How to get acoustic guitar to sound good?

devilsgirth · 11-01-2012, 04:23 PM

Im on a macbook pro 13, audio interface is a saffire pro 40, using an at2020 audio technica condenser mic with xlr and phantom power, but my guitar doesn't sound all that good compared to my br 900 recordings. It seems to pick up every little twang that i dont want is there any way to edit unwanted sounds out? My friend got to record a song professionally for winning a battle of the bands and he said that he did his recordings easy as pie, he said the sound engineer guy made everything sound great and now me and my friend are trying to record and we're having to record take after take after take to get it to sound just alright. How do you become a wizard at mixing and audio engineering i just feel like giving up cause i try eqing and everything and that can only help so much. Sorry this has kind of turned into a vague question but any input on how to make acoustic guitar sound better? (oh btw my mic is situated infront of the 12th fret roughly 6-12 inches away from me)

karbomusic · 11-01-2012, 04:37 PM

Quote:

It seems to pick up every little twang that i dont want is there any way to edit unwanted sounds out?

I don't have a direct answer but...

Many years ago I made the switch from tape to digital. For years I had used anything from a 4-track cassette, 16 track 1/2 inch tape, 24 track 2 inch, 4 track reel-to-reel and so on. I came home one day proudly wielding my new Yamaha MD8 Mini Disk digital 8-track recorder. I promptly mic'd up my acoustic and went to town. I played it back and was horrified because the digital recording found and called attention to, every possible undesirable habit in my playing technique.

I'll let the others chime in on how you might reduce them using a DAW and its tools which can help but I wanted to share my experience because eventually the best path was to clean up my technique. These had always existed but they were always masked enough in one form or another so that I didn't really realize they were there to the extent they were, thus I had never previously fixed them.

Actually you could try different micing positions just in case you are literally capturing too much pick or finger noise, move the mic back a foot or two just see if it is better.

jacobestes · 11-01-2012, 06:28 PM

Try lots of experimenting with mic placement. The best position will depend on your guitar and playing style and what the song needs. If the recording was just guitar, it would need something different than if there's also bass and vocals and so on.

Maybe try listening to your recording on the speakers you mix on, and then listening to it on headphones to get a feel for how it sounds on them. Then listen on the headphones as you try different positions with the mic. This should save time and encourage you to keep experimenting rather than give up, which is easy to do if you just find crap, crap, crap for an hour. Make a recording, listen on your mixing speakers, and adjust.

Good luck. Have fun. Don't give up.

Stretto · 11-01-2012, 07:50 PM

There are many tricks used to record acoustic guitar. You can mic up multiple positions such as the neck(yes, the neck), sound hole, stereo XY pattern a few feet away, ambient mic, etc... Mix these as desired.

EQ: Steel string acoustics tend to get a big cut in the mid's for most music. It makes them sound more percussive/rhythmic without getting in the way of the other instruments.

Obviously there is verb but EQ is probably the number one thing that you'll want to play with to get a sound you want.

beingmf · 11-02-2012, 01:54 AM

Increasing the mic distance can be a lifesaver (if the room is ok), other than that I would try to play softer.
What guitar do you use btw.?

run, megalodon · 11-02-2012, 02:08 AM

Placement is big, as has been said. Try everything, move around alot. Room acoustics are big, it can really effect what you are recording and how well you can hear what comes out of your speakers when you play it back. Trying moving to different places in your room or to a different room. The bigger the better, usually.

Recording is a skill that takes years and years to learn well. Don't be discouraged if you can't do it immediately. Learn a little bit every day. The professional your friend went to can do it easily because he has years of practice. EQing is part of that and it takes a long time to develop your ears for it. Play around as much as possible. It is very interactive; a boost or cut in one area can change the whole feel of the sound, and how you eq any particular instrument will depend on what other tracks you are trying to blend it in with. Try removing some high frequencies if there is too much detail. Maybe use a high shelf and turn all of the highs down, or use a band to lower a specific frequency. One good trick is to create a huge boost with a band and sweep that across the spectrum until you hear something nasty accentuated. Then turn the boost to a cut to lessen it.

gavriloP · 11-02-2012, 03:31 AM

Yep, mic positioning is the first thing to try, and it is free

Sometimes the classic mic placement (12th fret thingie) has way too much fret noises buzzes etc. for my liking (depends of instrument itself too) so you can try to put mic more to your right and point to bridge or between it and the hole for example, the sound is different there. Also that over-the-shoulder trick can work well (mic over your right shoulder pointing downwards towards the hole for example).

Fact is that condenser mics can sound little harsh and bright with digital, espesically when there is bright sounding guitar with fresh strings. BTW if you don't find satisfying tone with mic placement you could change strings before purchasing any new gear. There are quite a lot different sounding strings.

Also one thing: I've found that acoustic guitar is two different instruments when you are strumming in a big way compared to that delicate finger-picking. Usually with strumming it is better to have some distance between mic and guitar (well all in all extreme close miking usually sounds little unnatural to me, but might work as an effect).

Anyway, first thing to do is to "explore the studio space" and move that mic and player

Sometimes it can be nice to point mic directly to soundhole (with some distance) if you have some nice old dynamic mics that don't have too much low end. But with wrong mic it will sound horribly boomy.

