Recording - July 2017 - 22

I'm assuming your guitar is set up properly: no fret buzzes or
rattles, comfortable action all over the neck, good intonation.
If not, get thee to the town's best guitar fixer and make it right.

Four categories

So You Want
To Record An

Acoustic
Guitar?

The basics of a successful
acoustic recording, explained
By Paul J. Stamler

It's actually simple, right? Just put the guitarist in a room with
good acoustics, put a mic 8"-16" over the fingerboard and aim
it just above the 15th fret (see Figure 1), and you're ready to roll.
But, as usual, there are subtleties, and that's why we're gathered
together today. Here's a stream-of-consciousness look at
recording this fundamental and wondrous, yet elusive, instrument.

Start with the instrument
The first step in recording a good acoustic guitar track is to
make sure the guitar makes sounds that are worth recording.
At the risk of repeating myself (I mentioned this in the last
segment of my "First Steps" series in December 2016), you
probably shouldn't put on new strings at the start of the session;
new strings hold their pitch well, yes, but on acoustic guitars
they also ring and rattle like nobody's business. If you change
your strings 24-48 hours before you're planning to record,
they'll have a chance to settle in and calm down.
You routinely use a humidifier in your case or inside the guitar,
right? Unless you live in a climate with consistently high relative
humidity (and never use an air conditioner or forced-air heating
at home!), your guitar spends much of its time in a dry environment, and its tone suffers-the bass goes away, and the
action gets troublesome. I routinely use a Dampit® humidifier, a
piece of rubber tubing that contains a hunk of surgical sponge;
you soak it for about 10 minutes, wring it out, and put it into the
guitar's soundhole. (Some people keep a slice of apple in their
guitar case as a humidifier; it smells nice, but can attract ants.)
If you're not using a humidifier routinely, at least use one the
night before you record; the tonal dividend can be remarkable.
22

RECORDING July 2017

Now that the guitar sounds its best, what are you planning
to record? There are four major categories into which an
acoustic guitar recording may fall, and some of them need
specialized recording techniques.
1. Solo/twin guitar. Solo is self-explanatory, but the techniques
used for recording guitar solos also apply when there are twin
guitars interacting-the classic example being the longtime
partnership between Doc and Merle Watson.
2. Guitar accompanying a solo singer, such as a singersongwriter recording without a backup band. This may not
work with the same setup as the solo/dual guitar recording
if the musician sings and plays at the same time, since now
leakage issues present themselves. If you play the guitar part
first, then overdub the voice, obviously leakage isn't an issue.
3. Guitar as part of a small ensemble. This might be a bluegrass band, or an Irish ensemble, or a small rock combo, but the
salient characteristic is that the guitar still counts as, and is still
recorded as, a full-range instrument. (But for caveats, read on.)
4. Guitar as an element in a dense mix. This is a whole 'nother
ball game; when the guitar is part of a large ensemble
(whether live or overdubbed), it's usually not recorded/mixed
full-range. Usually the ensemble includes a bass instrument that
takes care of the nether frequencies, so the acoustic's low end
gets chopped off to some degree.
Obviously, there are intermediate or hybrid situations. One
classic example is Elvis Presley's famous Sun recording of
"That's All Right, Mama", where the guitar is certainly
accompanying a singer, but in the presence of a small group
(electric guitar and bass fiddle). There, the engineer (Sam
Phillips) rolled off the bottom of the guitar's sound to avoid
having the guitar's lower frequencies overlap the bass.

Mics and guitars
Which mic you choose for the task depends to some extent
on the scenario you're working in, although not as much as one
might think. Guitars have a lot of bottom (particularly larger
guitars, like dreadnoughts), and directional mics-cardioid,
hypercardioid and figure-8-have proximity effect. That acts
like an EQ which boosts the bass when the mic is close to the
sound source. Even for a solo guitar recording, you probably don't
want that; you want full-range sound, yes, but not a boombox.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - July 2017