fitted with electronics?

You can try backing the mics away a bit, so you can get more of the room or maybe incorporate the camera/video audio which should have a good deal of room...just enough to take away the flat/up-close vibe.

 

[Centropolis]

Learn to lip-sync!


So you have (2) of the same RODE mics or is the Seagull fitted with electronics?

You can try backing the mics away a bit, so you can get more of the room or maybe incorporate the camera/video audio which should have a good deal of room...just enough to take away the flat/up-close vibe.

I only have one NT1A for my vocals. I did record the S6 with electronics directly into the Lambda. I do have a SM-57 and a cheap Apex pencil condenser mic that I can use on the acoustic. If I record the song by having the NT1A on vocals and a pencil condenser mic on my acoustic guitar, would it sound 'better' than directly plug in of the acoustic? It would probably give more natural sound?

 

[Centropolis]

Dude, Cubase is a multitrack recorder. Record the guitar on a stereo track, then rewind it and record the vocals on another track.

Hi, yeah I understand but again, I need to record this at the same time as per my description in post #5.

 

[arcadeko]

Hi, yeah I understand but again, I need to record this at the same time as per my description in post #5.

No you don't.

1) Record the song with two guitar mics - no vocals.
2) Record the song again on new tracks playing along to the first guitar part with the one mic on the guitar and one on the vocals. (Video this take)
3) Mix the 3 guitar tracks together to get a great full guitar sound. (Almost everyone double or triple tracks guitars.)

 

[miroslav]

I only have one NT1A for my vocals. I did record the S6 with electronics directly into the Lambda. I do have a SM-57 and a cheap Apex pencil condenser mic that I can use on the acoustic. If I record the song by having the NT1A on vocals and a pencil condenser mic on my acoustic guitar, would it sound 'better' than directly plug in of the acoustic? It would probably give more natural sound?

You can try it...you have a few mic choices.

Correct me if I'm worng...but with the Lambda, you only have two outputs for two tracks, but you have 5 inputs...2 mic, 2 line and 1 instrument and you simply mix them with the front panel of the Lambda.
So...use one mic for vocals, one for the guitar, but also plug the guitar into the instrument input, and then you can blend that with the guitar mic signal. Your instrument input takes the place of the Line 1 input.

Lots of options to mess with.....

 

[Centropolis]

You can try it...you have a few mic choices.

Correct me if I'm worng...but with the Lambda, you only have two outputs for two tracks, but you have 5 inputs...2 mic, 2 line and 1 instrument and you simply mix them with the front panel of the Lambda.
So...use one mic for vocals, one for the guitar, but also plug the guitar into the instrument input, and then you can blend that with the guitar mic signal. Your instrument input takes the place of the Line 1 input.

Lots of options to mess with.....

No, the number of inputs for the Lambda is kind of misleading. Once you put something into one of the Line 1, Mic 1 or Instrument input, all other input marked as 1's are disabled. So then I would have to plug the Rode into the Mic 2 input. Essentially you have 5 input options but really you can only attach 2 things at the same time. There is no blending of signals with the interface.

This is as far as my understanding goes.

 

[stevieb]

Aww 'cmon....you can't argue with an electric guitar crankin' away in a nice tube amp as being more interesting than any acoustic...well, maybe not around a campfire or serenading your girlfriend.

Hmmm. I can't say I quite agree. I'd say differently interesting, if you catch my drift, but not more interesting. Sometimes, the purity and over- and under-tones of an acoustic are just what you want to hear. I have a cheaper 12-string- an Arbor brand- and harmonics just pour out of that thing. Beautiful.

 

[miroslav]

You see a lot of guys doing open mic strum-n-sing shit with an acoustic...and it's OK, some of them play really well...
...but I was thinking it would be cool to do that with an electric guitar and amp (no other players).
Give it that old blues-man vibe (though not necessarily just doing blues), like the way some of them would play electric on the street corner and sing without any other accompaniment.

 

[Centropolis]

I just thought of something. Let's see what you guys think.

If I get a small mixer, and plug my acoustic directly into the one input and the SM-57 into the another input, pan them a bit, connect the combined output to the one input into the Lambda Line 1. Then I can sing into the Rode and plug that into the Mic 2 input in the Lambda. Then I can record both together, and have a relatively more interesting sound (double tracked in a way).

The trick is to get a small mixer that costs cheap enough so that it wouldn't cost more than buying a new interface that can record 4 tracks at the same time! haha

Actually, now that I think about it, there is no need to pan in the mixer since the output will be just one mono input into the Lambda anyway. But atleast it'll have two signals combined into one.

 

[miroslav]

Did you read my earlier post from yesterday?
Your Lambda IS a small mixer. You can record two mics + two lines (or 1 Instrument and 1 Line)...at the same time.

Read your manual.

 

[guitaristic]

If I were you:

I'd record the guitar with 2 mics.
Then I'd go back and record vocals.
Then I'd go back and shoot the vid. If you want to make it look realistic, just stick a mic in front of the guitar and sing into one like you've been doing...fake it all and lip-synch the whole thing. you could definitely pull it off.

 

[miroslav]

...fake it all and lip-synch the whole thing. you could definitely pull it off.

People make millions doing that!

 

[KenHR]

I agree that you should double mic the acoustic first, then record the vocal, then just lip sync the video (or don't make the video a performance video, and instead get funky with the visuals).

I was thinking it would be cool to do that with an electric guitar and amp (no other players).
Give it that old blues-man vibe (though not necessarily just doing blues), like the way some of them would play electric on the street corner and sing without any other accompaniment.

I saw a bunch of Bob Mould shows like that in the '90s. They were pretty awesome. If you read AVClub at all, they have a new vid of him doing this with Sugar's "If I Can't Change Your Mind" up this week.