guitar and vocals together?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rnuk
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rnuk

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having never seen how "the pros" go about it in proper studios, i am unaware of a lot of the procedures. one that is getting me down:

is it at all possible to record me singing AND playing an acoustic guitar at the same time onto seperate tracks, without either spilling over? i have being trying with levels and filters and all sorts, but cant get it. do i need an external mixer or something?

also, when the pros do it, do they record each instrument one at a time or what?

cheers
rnuk
 
Unless you can separate your head and sing from a different room :p it's pretty much impossible to avoid spill. Experiment with mic placement and little baffle boards to minimize it as much as possible.
 
Better, IMO, to record separately.

Here's something you can try if you think it would help - lay down a track where you play AND sing. Then, while listening to that track, lay down a new guitar track. After you have the new guitar track down, dump the original track, and sing along to the guitar only track.

Another approach, if you can do any midi programming, is to program a piano or organ track of the chords to the song (simple half-note or full note chords) and then add a very simple drum track to that (maybe high hat and snare). Record your guitar to that track. I find it helps immensely with timing, and is much easier to play along to than a simple click track. After you've got the guitar down, record your vocals last (with or without the midi track as you prefer).
 
rnuk,
Iv'e been trying for years to get it right,I have to agree with dachay2tnr,get used to tracking seperatly,you'll be much happier in the long run.
From the advice I got from Harvey Gerst and other people around here,it seems like the only way to really do it right is use 2 multipattern condensors and set the nulls to cut the unwanted sound.
Big bucks!And still not 100%.
Another way is to use 2 supercardioid mics.
Complete isolation but diminished sound quality.
It's no easy task.
Iv'e gone back to tracking seperatly,much easier.

Good luck,
Pete
 
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