Capture better acoustic guitar sounds.
It can be tough to mic acoustic guitars when you’re recording.
Every instrument is unique, every player is different, and not everyone agrees on how an acoustic guitar should even sound: Chimey & clear? Boomy & percussive? Dead & woody?
For an instrument as orthodox as the acoustic guitar, there are still endless possibilities. Too many options can leave you unsure of how to start.
Which is why I found this video so helpful.
Get a Grammy-winning producer’s advice on:
- Picking the right mics & mic pairs
- Various mic placements
- The usage of the guitar in different genres
- Where the acoustic guitar will eventually sit in the mix
- EQing through mic placement & different picks
- Selecting a preamp
- How to use a DI for extra clarity or grit
You’ll see Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, Norah Jones) record Nashville guitar player Jerry McPherson (Vince Gill, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw) while Ben Lindell from Universal Audio acts as a guide throughout the session to clarify technical points.
Check it out and then lemme know, what’s your favorite mic setup for acoustic guitar?
Chris Robley is an acclaimed singer-songwriter and award-winning poet from Maine.
His Beatlesque indie-pop and milltown Americana songs have been praised by The Associated Press, No Depression, KCRW, The LA Times, Boston Globe, NPR, American Songwriter, and others.
His poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine, Prairie Schooner, The Poetry Review, and more.
Robley has received a Maine Literary Award in Poetry, Boulevard’s Emerging Writers Prize for Poetry, and in 2016 was selected by former US-poet laureate Robert Pinsky as a finalist for the Dorset Prize.