Is it possible to get decent sound on one track - voice and acoustic guitar?

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Rani

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Hello,
I am new to music and home recording. However... I have been working on a music project for the last few years, that I am wanting to offer over the internet. It's a spiritual music project - basically I'm putting a spiritual text to music. I have over 1000 original melodies, but I'm aiming to offer 365 initially (one a day). the songs are about 10 minutes long each. Given the volume I am dealing with, I am wanting the the recording process to be as simple as possible. Is there a way to get decent sound - good enough to offer the public, on just on track?

Right now I am using the M-Audio fast track interface, the Studio V3 pre-amp and an AKG perception 420 - into Garageband. I sing and play at the same time onto one track. I'm happy with the voice, but the guitar is a bit flat. I've experimented with mic placement - I have it at the 12th fret, found some improvement there, but the guitar is still a bit flat, dull sounding. I am completely new to this world, all this equipment is new and I'm figuring out as I go... Help?
 
Well, you see the problem - recording vocals and guitar with 1 mic and 1 track means you cannot adjust one without affecting the other. Unless you can find the right balance - mic placement, EQ settings, etc, you'll always be trying to "fix it".
 
If it sounds good to a person sitting in a chair in the audience facing you, there's no reason wht it can't and won't sound good to a single mic placed similarly.

Find yourself a decent-sounding room, first. Perhaps the kitchen. If that's too reverb-ery, try a slightly deader room (but not a completly dead one.) Move the mic away from you, a good three feet or so, so that you're getting the sound of the guitar as a whole and not just localizing on a part of it, and positioned so that you're getting a good volume balance between the guitar and the vocal. Hit the record button. Repeat as necessary.

G.
 
Certainly it's possible but with so many free programs on the internet for recording multitrack,why would you go that route? One that I have had told works great is AUDACITY.This software is free so you can't complain about the price!It has all your built in special effects that assignable to any of the tracks,it has a built in mic mixer plus many nice bells and whistles.And,if you have a non powered mixer as I do with phantom power,all you need to get started is the
Behringer U-CONTROL UCA202 USB-Audio Interface available from musicians friend to tie all of your analog equipment into your pc and AUDACITY.Hope this helps out.
 
What! It's the way all recordings use to be made! Find the sweet spot and go for it.
There should be more recordings done this way to preserve the art.
 
I agree with Glen and moresound. I used to write songs all the time (years ago) with just a cassette player and recorded both my vocal and guitar together. (This was the day before home recording/computers/software programs). Then, you HAD to do it that way from home unless you used a foot pedal for effects to add to the guitar, too.

I also agree a bathroom, hall, or maybe a slighter larger room will help to get a little bit of natural reverberation for the recording. You don't want a dry track in your case; it's great to do that if you use a computer, multitrack, and add effects later (plug-ins), But at least you end up with some reverb/delay/etc. in the end. To just send out a dry track (or a recording in a dead room) to others in the business will really make that one track sound dull and flat. With only one track with an instrument and vocal on it, you gotta do something to make it sound a bit more alive. You could add a bit of reverb through the computer to the whole track or even adjust the EQ for the whoile recording a bit. But don't send it out "dead" or "dry."

And a different guitar just might do the trick for you (as was suggested).

Mike Freze
 
Using the right room (even a bathroom) will give you a balance for that touch of natural reverb on both guitar and vocals. If you just added some effect to the guitar (like a foot pedal or reverb from your amp) and not the vocals, it will sound strange. Or visa versa. One will sound fuller and the other will sound really thin or flat. Whatever you do, I would do it to BOTH parts for the one track. One exception might be a delay effect added to the vocals and only a slight reverb on the guitar with no delay. But at least both things will have something going on rather than having the voice or the vocal "dry" and not the other.

Mike Freze
 
Yes, of course, but personally, I'd get an extra mic - one for the guitar, one for the voice, do a bit of experimenting to find the exact perfect position for everything, and then nail everything, including yourself, to the floor.

If you're careful to put them in between the toe bones, they can be removed later - and they will add interesting new tonalities to your voice... :laughings:

It's not really any harder to do a simple 2 track mix and, if you're going to be releasing 365 10 minute songs to the public, the sound might get a little, how do I say it nicely...., "routine" for your audience after a while...

Having two tracks allows you the ability to change things up every now and then... bit of reverb on vox, bit of chorus on guitar every other song - that sort of thing, just so not every single one of the 365 sounds exactly the same.

And there's no reason this has to take any more time than a one tracker, once you work out what works and what doesn't...

Cheers

PS. Make sure you arrange for people to feed and water you before you do the nailing thing... ;)
 
I don't want to upset any copyright rules, but this is such a perfect example... So here is just a few seconds of a Medski Martain and Wood song from their "Tonic" album.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3423276/MMWSevenDeadliesSample.wav

The entire album was recorded live with a single (stereo) microphone in the room. No close micing, no multi-tracking, no nothin'. So yes. It can be done. Very well too.
 
"Free Wheelin Bob Dylan" was recorded that way, or so I've heard. It's awesome and noisy and the mix between guitar/vocals/harmonica are way off at some points, and I wouldn't want to hear it any other way.

So go for it. Experiment with mic position, room, proximity to mic etc. and see what you get.
 
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