Everyone always asks how to get that big huge guitar sound. Unfortunately, there’s no single answer to that.
There are a million factors at play, and lots of things I couldn’t possibly cover in a single article, but I’ll give you three tips today to help you move closer to that goal of getting that huge guitar sound.
1. Don’t start recording too quickly.
This is an easy trap to fall into, especially when you’re really excited about recording the next big hit rock record, but slow down, take a few minutes, even 15 minutes, to really dial in the right tone for the session.
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Have I mentioned lately that I love the Line 6 JM4 Looper?
I’ve been a musician for years, and I mainly play acoustic shows. You know, singer-songwriter kind of stuff. While a bare-bones guitar/vocal performance can be quite entertaining, the recording engineer in me wants to add more to it.
Enter the JM4.
I’ve always been absolutely fascinated with looper pedals. Any time an artist uses one in a performance, I’m spellbound.
As soon as you introduce a looper pedal into your setup, suddenly all the rules change.
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Last weekend I was recording acoustic guitar for a friend. He was having trouble getting a good recording of his guitar, so he asked me to give it a shot.
It was a beautiful Langejans guitar. I had never heard of the brand, but this was a gorgeous guitar with rosewood back and sides. The guitar had a huge bottom end, but was also surprisingly bright as well. I loved the sound of it.
I decided to stereo-mic the guitar. However, rather than use a spaced pair of microphones – one up by the neck, one down around the bridge – I decided to place the mics closer together.
Then I remembered getting a stereo mic bar months ago. I had actually never used it. After some digging around, I finally found it and put it to work.
What is a stereo mic bar?
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A few days ago I wrote 3 Reasons to Stereo-Mic Acoustic Guitar. While stereo-miked acoustic guitar can sound amazing, sometimes it makes more sense to use a single microphone. With that in mind, I’ve come up with the following list. (Be sure to share your opinions in the comments section.)
3 Reasons NOT to Stereo-Mic Acoustic Guitar
1. The guitar is cheap (or just doesn’t sound all that great.)
For several years I owned a fairly cheap Ibanez acoustic guitar. It didn’t sound awful, but it didn’t sound great. It was made out of a wood laminate and was lacking in the low end.
I tried recording that guitar with two mics, but it never gave me a much better sound.
If you think about it, it makes sense. One of the main reasons I proposed for stereo-miking acoustic guitar was the fact that it allows you to capture the entire instrument. However, if the entire instrument doesn’t sound all that great, capturing more of the instrument won’t help.
In case you’re wondering, I was still able to get a decent recording out of that Ibanez. I used the proximity effect to my advantage. I would place a large-diaphragm condenser a couple inches from the 12th fret. The recording ended up having much more low end than the guitar itself normally had. (You can read more about the proximity effect here.)
If you’re attempting to record a cheaper acoustic guitar, spend some time with a single microphone, find a “sweet spot,” and go from there.
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If you’re a home studio owner, then you will inevitably be recording a lot of acoustic guitar. Whether you play yourself, or you’re working with a local singer-songwriter, it pays off to spend some time learning how to mic an acoustic guitar.
There are as many ways to mic an acoustic guitar as there are engineers in the world. For the purposes of this article, I want to show you why you should consider stereo-miking acoustic guitars (that is, using two microphones on the guitar instead of just one.)
Most home studio owners will throw a single mic on an acoustic guitar, point it at the 12th fret, and hit record. While there’s nothing wrong with this, I think a lot of people are missing out on some very cool guitar tones.
With that in mind, I’ve come up with 3 Reasons to Stereo-Mic Acoustic Guitar.
1. It adds width to your guitar-vocal demos (or solo acoustic guitar).
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Everyone always asks how to get that big huge guitar sound. Unfortunately, there’s no single answer to that.
