Recording Acoustic guitar

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PeteS

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« on: February 10, 2022, 06:49:16 PM »
I've done a fair bit of recording acoustic guitar and whilst I am happy with it whin I am finger picking, I don't love what I get when it is strummed.

I am using Logic with an SEx1 mic into a Tube MP Pre Amp.  On the recorded track I have tried using logic acoustic presets and starting from scratch adding EQ, Compression and Reverb but nothing quite sounds right.

Any tips?
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Wicked Deeds

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« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2022, 08:04:16 PM »
@PeteS, forget the logic presets, they are terrible! Start from scratch.  Position a condensor microphone above the bridge and eq. Only a small amount of reverb is required. Strumming requires tremendous accuracy. Many believe that fingerpicking requires greater skill, but not in the recording world. Your DAW will pick up any inconsistency in your technique/timing. When you're happy with your recording, experiment with flextime. You can get away with murder playing live but not when recording.

Hope this helps.

Paul

cowparsleyman

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« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2022, 10:59:34 PM »
@PeteS - Hmm tricky this, allsorts of things affect strummed guitar, you probably have a sound you want me to n your minds eye, and getting it might be a way away from what you expect to need to get it, for example I used to have a cheap yamaha fg-160 which was my goto strumming guitar but was a terrible picking axe…

New strings a couple of days old to stretch out, so they don’t move out of perfect tune.(had a nightmare session once with out of the packet strings)

Where the track will sit in the mix is also a factor, if it’s exposed then I might play or use a slightly different technique mic wise, i do tend to use a thin-ish plectrum when recording a strummed guitar it gives it more of a pleasant feel to it. I love the beginning of Take That’s Greatest Day, that’s the strum sound I’m often after or Faith by George Michael…

After testing about 10 mic setups Mid side condensers came out the best.

If you have one mic I’d strongly suggest taking a very methodical approach, changing only one thing at a time, try and keep the playing the same , move the mic distance away, if it has an 80hz roll off switch to see if that works, Position is key not too close and as Paul says super tidy playing, leave off any eq and verb till you’re happy with the recording, the subsequent processing will be obvious.

The testing will be money in the bank when you come to do it again, write down each each test and what the results were…I did it (took maybe 3 hours) and never have to guess when tracking acoustic guitars.

How many tracks to use? Well how Many are there on Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell, she played a Martin D45, now they are good strumming guitars.

Hope this helps Pete, beat of luck and let
Me know what you do…






PeteS

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« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2022, 11:25:12 PM »
@Wicked Deeds @cowparsleyman Thanks for the replies guys. 

Paul, you are so right that the presets are awful, that's where I started and it quickly became clear that wasn't the answer!

To clarify the problem and give more information, I have a Faith Venus that sounds fantastic.  Strings could be an issue as they aren't that new but it's not being out of tune but maybe new ones will ring more so I'll change them.  It's not the strumming accuracy, whether they are tight or not is not really the issue. 

The SE x1does have an 80hz roll off so I'll try that.

When I listen to acoustic players on YouTube they sound so full and so even.  Take this song, Catching Fire by Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 (the song starts at 1:20)
his sound has so much depth.  When he stops palm muting a minute later it sounds so much better than mine (I accept he is a better guitar player than me!). 

The song I am working on has a capo at the 5th fret and that makes it harder as it's very thin so I've been re-playing the chords without the capo and it is definitely better but still not right.
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Boydie

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« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2022, 08:45:28 AM »
@PeteS

I agree with everything that has been said

It would be helpful to hear a snippet of what you are NOT happy with - and for you to describe your setup in as much detail as possible

A few things to try in the meantime are to use (beg, steal or borrow) another mic or 2

If I had 1 mic, I would start by pointing it at the 12th fret and go from there

If I had another mic I would experiment with having it pointing towards the bridge/body OR experiment with putting it further away as a “room mic” to capture the whole room feel of the guitar (the characteristics of the room come in to play here)

You can then record each mic on different tracks and experiment with different “blends” to get the tone you have in your head

This is all before using eq, compression etc.
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PaulAds

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« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2022, 09:10:32 AM »
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PeteS

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« Reply #6 on: February 16, 2022, 06:57:54 PM »
Thanks for the responses guys (well except Paul obviously 🤣).

I tried one mic in various positions and angles.  2 Mics (one Condenser and one Dynamic) both spread and close angled.  3 mics (another dynamic) spread.  In the end I went with the single mic over fret 15 but angled slightly towards the 12th.    Then I EQed the result probably in more detail that I have before and added a very small amount of compression.

I'm pretty happy with the result but no doubt I'll keep trying different options.

Thanks again!
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