How To Record An Acoustic Guitar for an Ensemble

There are several different ways of recording an acoustic guitar. This article will address the recording of acoustic guitar in an ensemble setting live or as an overdub.

Pre-Recording

Here are some steps to take before you record.

Have a quiet room to record in. If you are using a studio, set up the guitarist in a fairly dead room and away from other players if you are recording with a group. If you are at home make sure the space is quiet. You don't want to hear appliances, traffic or animal noises.

I like to use a single microphone for guitar recording in this application. The reason for this is that it makes the sound easier to place in the mix as opposed to a wide stereo sound which can get lost in the mix.

When I am recording a solo guitar I prefer to use multiple microphones to get the wider sound as well as the room ambiance. I will cover these techniques in another article.

Make sure you have a good instrument to record. Make sure the guitar has new strings and is set up properly. If you don't have a good sounding instrument to record it makes it very difficult to end up with something good.

Choose Your Gear

Choose your microphone. I have some favorite microphones for acoustic guitar recording. One of the mics that I like is the AKG 451. It is a small capsule condenser mic that has a great full range response with a nice 4dB boost at 5kHz peaking at 10kHz - 15kHz. The AKG 451 also has high pass filters, one at 75Hz and one at 150Hz. These can help get a good bright sound from the instrument. Another one of my favorite microphones for guitar is the DPA (B&K) 4011.This mic is expensive but has an extraordinarily flat frequency response and is very transparent. The key to microphone selection is to find something that doesn't color the sound.

Get a good mic preamp. I like to use API, Tube Tech and Universal Audio preamps but one of my favorites is the Grace Design Preamp. Grace has a line of amazingly transparent preamps. I like the M101 because it has a single channel and is a very clean preamp. This is one of my favorites for guitar recording.

You can just use the mic-preamp-recording device path or you can add compression and equalization. If you are new to recording I would recommend using this signal path. If you have experience with compression and EO you could add them depending on the sound you want.

I like to use a compressor when I record acoustic guitar. The compressors that I like are usually tube designs which give the instrument a little warmer sound. I don't use very much, maybe -3dB to -6dB for the loudest levels.

EQ can be very valuable if you know how you want to alter the sound of the instrument. But if you use it poorly it can make the mix process more difficult. When I use it I usually only boost a little 1kHz and maybe some 40Hz rolloff depending on the instrument sound.

Microphone Placement

The placement of the microphone is the biggest variable factor in what kind of sound you get. Listen to the instrument. Place your ear where you think you will place the mic and see what it sounds like. Usually the guitar will sound brighter (more high end) the closer you get to the sound hole. I like to place the mic about 6-12 inches from the center and 3-6 inches off axis. This is a good general guideline. The sound you are looking for should be fairly bright so it will cut through the other instruments. Adjust the mic until is sounds right. Don't have the attitude of fixing it in the mix!

This is the basic knowledge that you need to get a nice acoustic guitar sound that can be easily mixed in to an ensemble. Take your time and get the best sound that you can and remember to listen carefully.