Fran Guidry · 11-02-2012, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devilsgirth

Im on a macbook pro 13, audio interface is a saffire pro 40, using an at2020 audio technica condenser mic with xlr and phantom power, but my guitar doesn't sound all that good compared to my br 900 recordings. It seems to pick up every little twang that i dont want is there any way to edit unwanted sounds out? My friend got to record a song professionally for winning a battle of the bands and he said that he did his recordings easy as pie, he said the sound engineer guy made everything sound great and now me and my friend are trying to record and we're having to record take after take after take to get it to sound just alright. How do you become a wizard at mixing and audio engineering i just feel like giving up cause i try eqing and everything and that can only help so much. Sorry this has kind of turned into a vague question but any input on how to make acoustic guitar sound better? (oh btw my mic is situated infront of the 12th fret roughly 6-12 inches away from me)

What level are you hitting when you record? It's really common to try to record as hot as possible, and the result is often serious suction.

Try to aim for average levels around -18 dBFS with peaks under -6 dBFS while tracking, then get your level in mixing/mastering.

Fran

devilsgirth · 11-02-2012, 03:39 PM

Wow thanks for all the replies and suggestions guys. To answer some questions, im using a classical acoustic guitar, and the levels im hitting are between the -6 and -18 area. One huge problem im noticing is that my house just isn't quiet enough, right now its winter and the furnace is always on, iv tried covering the vents with clothes to muffle it but im pretty sure the mic is still picking it up. My basement was where i recorded everything on my br900 but this condenser mic seems to pick up everything and my basement isnt finished so you can hear everything that goes on upstairs like footsteps...etc. (still live with my folks). and also the furnace is down there so i moved up to my room but the vents are still there, and sounds can be heard through my window, like the melting snow dripping off my drain spouts. Im basically realizing that without a sound proof room you're pretty fucked. Any tips on how I can kind of create some soundproofing? My only options are the basement where everything can be heard, my bedroom and the guest bedroom (basically same environment).

James HE · 11-02-2012, 03:47 PM

while you are placing the mic add ReaDelay to the input FX, and set a longish delay time, pull the dry fader down to 0.

Input monitoring on. Monitor only from the track, mute or disable the direct monitoring of your sound card.

Play for a bit, then listen to the delayed signal. This is the only way you can really hear what you are capturing.

This, of course can work for everything you mic, not just acoustic guitar, but it's so amazingly crucial for acoustic.

jacobestes · 11-02-2012, 07:16 PM

When you use the delay method James HE mentions, make sure to turn the input on your mic down right after you play, so you don't pickup the playback, and so then playback the playback, for forever.

EpicSounds · 11-02-2012, 08:57 PM

I just wrote a tutorial on mixing acoustic guitars today.
http://audiogeekzine.com/2012/11/mix...ustic-guitars/

I have some other posts that should help too
http://audiogeekzine.com/2011/02/5-t...tar-recording/
http://audiogeekzine.com/2012/01/vid...ng-techniques/

James HE · 11-02-2012, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacobestes

When you use the delay method James HE mentions, make sure to turn the input on your mic down right after you play, so you don't pickup the playback, and so then playback the playback, for forever.

You do hear the headphone bleed repeating, it's never bothered me though.

You do need to curb your paranoia, however.

Am I crazy? Do you hear me?Am I crazy? Do you hear me? Am I crazy? Do you hear me? Am I crazy? Do you hear me? Am I crazy? Do you hear me? Am I crazy? Do you hear me? Am I crazy? Do you hear me? Am I crazy? Do you hear me? Am I crazy? Do you hear me? Am I crazy? Do you hear me?

devilsgirth · 11-02-2012, 10:15 PM

Yeah my mic is picking up my furnace and other crap. How good is an at2020 for recording acoustic guitar? I hear good things about the shire sm57. And are there any reasonably cheap ways for me to create a more soundproof recording environment? I put clothes and pillows over my vent but it doesnt totally block out noise.

Panic · 11-02-2012, 11:09 PM

You might try planning so that you can turn noisy stuff off when you'll be recording your acoustic. That's what I do, although it's tough to turn off the kids sometimes, so being able to plan around things helps too.

devilsgirth · 11-06-2012, 04:59 PM

Alright guys im an idiot, i had the back of my mic facing me the whole time iv been recording. Switched the mic around for the front to face me and it sounds 5x better, no damn background noises. So dumb lol....

Boray · 11-06-2012, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devilsgirth

Alright guys im an idiot, i had the back of my mic facing me the whole time iv been recording. Switched the mic around for the front to face me and it sounds 5x better, no damn background noises. So dumb lol....

And it was facing your furnace no doubt. Haha! Forgive me but that is too funny!

run, megalodon · 11-06-2012, 05:37 PM

placement, just like I said

devilsgirth · 11-06-2012, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boray

And it was facing your furnace no doubt. Haha! Forgive me but that is too funny!

Yeah it was facing the friggen vent, and then when i moved it, it wouldv been facing the door picking up my family going about there stuff. Was really starting to think my mic was a piece of crap lol

Cosmic · 11-06-2012, 06:36 PM

Thats great news.

tls11823 · 11-07-2012, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devilsgirth

Alright guys im an idiot, i had the back of my mic facing me the whole time iv been recording.

It's easy to do with the AT2020 because there's just that tiny little word "BACK" to let you know which is the front and which was the back. Well, now I know that the logo should go towards the performer, but it was a lesson learned hard.

I was recording a singer once and was wondering why his levels were so low and while I was tinkering, somebody else in the room spoke up and he came through loud and clear. Yes, he was standing right behind the mic. There was my clue.

James HE · 11-07-2012, 08:22 AM

Glad to hear you found the business end.