This works fine if you play lead guitar, but for some performers, it presents a major problem. Discover how to make your kick and bass hit hard by cutting (NOT boosting) the right frequencies! There are two groups of acoustic guitar players; those that also record vocals and those that do not record any vocals. (30 – 45 cm). Still, for a demo or a recording with a more live feel, this can be a good method to work with. We just sent a download link to your inbox. DI’ing an acoustic guitar from a built-in guitar pickup produces thin, harsh and compressed sounding parts. However, if the guitar is the only instrument in the mix, the spaced pair can sometimes create an off balance feel to the overall sound. This means you are pushing the level too hard. Will a pop filter and/or shockmount help you to record better tracks? To cut costs, you could stick to one mic and record the guitar and voice separately. Small diaphragm condensers will work well for this, as they tend to have good off-axis response, but sometimes a large diaphragm condenser will give you a better sound for vocals. How to Mix Acoustic Music — Part 1: Acoustic Guitar, How to Mix Acoustic Guitar with Ambience and Stereo Effects, How to Record Acoustic Guitar: Multi-Mic Techniques, Casey van Wensem is a freelance composer, musician, and writer living in Kelowna, B.C., Canada. For this method, you can choose to use a large diaphragm condenser or a ribbon … A spaced pair of cardioid pattern condenser mics on the guitar often works well, as you can pan the left and right guitar mics nice and wide while focusing the vocal mic right down the middle. Here are a few options to consider. If you are used to playing live with analog equipment, then pushing the levels is not so bad. If this is a problem, then an XY or ORTF stereo mic setup will give you a more focused but narrower guitar sound. I do a lot of recording and music production with acoustic musicians. It should come as no surprise then, if the results are less than stellar. Tracking vocals through a dynamic mic might not be the best choice for every genre, but for something like rock music, where many singers track their vocals through a dynamic mic anyway, even when a condensor is an option, this method gives you a pretty well isolated vocal track to work with. Once you are set up, you can record yourself as many times as you like. If your final product will be a sparser recording, you may want the acoustic guitar to fill up more space in the mix. Vocal Mic & DI Acoustic Guitar This is by far the easiest acoustic guitar/vocal recording option but it doesn’t produce great sounding guitar tracks - You have been warned! Should You Change Guitar Strings for the Studio? Get 65% Off Mix Essentials Now. This will lead to a guitar that sounds somewhat distant in the mix, compared to what you’ll get with the other methods mentioned here. Have you ever tried to record your acoustic guitar and vocals at the same time? Another interesting option to try is a single mic for the vocals and a mid-side pair for the guitar. The MOST HORRIBLE sound when you record digitally is clipping. 5 Effective Ways to Record Acoustic Guitar, The Complete Guide to DI Boxes for Recording and Live Performance, 4 Tips for EQ’ing Acoustic Guitar in a Mix, Black Friday is On! DI’ing an acoustic guitar from a built-in guitar pickup produces thin, harsh and compressed sounding parts. The first is to use a dynamic mic like a Shure SM7B on the vocals and some sort of condenser mic on the guitar. Aim for a signal varying between 50-75% of the max. Two Mono Mics This method can be a good option if you don’t want the mix to be too wide, but still want to add some stereo interest. In the end, more mics usually means more work, but if you’re patient enough to get the placement right, using two or three mics will result in a richer and more rewarding sound. Anyone who has mixed a song will know that mixing is easier when each track is recorded individually. Download this 40-minute workshop by Matthew Weiss, now for FREE! The mic positioning with this method will likely change with each person and each song you record, so it will usually take a few attempts to find the perfect position for both mics. If you buy an audio interface, and you have an electro-acoustic guitar, then at the same time as recording through the mic, you can also, on a separate track, record the output of the guitar, so try that too. There are many variations on this technique, so let’s focus on three basic techniques that you can play with to find your ideal sound. If a piece of music has acoustic guitar and vocals, the musicians often like to do the singing and playing together in the same take, rather than separately record the guitar track and then overdub the vocals. But when you record on your computer, do leave a bit of headroom. The simplest option (or so it would seem) is to use one mic and find the perfect spot for it. Do not place the microphone too near to the guitar (too low) or your mouth (too high). The question is, how do you go about capturing both the guitar and the voice at the same time without making the recording sound unnatural? Most of their musical life is spent singing and playing the guitar at the same time, but then suddenly you expect them to separate these two activities and give you the same performance? The mid-side pair on the guitar gives you more control over the stereo image in the mix, and the single vocal mic gives you a focused vocal track that you can pan right down the middle of the mix. Aim for a mid-point between the two. Powered by Genesis Pro with the Mai Delight Theme, How To Set Up A USB Microphone on Windows | A Troubleshooting Guide, The Best Recording Equipment for Acoustic Guitar and Vocals, Option 1: Condenser Microphone + Audio Interface, The Best Software For Recording and Mixing Acoustic Guitar and Vocals, Optimal Microphone Placement To Record Guitar and Vocal, detailed review of the Blue Yeti Pro XLR/USB, How To Record Keyboard and Vocals at the Same Time, Which Guitar Software? Take a singer/songwriter for example. The good news is you can totally do it, and you only need one microphone to pull it off! It’s also a good idea to record each mic to its own track in your DAW so you can make micro-adjustments to the timing if necessary to fix the phase alignment of the tracks. Using two condensor mics won’t give you as much separation as the other mic techniques mentioned here, but with good mic placement, you should be able to get a nice balanced sound without too much off-axis weirdness. One Figure 8 Mic. Rather than making life more difficult for the performer, sometimes you have to make some sacrifices on the recording end in order to capture the best performance. This is where stereo acoustic guitar recording techniques come in handy. Check the meter in your recording software while you rehearse. This mic is not the strongest for vocals, and lacks a bit of warmth in this area, but if you just want to record your acoustic guitar in isolation then the SM81-LC is a top choice. Plus, more counterintuitive ways to get fuller yet controlled low-end in your mix. Ordinarily, you’ll need a mic to record sound from an acoustic guitar. This is a very common and conventional setup for recording a well‑balanced singing guitarist, with a large‑diaphragm condenser mic for vocals and a pair of cardioid mics on the guitar, angled downwards for better vocal rejection. How to Record Acoustic Guitar and Vocals at the Same Time 1. The simplest option (or so it would seem) is to use one mic and find the perfect spot for it. A third method is to use two mics with figure 8 pickup patterns. If you want more control over the sound of each source, and you’re not concerned about stereo... 3. Perhaps you feel you lose some vibe when you overdub the guitar first and then the vocals second and you want to capture a more authentic performance.. If there is the odd error, then you can. It is a condenser microphone so it requires a source of phantom power with a decent pre-amp to get a good sound level out of this mic. Heck, while we’re at it, why not try out an SM57 on the guitar as well? There was an error submitting your subscription. Some recording engineers like to have the two mics right next to each other, pointing in opposite directions, while others are happy with mics that are placed farther apart. Multi-mic setups will give you the most dynamic sound for a guitar/voice recording, but when you’re working with multiple mics on the same source, it’s always important to keep phase coherence in mind, both when recording and when mixing. Because of this, most recording engineers will want to track each instrument or vocal part independently when recording a band.

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