Friday, October 13, 2006
Tips on recording guitar
This informative article by Recording Engineer Michael Laskow covers the basics of how to get a good sound when recording acoustic guitars. Some great technical advice along with a set of 8 'rules' to follow.
I personally am not too happy about 2 of the rules he mentions but the rest of what he says I am in complete agreement with.:
Rule 2 • New strings will always sound better for recording than old.
This is correct, however, new strings at the time of recording WILL tend to go out of tune quite quickly and will most probably ocur whilst you are actually recording a take so the begginning of the number might be in tune but by the end it will not. New strings for recording do sound great but it is best to change them a couple of weeks before hand at least.
Rule 7 • A limiter/compressor will almost always help you get a better sound.
I also agree with this BUT there are very few people (and actually very few engineers) who really know how to use a limitor/compressor correctly. Improper use of a compressor will undoubtedly deteriorate the quality of the sound. A well recorded guitar without compression will definately sound better than a guitar recorded and processed with a limitor/compresor that has been badly applied.
Here is the link to the article in full:
Audio Recording Center: Acoustic Guitar Techniques, Article
Technorati Tags: guitar, recording, acoustic guitar
I personally am not too happy about 2 of the rules he mentions but the rest of what he says I am in complete agreement with.:
Rule 2 • New strings will always sound better for recording than old.
This is correct, however, new strings at the time of recording WILL tend to go out of tune quite quickly and will most probably ocur whilst you are actually recording a take so the begginning of the number might be in tune but by the end it will not. New strings for recording do sound great but it is best to change them a couple of weeks before hand at least.
Rule 7 • A limiter/compressor will almost always help you get a better sound.
I also agree with this BUT there are very few people (and actually very few engineers) who really know how to use a limitor/compressor correctly. Improper use of a compressor will undoubtedly deteriorate the quality of the sound. A well recorded guitar without compression will definately sound better than a guitar recorded and processed with a limitor/compresor that has been badly applied.
Here is the link to the article in full:
Audio Recording Center: Acoustic Guitar Techniques, Article
Recording The Acoustic Guitar
While the acoustic guitar remains one of the most simple instruments by design, it also remains one of the hardest to get a great sound on in the studio. It's really not brain surgery, but knowing some of the basic laws of physics doesn't hurt. Unfortunately, I skipped school that day and didn't learn my physics, so I had to learn how to get a great acoustic guitar sound one mistake at a time. After making those mistakes, I sat down and formulated these laws which are considered to be the Ten Commandments of recording the acoustic guitar (by me anyway).
Technorati Tags: guitar, recording, acoustic guitar
