Recording - July 2017 - 36

building

Guitar

character

This was a determining factor for my
choice in the studio: If this was going to
be the axe that I perform this music with
live, I might as well use it for the recordings, if only for the sheer consistency
of its sound. Additionally, anything that
feels most comfortable to the musician
is more likely to elicit a more confident
performance from them, so that's definitely
worth keeping in mind as well.
Ultimately, just listening to the guitar
you'll be recording, even if it's only as
the player is warming up, can provide
you with a wealth of information that
should help you to move forward with
confidence. And there's nothing wrong
with augmenting its sound where appropriate; see Paul Stamler's fun sidebar.

Mic me up
There are probably as many types
and varieties of microphones to choose
from as there are acoustic guitars, but
I actually like to begin by setting up a
single large-diaphragm condenser mic.
Most home and commercial studios
generally have a "go-to" option at the
ready. These can range from entry-level
priced models like the Studio Projects
B1 or Blue Microphones' Spark to midpriced offerings like the Audio-Technica
AT4050, Sennheiser MK 8, and LEWITT
LCT 550, on up to the Lauten Audio Atlantis FC-387, AKG's legendary
C414, or the well-respected TLM 107 or
U 87 from Neumann.
I find that solid-state large-diaphragm
condensers generally give the most
musically usable results. Conventional
ribbon mics can roll off too many high
harmonics, and dynamic mics can have
trouble reproducing the extreme highs
and lows. Tube mics can add too much
'tizziness' in the upper frequencies when
the tube's self-induced harmonics conflict with those coming off the guitar.
That said, I love the sound of a tube mic
36

RECORDING July 2017

on a nylon-stringed classical guitar, and
ribbon mics can beautifully tame the
harshness of a resonator guitar (dobro).
The next part of the signal path would
be your mixer's input preamp and EQ,
for tailoring and taming the sound. A
gentle hand is best at this point, but as
the session progresses you may desire
more tone shaping capability. You could
also use a dedicated analog channel
strip that includes a preamp, EQ, and
compressor. There are examples for
every budget, like the PreSonus Studio
Channel, Universal Audio 6176, and
Grace Design m103.
If you're recording direct to an interface
and don't have a channel strip or mixer,
no worries. You just won't have quite
the amount of control over the sound
immediately, and you'll need to pay
closer attention to the placement of the
mic. Don't use plug-ins at the tracking
stage if you can help it; latency and phase
cancellation can lead to problems later.
Get the player seated comfortably
and then turn them if needed until they
are facing the mic at a flat plane. Instead
of placing the microphone in front of
the guitar's joint as described earlier,
let's start in perhaps the very worst
position: right in front of the soundhole,
6 inches away. The soundhole is really
just a bass port, like that one in your
studio monitors, that pushes out air.
This bassy mash is not much good for
anything resembling a guitar and vocal
demo, and usually provides disappointing
results across the board.
That said, I will share that I have miked
a guitar that way and subsequently overcompressed that signal and applied
some severe EQ cuts. This allowed me

to layer some really aggressive-sounding
acoustic guitar textures underneath the
electric guitars within a dense rock mix,
for bigger sounding choruses.
Pull that mic back to 18-20 inches
(see Figure 1). Now what does the guitar sound like? Probably quite a bit better overall. Clearer and brighter, with a
more balanced overall timbre, including
a lot less gooey bass frequency buildup.
Think of the mic's pickup pattern, in visual
terms, as an outward-facing cone. When
it's as close as 6 inches away, it's not 'seeing' too much more than the sides of the
soundhole. This leaves out the upper harmonics, the sound of the hand over the
strings, and, most of the fundamental tone
and character of the guitar itself. As you
pull back from the instrument, you allow
a wider, more inclusive 'picture' into the
mic.
Let's move the mic around now, at a
distance of about 12 inches away. In
fact, put your ear there first. With a
finger closing the other ear, let's pretend
you're pointing it like a microphone. As
you move around, you can begin to
hear how different notes and frequencies
either poke out or dip in volume. The
soundboard is definitely emanating
and projecting most of that energy,
which makes up the lion's share of an
acoustic guitar's sonic signature.
When deciding where to place the
microphone, I sometimes forgo the
"one ear" method. I simply face the
front of the guitar's soundboard at the
mic's distance and move around until I
hear that 'sweet spot' where it sounds
its absolute best. I may move my head
slightly further or closer to see if that
improves in any way, then I set the mic

The Prepared Guitar
Want to try a new/old wrinkle in acoustic guitar recording? Take a leaf from
Johnny Cash's notebook. On "I Walk the Line" and other early recordings, Johnny wove a sheet of paper between the strings of his guitar, so that they rattled
as they were played. It made a sound that was surprisingly close to a snare
drum, and it made his playing sound more percussive and emphatic, with a
stronger "chuck" in the boom-chuck. You'll have to experiment with placement;
I'm inclined to think he put the paper up near the twelfth fret-you can finger
chords in the first few positions and keep your picking patterns intact.
And what kind of paper? Some have suggested that a dollar bill works well,
leading one internet joker to ask, "If Johnny Cash used a dollar bill, would
Johnny Paycheck use a deposit slip?"-Paul J. Stamler

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