Love the idea of swiveling around the mic (source) with the acoustic guitar to find the sound you want/best sound. I will definitely use that next time!
When I first started recording in mid-80s I was disappointed in the sound of putting a mic in front of an acoustic guitar and why it didn't sound like what my ear was hearing. So I came up with the following. I would sit on a towel on an old milk can (no noise!). I put my Sennheiser 441 at level with my right ear pointing down. I could then change the tone (boominess) by just swiveling either direction to get the sound I was looking for.🎸😃
I assume you are right-handed? I would worry about your hand and arm blocking the sound. Maybe put the mic on your left side instead (though then of course you have to be more careful of your breathing).
Great video. I hope to see more of these in the future. Recording acoustic guitars can be a challenge, and this video helped clear up the mud (no pun intended.) Moving the guitar around to get the best sound reminded me of an article I read back in the 80s about how someone used 6 microphones to get what they considered the "best" recorded acoustic guitar sound. Mic 1 was set up to record the body of the guitar and it was aimed at the flat part of the body behind the strumming hand. Mic 2 was set up about half way down the neck and aimed at the 12th fret to get more string sound and as little body sound as possible. Mics 3 & 4 were six to eight feet away and set up like rooms mics for drums. Mics 5 & 6 were set up fairly close to the guitarist's ears, aimed forward and slightly down. I believe their philosophy was the first pair (1 & 2) captured *just* the sound of the guitar and took most of the room out of the equation. Mics 3 & 4 did the exact opposite and *only* captured the sound of the guitar in the room, and the last pair (5 & 6) captured what the guitarist hears while they were playing rather than them only hearing the audience's perspective during playback. From there they mixed to taste - I can't recall the panning used on the first two mics (probably blended them and sent them up the middle) but I think 3-4 and 5-6 were both panned hard left/right. I thought the article was interesting but that many mics seemed to be overkill. If it was a classical guitarist's solo performance or a guitar-vocal then adding rooms mics seemed like an interesting idea, but setting up mics by the player's ears seemed more like it was done because they could rather than actually improving the sound. I thought it would create more problems (especially with breaths) but I'm only guessing because I've never had enough mics to try it. If somebody had the mics and room to make such a recording the stems would make an interesting experiment to see how many of those mics would people actually use to create what they considered to be the best-sounding acoustic guitar. Anyway, just thinking out loud. I hope to see more GIRATS recording videos.Thanks for sharing.
What you call thumpy I call proximity boost on the low mids, but your explanation is probably way more digestible by the larger audience. Your lessons are great dude, keep it going. You're helping even commercial guys like me, because over time I'm having less and less problems with people bringing in badly recorded tracks from home for me to track studio drums for.
This is great. I left a comment on one of your other videos a few weeks ago saying that I don't know what steps to actually take to get it right at the source. So thankyou for sharing some of your thought process and giving us some things to chew on. And I can definitely see how it's less straightforward to make a recording video than a mixing video! (And maybe less rewarding for you in terms of clicks/views?). So thanks again for providing this content.
Back in the day (yes I’m old) there was recording engineers, mixing engineers and mastering engineers. Take the last one out. Recording engineering was an art. An art that seems to have been lost, being swallowed by digital, extremely accessible, digital equipment and software. Mixing engineering took over both roles. Fixing it in the mix died, because that’s all there is. The art of recording well, disappeared. Glad people are realising the need is still there and are pursuing GIRATS.
Just asking..would multiple mics on different tracks placed in different positions allow for a more room sound. what if acoustic has a p/u to record direct? maybe asking too many variables for beginning level studio? thx. but yes trying all sorts of placements as a test is great...also take notes or pics to help you next time recording. my opinion.
Spend quality time on mic placement. Then Eq. Subtractive, the adding eq in small narrow amounts to taste. Trying to add a few more fry’s to an over salted Bach of fry’s does not fix the problem. Getting an order of fry’s then salting them to taste always works. Same thing apply’s to recording. Get it right at the source. Then Eq……… anyone up for some in-N-Out?
This is just one instrument...Acoustic Gtr. ( which I think? most know to point @ 12th Fret ) but for VOX, Synths/Keys, E. Guitar ) Great Vid for beginners. Plus Recording w/ just Tracking Headphones ( Cheap ones ) cannot produce the Frequency response. Buy better HP w/ Lower extention or USE the "HARMON CURVE" so they match close to your Monitors. Very true though about TraCKING ...AND SOUNDS GREAT UNTIL MIXING. GET IT RIGHT AT THE SOURCE!
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I've learned alot for you..thanks so much !
Sounds good in the work truck ..lol
I absolutely LOVE the recording focused content! Please keep it coming if you can!
I'll 2nd that. The internet needs way more of this, and far less of which template and chain to sound like Drake.
Love the idea of swiveling around the mic (source) with the acoustic guitar to find the sound you want/best sound. I will definitely use that next time!
