Acoustic Guitar Recording 101

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Thank you Keith and no, no need to ask permission! Any improvements you think are needed we are quite happy with. Learning all the time.

I have concluded that I am now ***ed as far as helping son with recordings? I cannot detect any breath noises* or shuffling but then I am clinically deaf and I guess should hang up my XLR cables! I can hear him moving etc at beginning and end but not during.

*NOT! That we claim to be in even the same universe but Mr Bream was a notorious 'grunter' and we have Glenn Gould 'humming along'' with the Goldbergs!

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Thank you Keith and no, no need to ask permission! Any improvements you think are needed we are quite happy with. Learning all the time.

I have concluded that I am now ***ed as far as helping son with recordings? I cannot detect any breath noises* or shuffling but then I am clinically deaf and I guess should hang up my XLR cables! I can hear him moving etc at beginning and end but not during.

*NOT! That we claim to be in even the same universe but Mr Bream was a notorious 'grunter' and we have Glenn Gould 'humming along'' with the Goldbergs!

Dave.
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My hearing is not great, though according to tests, just fine in the vocal ranges, so hearing aids have not been recommended ("You probably wouldn't like what they do to music," and that sort of comment.) But, I know I miss things at the limits and mis-identify "noises" that may or may not be what I think they are, i.e., it might be uncontrollable ambient noise I'm hearing, and not technical stuff.

Here, I don't think what's left after filtering the background a bit is too intrusive, but it diminishes it as a "performance." For his purpose, it's fine, I'm sure.

Of course, when you're recording in a studio, you do have to really wait for the last note(s) to completely die away before packing it up if you want to save the mix guy some tedious work, and mic placement would likely be further away since background/room/fridge/dripping faucet/et al noises would not be part of the s/n equation.
 
mahtovid said:
The simplest way to get a clip on here I find is to turn it into a high res' MP3 320k, then attach it.
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Good call that man! That saves the hassle of a link that won't open and means one can simply copy the clip into a DAW for further investigation.
I have asked before but why can we not attach even 10 seconds of a .wav? When a poster has a noise issue say, it is possible that MP3 encoding could cloud the results.

Dave.
 
I thought you about to kick off into a Marshall Tucker tune!

The recording sounds great.

I have been using a two mic setup lately. I aim them both at the 12th fret or one on the 12th and one on the lower bout. Lately I’ve been using a AKG 414 and a Royer R122 with a small bit of compression. I try not to EQ much as the guitars I use are not usually boomy on the low end. See photos in my next post.

 
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ecc83 said:
Good call that man! That saves the hassle of a link that won't open and means one can simply copy the clip into a DAW for further investigation.
I have asked before but why can we not attach even 10 seconds of a .wav? When a poster has a noise issue say, it is possible that MP3 encoding could cloud the results.

Dave.
Click to expand...
I think it's just file sizes and the accumulation over time.
I suppose someone has to pay for that storage and in the vast majority of cases mp3's just fine.
 
IMG_2497.webp
IMG_2498.webp
I’m currently using this set up with both mics pointed at the neck joint. Sometimes I move the 414 down to the lower bout on the treble side.
 
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Here is an acoustic recording I made today with my new portable studio. I loaded Logic Pro onto my iPad. I plugged my MOTU microbook 2c into it with a usbc adapter. I used a small diaphragm ADK condenser mic aimed at the neck joint. I think it sounds pretty dang good, even without a high end mic preamp.

 
Hi, this might have already been covered, but as this is page 14 I've probably missed it somewhere. It's only a quick question anyway.

I'm wanting to record some acoustic guitar over the weekend. I'm going for the X-Y set up - but in your DAW would you put this as 2 separate tracks so that you can address any issues separately, or just one one track with both inputs ?

Many thanks

I
 
witm8 said:
Hi, this might have already been covered, but as this is page 14 I've probably missed it somewhere. It's only a quick question anyway.

I'm wanting to record some acoustic guitar over the weekend. I'm going for the X-Y set up - but in your DAW would you put this as 2 separate tracks so that you can address any issues separately, or just one one track with both inputs ?

Many thanks

I
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My son records his classical guitar most often with two Lewitt SDC mics about 100mm apart, parallel and just over a meter away. If you record guitar at that distance with an XY setup you end up with a giant guitar!

For steel stringers people often use one mic pointed at the 12th fret and one at the lower bout. Then mix, match and pan to taste. They can be different microphones.

Dave.
 
I always use it as 2 mono tracks, especially if you are using different mics, or pointing them at different areas of the guitar. That lets you blend them (mono is fine, or a slight stereo separation), and if needed you can adjust EQ for each mic.

I wasn't as happy with the X-Y setup. I usually went with the 12th fret / body setup. I was also more happy with using a M/S setup the few times I tried it A lot will depend on your room. A bad room limits you to close up mic techniques.
 
TalismanRich said:
I always use it as 2 mono tracks, especially if you are using different mics, or pointing them at different areas of the guitar. That lets you blend them (mono is fine, or a slight stereo separation), and if needed you can adjust EQ for each mic.

I never cared for the results I got using the XY set up. I usually aim one at the neck joint and one on the lower bout. Sometimes I aim them both at the neck joint.
I wasn't as happy with the X-Y setup. I usually went with the 12th fret / body setup. I was also more happy with using a M/S setup the few times I tried it A lot will depend on your room. A bad room limits you to close up mic techniques. A lot of the time, especially if it’s a dense track, I just use one mic aimed at the neck joint.
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I just started recording acoustic guitar with an X-Y setup. I haven't got into mixing the tracks yet, but I like the way they sound. I have a matched pair of NT5s, each recording to a mono track. One is pointing at the 12th fret, one at the lower bout, approx 8-10" away.
 
The amazing thing about this thread is that Whitestrat's recordings are still available to listen to!

From a players perspective (not in front of my acoustic guitar) I have on occasion added to the normal two mic approach by adding a third mic and fourth mic slighty above right and left shoulders level and adjacent to my head to capture what my ears are hearing. And blend.
YMMV
 
60's guy said:
The amazing thing about this thread is that Whitestrat's recordings are still available to listen to!

From a players perspective (not in front of my acoustic guitar) I have on occasion added to the normal two mic approach by adding a third mic and fourth mic slighty above right and left shoulders level and adjacent to my head to capture what my ears are hearing. And blend.
YMMV
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How do you deal with the phase issues with that setup?
 
60's guy said:
What phase issues? Two mics in front of the guitar and two mics at head level...less than 3 feet apart cause phase issues? If so, my hearing is much worse than I suspected.
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I’m always worried about phase with multiple mics on one source.
 
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