Recording - July 2017 - 34

building

Guitar

character
Get aggressive with your
acoustic guitar recordings!
By Sven-Erik Seaholm

At the outset of any acoustic guitar recording session, I set
up a music stand, some headphones, a guitar stand, a bottle of
water and a comfortable chair (that exhibits the least amount
of self-generated creaks and groans) in an area of the room
midway between the center of the room and a corner; usually
faced toward one or the other. This particular spot may get
moved more toward the center for a more open, less "colored"
sound, or conversely, nestled more toward the corner for a
warmer, more intimate sense of proximity.
Many producers, engineers, musicians and other recording
enthusiasts will then place a small-diaphragm microphone-
like a Neumann KM 184, AKG C 451 B, Josephson C42,
RĂ˜DE NT5, or Shure SM137-about 7 to 12 inches from the
front of the guitar, pointed at the spot where the neck meets
the body, near the instrument's 12th fret. Sometimes this is
angled slightly off-axis, toward the soundboard or "top" of the
guitar, to add a little more low end.
Often, another identical (or matched) mic is added to capture
a left/right stereo image. A favorite stereo positioning is the
X/Y (or coincident pair) miking technique, achieved by crossing
them at a 90-degree axis at either the capsule, middle or ends
of the two mics. When properly aligned and set, the bass
frequencies are neatly trimmed and tamed, while the fretting
hand takes on a more present and noticeable role in the fairly
wide sonic picture.
This approach and others like it, as described by Paul Stamler
in his article on page 22, are generally considered reliable,
repeatable methods that deliver consistent, mono-compatible
results. I, however, consider them kind of boring...
While sticking with one catch-all miking set up is a good
way to maintain a reliable perspective on all of the subtle
and/or more marked differences between a variety of guitars,
34

RECORDING July 2017

it still doesn't go far enough in the direction of accentuating
and even exploiting these idiosyncrasies for my taste. Whether
an acoustic guitar is being employed as the foundation of a
track or simply icing on a multi-faceted cake, I want the listener
to know it's there, to feel its existence in a visceral way.
Of course context is everything, so a plethora of questions
must be considered and negotiated along the way: "Is the instrument being played aggressively or delicately?" "Is it being plucked or strummed?" "With or without a pick?" "What
is the role of the guitar within the arrangement?" "Is it a featured
performer or an understated seasoning?" "What is the musical
genre?" "What's the song about and what is the perspective
of its protagonist?" You can see how the questions can crop
up and multiply almost exponentially.
Then there are the answers, along with the multitude of
directions that they can direct us. But there is definitely a line
between simply documenting the music and actually imbuing
it with its own flavor and personality. Where the acoustic guitar
is concerned, there are more perspectives of and glimpses
into the musical unknown than the roads most traveled can
possibly provide.

Talking tone
Obviously, the place things most define themselves is at the
source. Without exaggeration, the same musician can play the
same musical passage on eight different guitars and potentially
arrive at eight distinctly different results. The sounds of these
guitars are influenced by the varieties of woods they're constructed
from, or the type, gauge and even age of the strings.
The differences among different makes and models of guitars
can be as obvious as their shapes and sizes. Martin's D-18
dreadnought is a rightfully iconic example of the instrument
and most of the luthiers out there would be lying if they said
otherwise, but that's just one flavor. A Gibson J-200 Jumbo,
for instance, possesses a much larger body than most of its
peers, and its considerable girth manifests itself aurally in the
form of a big, bass-y authority. A Taylor 815C has a much
tighter low end, but the upper harmonics seem to jump off the
soundboard, shimmering like a halo of diamond dust around
each note. A Recording King R0-16 has a chunky feel to the
neck, with rolled-off highs and a slight bump in the low-mids,
giving it a punchy sound that matches the thumping mutes and
chiming chords in my personal playing style.

1



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

Contents
Recording - July 2017 - Intro
Recording - July 2017 - Cover1
Recording - July 2017 - Cover2
Recording - July 2017 - 1
Recording - July 2017 - 2
Recording - July 2017 - 3
Recording - July 2017 - 4
Recording - July 2017 - 5
Recording - July 2017 - Contents
Recording - July 2017 - 7
Recording - July 2017 - 8
Recording - July 2017 - 9
Recording - July 2017 - 10
Recording - July 2017 - 11
Recording - July 2017 - 12
Recording - July 2017 - 13
Recording - July 2017 - 14
Recording - July 2017 - 15
Recording - July 2017 - 16
Recording - July 2017 - 17
Recording - July 2017 - 18
Recording - July 2017 - 19
Recording - July 2017 - 20
Recording - July 2017 - 21
Recording - July 2017 - 22
Recording - July 2017 - 23
Recording - July 2017 - 24
Recording - July 2017 - 25
Recording - July 2017 - 26
Recording - July 2017 - 27
Recording - July 2017 - 28
Recording - July 2017 - 29
Recording - July 2017 - 30
Recording - July 2017 - 31
Recording - July 2017 - 32
Recording - July 2017 - 33
Recording - July 2017 - 34
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Recording - July 2017 - Cover3
Recording - July 2017 - Cover4
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