When I first started recording in mid-80s I was disappointed in the sound of putting a mic in front of an acoustic guitar and why it didn't sound like what my ear was hearing. So I came up with the following. I would sit on a towel on an old milk can (no noise!). I put my Sennheiser 441 at level with my right ear pointing down. I could then change the tone (boominess) by just swiveling either direction to get the sound I was looking for.🎸😃
I assume you are right-handed? I would worry about your hand and arm blocking the sound. Maybe put the mic on your left side instead (though then of course you have to be more careful of your breathing).
„People want a mixing solution for a recording problem.“ Wise words.
Great video. I hope to see more of these in the future. Recording acoustic guitars can be a challenge, and this video helped clear up the mud (no pun intended.) Moving the guitar around to get the best sound reminded me of an article I read back in the 80s about how someone used 6 microphones to get what they considered the "best" recorded acoustic guitar sound.
Mic 1 was set up to record the body of the guitar and it was aimed at the flat part of the body behind the strumming hand.
Mic 2 was set up about half way down the neck and aimed at the 12th fret to get more string sound and as little body sound as possible.
Mics 3 & 4 were six to eight feet away and set up like rooms mics for drums.
Mics 5 & 6 were set up fairly close to the guitarist's ears, aimed forward and slightly down.
I believe their philosophy was the first pair (1 & 2) captured *just* the sound of the guitar and took most of the room out of the equation. Mics 3 & 4 did the exact opposite and *only* captured the sound of the guitar in the room, and the last pair (5 & 6) captured what the guitarist hears while they were playing rather than them only hearing the audience's perspective during playback. From there they mixed to taste - I can't recall the panning used on the first two mics (probably blended them and sent them up the middle) but I think 3-4 and 5-6 were both panned hard left/right.
I thought the article was interesting but that many mics seemed to be overkill.
If it was a classical guitarist's solo performance or a guitar-vocal then adding rooms mics seemed like an interesting idea, but setting up mics by the player's ears seemed more like it was done because they could rather than actually improving the sound. I thought it would create more problems (especially with breaths) but I'm only guessing because I've never had enough mics to try it.
If somebody had the mics and room to make such a recording the stems would make an interesting experiment to see how many of those mics would people actually use to create what they considered to be the best-sounding acoustic guitar.
Anyway, just thinking out loud. I hope to see more GIRATS recording videos.Thanks for sharing.
Thank You! Awesome as always! 💯
We need more of these recording videos!
What you call thumpy I call proximity boost on the low mids, but your explanation is probably way more digestible by the larger audience. Your lessons are great dude, keep it going. You're helping even commercial guys like me, because over time I'm having less and less problems with people bringing in badly recorded tracks from home for me to track studio drums for.
Excellent advice!!! Thank you!!
Find the thump! Great advice! Thanks also for showing that it was better to take the time to record another take !
I’m listening!!
You that guy! Thank you
Thanks Joe do you have a video for recording better vocals ?
This is great. I left a comment on one of your other videos a few weeks ago saying that I don't know what steps to actually take to get it right at the source. So thankyou for sharing some of your thought process and giving us some things to chew on. And I can definitely see how it's less straightforward to make a recording video than a mixing video! (And maybe less rewarding for you in terms of clicks/views?). So thanks again for providing this content.
This was very helpful. Thank you sir
Cool Joe...been a subscriber for a long time..love your videos !
Yep I can hear the difference even on my crappy phone.
Back in the day (yes I’m old) there was recording engineers, mixing engineers and mastering engineers.
Take the last one out.
Recording engineering was an art. An art that seems to have been lost, being swallowed by digital, extremely accessible, digital equipment and software. Mixing engineering took over both roles.
Fixing it in the mix died, because that’s all there is. The art of recording well, disappeared.
Glad people are realising the need is still there and are pursuing GIRATS.
If “thumpocalypse” doesn’t end up on a shirt…
The further the mic is from the instrument, the less of a problem you'll have with low end.
Just asking..would multiple mics on different tracks placed in different positions allow for a more room sound. what if acoustic has a p/u to record direct? maybe asking too many variables for beginning level studio? thx. but yes trying all sorts of placements as a test is great...also take notes or pics to help you next time recording. my opinion.
I know, I know... GIRATS 😂
Fine - I'll listen to Kacey Musgraves again...
Spend quality time on mic placement. Then Eq. Subtractive, the adding eq in small narrow amounts to taste. Trying to add a few more fry’s to an over salted Bach of fry’s does not fix the problem. Getting an order of fry’s then salting them to taste always works. Same thing apply’s to recording. Get it right at the source. Then Eq……… anyone up for some in-N-Out?
This is just one instrument...Acoustic Gtr. ( which I think? most know to point @ 12th Fret ) but for VOX, Synths/Keys, E. Guitar ) Great Vid for beginners. Plus Recording w/ just Tracking Headphones ( Cheap ones ) cannot produce the Frequency response. Buy better HP w/ Lower extention or USE the "HARMON CURVE" so they match close to your Monitors. Very true though about TraCKING ...AND SOUNDS GREAT UNTIL MIXING. GET IT RIGHT AT THE SOURCE!