Home Recording Secrets
Recording Acoustic Guitars
- In this article we are going to touch on just a few ways to get great
acoustic guitar tone to tape. Capturing the organic sound of an acoustic,
as well as the amplified sound of an acoustic-electric, becomes an art form, and as such, requires no one right way to do it. What I may
like, you may not, and vice versa. Factored into the equation is affordability.
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- Most of us home studio buffs can’t afford the high-end tube mics and
guitars that the pros use. So don’t get discouraged. With a little
creativity and some thoughtful ingenuity, anything is possible.
The Right Guitar
- It all starts with your guitar. It has to sound good here first. As
always, your ears are your best guides. If the acoustic you are using
sounds good to you then it probably is good, and is worth using on
your recordings. If not, no amount of fancy signal processing is going
to change the fact that the guitar just does not sound the way you
want it to. Here is where a lot of people get lost. With some effects,
compression, and eq, and a good mic, they think that their lousy guitar
sound will greatly improve. And as Marvin is often heard saying, "you
can’t polish a turd!" or something to that effect! Change the strings
on your guitar. Get some nice, heavy strings for thicker tone. Try
a different gauge of picks. Thinner picks are good for strumming while
heavier picks are more useful in flat picking and lead playing. Starting
with a decent sound, along with the right recording techniques, makes
for good tone to tape.
A Different Guitar
- By now, your acoustic should be sounding pretty close to the way you
want it to. If you are still not happy with the tones of your instrument,
it may be time to rethink your options. Many times in recording, I’ll
try a part with my acoustic and it won’t be what I hear in my head.
My guitar sounds great for lead playing but really lacks that full
rhythm sound for strumming and soft chordal work. So I’ll borrow a
friends guitar that is made for just that purpose: big, full-bodied
tone. And the recordings come to life. Of course, when that same friend
asks to use my guitar for some cool new lead part he’s working on,
I tell him to forget about it. (just kidding!).
- Remember, the source sound will always be the most important part
of your recording chain. All the rest is just color. Recording is
a funny thing. If you start with a good source tone, it will only
get better. If you start with a bad one, it can only get worse. In
a recording environment, everything is magnified.
- Next issue, I’ll talk in depth about microphone selection and placement
and I’ll discuss some different techniques in recording acoustic-electrics.
Stay tuned.
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Demian Meng
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