Tracking Acoustic Rock

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crosstalk

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Oct 14, 2007
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So this is kinda new to me and will hopefully be a happy step aside from metal for a least one project. I may be working with a guy who sings and plays acoustic guitar. He said he also wants to add drums, bass, and electric to some of the songs as well.

If it was just vocals and one guitar, I may assume that there would just be one take of the acoustic guitar and it could either be mono or stereo.

Since the acoustic may be falling in with a "full band" mix, should I still go mono with it or should I double track it and pan it wider?
 
Track one acoustic with a stereo mic setup (XY works well if you want the option of keeping it mono). This gives you some stereo spread without losing the feel of a single performance.
 
Go with a XY setup for the acoustic, this'll give you some stereo spread but still give good mono compatibility and not make the acoustic sound too wide. Then you can double track guitars and use a spaced pair on the drum overheads to make these parts wide, keeping the focus more on the acoustic in the centre.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Those that mention using XY, do you recommend having the mics placed close to the 12th fret or somewhere else?

I'm not looking forward to the tracking of the acoustic. In my experience, I can never get an acoustic player to hold the guitar in place for even a few moments.

Set everything up and start noticing it sounds different, turn to look at them only to see they've totally changed the way they're sitting and the guitar isn't even pointing towards the mics any more. :rolleyes:
 
experiment with distance. Acoustics can sound really boxy if too close. If you're doing stereo miking in front I prefer ORTF. Cardioids 30* angle, 7 inch apart.
My favorite is over the shoulder, sounds just like what the guitarist is hearing, mics don't even have to match.

The role the acoustic plays in the song makes a huge impact on how you should mic it.
 
Dude, put an Ribbon mic or an LDC about 4-6 inches off the 12'th fret and a pencil or Large condenser mic up near the 1st fret (as stated above over the shoulder), and pan each to taste for a stereo field.
 
used to love DT acc's now i hate em.
Mic em in a spaced pair normally with sdc's.
one pointing near the head stock, and one nearish the bridge. moe em til it sounds good; but this gives you the impression of 'looking' at the guitarist.
 
crosstalk said:
Those that mention using XY, do you recommend having the mics placed close to the 12th fret or somewhere else?
Click to expand...

I normally aim for where the neck meets the body, but there are no set rules, experiment and see what sounds good to you.

crosstalk said:
Set everything up and start noticing it sounds different, turn to look at them only to see they've totally changed the way they're sitting and the guitar isn't even pointing towards the mics any more. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

This is normally down to setting up the mic's before the player has settled. Get him to sit down, get comfortable and play for a bit. Then set up your mic's as he's playing, and mention to him that it's important he keeps sitting in the same position.
 
Dude, put an Ribbon mic or an LDC about 4-6 inches off the 12'th fret and a pencil or Large condenser mic up near the 1st fret (as stated above over the shoulder), and pan each to taste for a stereo field.
 
I was fortunate enough to get a great sound from the guitar's pickup, so I just ran an instrument cable into a DI box and it sounded great! And because the pickup's attached, movement's not an issue.
Click to expand...


Yeah, unfortunatly that makes it not an "acoustic" recording.
 
Trevoire520 said:
This is normally down to setting up the mic's before the player has settled. Get him to sit down, get comfortable and play for a bit. Then set up your mic's as he's playing, and mention to him that it's important he keeps sitting in the same position.
Click to expand...

I do the whole "get comfortable" "stay where you are" thing and it still happens. :)

To be fair, that's normally with guys that play electric and are just adding an acoustic part to a song.


Thanks for all of the suggestions guys. I'm gonna try everything I can hopefully today. If I don't totally fail, I'll try to post some clips to see if I'm in the ball park.

Thanks
 
Force666 said:
Yeah, unfortunatly that makes it not an "acoustic" recording.
Click to expand...

How so? Care to elaborate?

Also, you have to understand my studio space. It's a room in a building with a bunch of other bands/producers, including a rap studio that has about 4000 watts of speakers two doors down. Unfortunately, not the ideal micing situation for acoustics.

I could post the DI tracks if you'd like to hear the results. It's also not the primary guitar, but rather there to add that string sound used in a lot of pop songs.
 
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