Classical guitar

Cheers alan. As stated somewhere in one of my posts, the song I'm working on consists of CG and vocals. Does one go about miking the same distance for CG if a vocal is going to be overdubbed?

I don't want the guitar to get too lost or 'distant' when mixed with guitar
 
Sorry, what I meant was that the guitar might -in unison with an upfront vocal- get lost/sit back in the mix too much...?
 
davecg321 said:
Sorry, what I meant was that the guitar might -in unison with an upfront vocal- get lost/sit back in the mix too much...?
Click to expand...

Unless you have a massive amount of room verb in the recording room, no it won't. Also you will probably add a little reverb to the vocal track and maybe the guitar track anyway? So that will change the distance perception as well.

The trick is to get a good sound from the guitar recording first, if the guitar recording sounds god mixing will be a breeze, if you have trouble with the guitar sound you will be trying to fix it in the mix.

Alan.
 
"Yes 10" is still a bit close to a classical guitar, as I said before I usually try 3' (36") or 1 metre in metric. If it's a steel string acoustic that is going into a band mix I would go for about 10" to 12" miced around the 12th fret facing towards the sound hole.

Alan."

+1. IMHO we have a contradiction in terms here. If you close mic a classical guitar it is no longer "classical"! That is not how the instrument it heard in life. We have to make the distinction I think between capturing "a" guitar for a mix and recording a performance.

You certainly can't record a CG in stereo (XY) close up because you end up with an enormous instrument that stretches from speaker to speaker!

Maybe we have forgotten how quiet many instruments actually are from a good listening position in a "classical" concert hall?

Dave,
 
It does indeed mean that, but it's probably not great advice. Try to keep your signal around -18 to -12 on the meter so your peaks don't clobber the ceiling. :) Digital distortion is such a nasty sound.
 
Yeah I get that. But the recording would only need boosting at some point anyway, which would increase noise and microphone hiss etc..

Since I'm talking about a hypothetical solo performance (no other instruments) it wouldn't hurt to track at say -3db or thereabouts. Is there any difference in sound quality/tone if I were to use the technique just stated and recording at a lower level (using a limiter on master buss to bring up volume closer to -0)

I know I'm getting ahead of myself here, but am just wondering if adding more input with a limiter later on is essentially the same thing as recording with a higher input gain...?
 
Not really, gain in the digital world has less analog artifacts (almost 0). When you put gain in in the analog world, you are bringing with it added sound. In the digital world, if it didn't get recorded it doesn't boost (for all practical purposes). But if you clip at the source, you can't fix that. Analog clipping sometimes sound good, digital clipping (which is what the sound is once in the computer) sounds like shite and it can't be fixed.

Digital clip is why I suggested tracking at a lower volume to make sure you don't clip at the source. Also, some of the hiss you may be hearing could be in the amplifier going to the speakers. Get a good track, good performance, don't clip and then in the MP3 clinic we can help you dial it in.

I assume you are going to play the guitar and then come back with the vocals? If so, you will get the balance right during mixing stage.
 
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