Have you struggled to get a great acoustic guitar sound?
Not sure where to place the mic to get the sound you’re looking for?
Watch until the end of this video because you’ll learn how to record acoustic guitar like a pro!
Let’s get started by talking about Recording Acoustic Guitar with 1 microphone.
The first question you may ask may likely be; where to place the microphone?
But first we must ask: Where does the sound come from?
The Body
– The main source of resonance
– Full bodied sound / the heart of the instrument
– A bit boomy around the sound hole (avoid pointing the mic here)
The Neck
– Source of High Frequency Detail from fret buzz and finger noise
– Provides the character of the player/hands (important but can be abrasive)
The Bridge
– Provides a warmer tone from it’s proximity to the body
– Slightly brassy tone from the strings contacting the bridge
Now you could focus your mic in on one of these areas, but I find that in a 1 microphone setup, it’s ideal to find a balance between the tone of the body and the detail of the neck.
I usually end up placing the microphone pointed somewhere between the 12th and 15th fret. (6-8 inches away)
This points the mic at the body, while avoiding a direct path with the sound hole, which can be a bit boomy.
Likewise the mic is still directed at a part of the neck, which will provide some detail from the finger work, but it’s polar pattern is offset from the left hand which will also help use the cardioid polar pattern to reduce any abrasive finger scraps.
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What type of Microphone should you use?
I usually prefer a large diaphragm condenser (LDC) microphone for recording acoustic guitar, it’s full bodied sound provides amazing detail that I feel is the most accurate.
If you wanted a thinner more intimate sound (focused on the strings), you could try using a small diaphragm condenser. (SDC)
The way I think about it. The LDC has more space to pickup the long wavelengths if low frequencies, which often results in a more detailed riches bottom end.
Whereas the SDC emphasizes the tightly wound high frequencies.
For this reason, you’ll typically see LDC on sources with Low End like: Kick, Toms, Piano, or Bass.
and you’ll see SDC on strings, or Overheads or spot cymbals like ride and HH.
The acoustic guitar can kind of ride the fence, you get to decide the focus it has in your music.
But recently my friend Robby Miller from the Can’t Afford to Record Channel has turned me on to one of his favourite acoustic guitar recording techniques which is a dynamic microphone, the Shure Sm7B.
The Sm7b works great for a few reasons:
It’s front address has a very narrow pickup, which is useful for minimizing room sound and excessive overtones or the instrument that you may get from more sensitive microphones.
In this position, facing the 12th fret, it captures an a tight and intimate view of the strings.
I particularly enjoyed it on single notes and arpeggios.
Dynamic microphones work in a unique way because their circuit is passive, it doesn’t get the help of phantom power that condenser microphones receive. This makes them less sensitive and therefore less likely to pickup ambient noise from your room at the same intensity as a condenser.
Before we go any further, let’s talk about your room. I would also recommend checking out this video which goes deeper into the effect your room can have on your recording.
Busy strumming parts work best in a dry room. This way you hear the performance and not the room.
This is why installing acoustic treatment should be a top priority for your recording and listening spaces.
But some times, recording in a larger room can add as sense of space to a recording.
If you’re open to experiment, recording in a larger room can give you a bigger, more spacious sound. This can be especially desirable for certain instruments, such as drums, piano, and guitar, as it can give them an added sense of depth and dimension.
The next example in the video is from a Lexene song called ‘Are You Listening’ that I recorded in November. I really wanted a big open sound for the guitar, so instead of relying on reverb in post, I recorded it in the studio’s entrance hall which had an open concept and high ceilings.
Large rooms often have more natural reverb, which can add character and ambiance to your recordings. This can be especially useful if you’re trying to achieve a particular larger room sound in your music.
If you’ve got access to it, why not get it at the source?
Overall, recording in a larger room can be a great way to capture a rich sound that is difficult to achieve in a smaller space.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that every room is different and it’s much more difficult to remove the room reflections present in a recording than it is to add reverb to a dry recording.
