Recording Help

[MLM]

Please forgive my ignorance... I am just a beginner in the field of home recording. I have a Tascam Porta2 ministudio and want to record acoustic guitar and vocals and make semi decent quality tapes for myself and friends. (No dillusions of fame here... purely having fun)
My main question is what is the best way to record vocals and guitar at the same time? Do I plug my guitar into the Tascam and use a mic for vocals, use two separate mics, or one mic that picks up both? I'm not accustomed to playing the guitar without singing or vice-versa... and would rather not record using separate tracks for vocals and guitar. Is there a way to do this with decent results?

 

[Dragon]

Well, you don't really need a multitrack recorder if you're recording two things simultaneously and don't want them on separate tracks...you could just use any old cassette or Minidisc deck.

But you still want two mics for the stereo effect. To make the whole thing sound like someone was in the room with you, use two identical mics about 5' away in a V pattern with the backs of the mics pointing towards each other, and use one track for each mic panned hard left and hard right (this is emulating a regular stereo deck).

For the most flexibility, you still might want to mic the guitar and vocals separately (whether or not you physically mic the guitar or use a pickup or whatever is a separate issue) and run them into different tracks so you can at least get some benefit out of having a multitrack and can add effects like reverb or vocal chorus later.