So Experiment with different rooms and microphone placement can help you find the exact sound you’re looking for to make your recordings really shine.
Recording Acoustic Guitar with 2 Microphones
Next, we’ll talk about a setup that uses 2 microphones to record acoustic guitar.
It took me awhile to get into stereo acoustic guitar. I’ve seen a few methods that I didn’t really care for.
So the method that I’m passing on to you is the one I used on all the tracks for Lexene’s Misadventures in Love EP.
It’s an acoustic focused EP where all the songs start with vocals and guitar and then develop in their own way. So I wanted to have a lot of control over the final guitar tone.
I also wanted the guitar to have a sense of space being that It was the sound that connects all these songs.
To do this I placed a LDC facing the bridge of the instrument, and another at the 12th fret. Both microphones used are Advanced Audio CM414s placed 8-12 inches from the instrument.
This setup gives you have best of both areas of the guitar, and gives a full accurate image when hard panned L+R.
I love this spaced pair technique because to me, it sounds like I’m sitting right in front of the instrument. A great alternative if the single mic feels a bit cramped.
But if you don’t need all this width there’s another way you can use the 2 mic setup.
You can use them as Multi-mono, or 2 perspectives of the same source panned on top of each other.
This lets you balance the amount of warm body tone, coming from the bridge mic.
and the amount of nuances from finger noise or fret buzz coming off the finger board.
I know finger noise may not be what you think of when you place your instrument, usually we focus on getting the notes to sing, but to me it’s the fine details that adds to the authenticity of a performance. And If you have it, you can always turn it down and blend it in.
But one last note about using 2 mics on the same source. Check your polarity to make sure your microphones are an equal distance away from your guitar.
This is critical in stereo recording, but it’s good practice even if you’re just using mono because it means your mics are working together to record everything in sync.
To Check the Polarity of your mics:
– Record a quick clip of guitar. One chord will do.
– Then, in your DAW, Zoom in to focus on the attack.
– Check to make sure both wave forms line up.
– If they don’t line up, nudge the mic or the stand over so they do line up.
– Record another chord to check.
– as rule of rule I use a sorta ‘hang loose’ gesture to measure out each mics.
~ the distance of my extended pinky to my extended thumb
I find this works for you to get near perfect phase from the beginning.
Setting your Gain Level
Now that you’re all set up to record a digital audio workstation (DAW), make sure to select the right input and adjust the gain so that the levels are not too high or too low.
Play your guitar and listen back to the recording to make sure it sounds good. If the sound is too quiet or too loud, adjust the gain on your interface accordingly.
The first rule of setting gain is, avoid clipping. Never let your signal hit 0dBFS.
I made a gain setting video that uses -18dBFS As a rule of thumb for this safety zone. So check it out if you would like to learn more about gain staging.
When you’re happy with the sound, hit the record button and start playing!
Try to play as consistently as possible to get the best recording, and avoid having to reset the gain.
And If you’re not already, practice everything to a click track.
A metronome is an essential tool that helps you keep a consistent tempo while playing in the studio. This is especially important when playing with other musicians, as it ensures that everyone is playing together.
Once you’ve got a great recording there’s so much you can do to create a world class mix. But you must first get the best raw tracks possible.
On another note, I wanted to take a moment to talk about one of the unexpected sides of running this channel. I have found myself as a part of a community. Through LAE I have met countless colleagues and even friends.
Robby from Can’t Afford to Record, Dave and Scotty from Advanced Audio, Jeff in our sync placement video, and Daniel from DistroKid, as well as many many other engineers and home studio producers.
The fact is, is that I want to work with you. If you have a project you want mixed, if you need a second set of ears, or just want to talk about your projects I would love for you to reach out. At times production can seem like a solitary career, but I can tell you how much better my career has been since chatting with some of you. Send me an email and let’s work together. (Robert at Learn Audio Engineering dot com)
So I hope you enjoyed this post/video! Thanks for joining me, and I’ll see you in the next one.
