Kara-Moon Forum

After getting a request to divulge my guitar recording secrets I thought this piece could be useful to other members.

First off, I use Reaper as my DAW. I usually record with a pair of Behringer XM1800S microphones through a Behringer Eurorack UB1002 mixer going straight into an Audiophile 2496 soundcard.

For electric guitars and basses I D/I through the same mixer.

My ‘studio’ is only a partitioned off section of an attic room which is slightly over 8ft by 6ft. It contains a large desk with PC, dual monitors and printer, scanner, etc.  Across from that is a bench on which sits the Roland KR-650 and Behringer mixer, both desk and keyboard being accessible from a swivel chair.

Because of the lack of soundproofing and the cramped area my acoustic instrument recording method is very specific.  I always use close proximity mic’ing with the mic positioned about 6 inches from the instrument and, with string instruments, pointing towards the end of the fretboard nearest the soundhole.  Sometimes I utilise two mic’s with the second placed either at the lower body end of the instrument or over the right shoulder pointing down (this theory is that it picks up what your ear does), although since discovering certain plug-ins I tend to stick with the one mic more often.
   
After recording a track I always clean up the background noise, from computer hum and other outside sources, using ReaFir. This comes as part of the Reaper suite of included plug-ins but I believe a pack of these effects can be downloaded separately. Next in the chain I usually use “Kjaerhus Classic Compressor” set on the Acoustic Guitar preset.  At this point I normally render the track to a new one to save on CPU usage (my machine is quite elderly so I don’t like to make it struggle too much) then disable the effects and mute the original.

My favourite recent discovery has been “Back Stage EQ One”. This, at face value, is an EQ unit but the developer says that he includes some compression values and some ‘spatial’ stuff to give stereo enhancements. The adjustment parameters go under obtuse headings instead if number values to make you feel as if it is not just another EQ machine.
I think it really does the business for most acoustic instruments.

I shall follow this article up later with some sound examples.

 ;)
James

That mic location certainly picks up the best of your instrument! O0

To demonstrate the above procedure I have a few examples.

Here we have a short piece of finger-picked guitar recorded using this method.

The first example is the unprocessed recording complete with background noise.

In the second one the track has been cleaned using ReaFir. This is done by taking a section from the beginning, before the playing starts, which is analysed and the offending sound excluded.

The next example has the Classic Compressor, on Acoustic Guitar preset, added after the ReaFir.


 ;)
James

 ::)
Only 3 attachments per post .....  ::)

Finally we have BAckStageEQOne added to this effect chain, then the parameters tweaked to fit the style of playing.

I hope this clarifies the method.

 ;)
James

Thank you James, for the excellent tutorial. Sweet and to the point..

..and that guitar *really* comes alive !!!

..just the sort of thing that makes this such a great place to be.

We appreciate you brother.  O0 :-

8)

Wyatt

James thanks for taking the time to share your methods.  I've not seen the over the shoulder mic before makes perfect sense and there's no denying that it sound great.
How would you adjust things if you were going to sing also? The song I recorded recently, I tried different mic's and positions and ended up with one mic about head high tilted down towards the guitar about 24" from my head. Seemed to be OK but probably would have gotten more detail with the close mic.
Also interesting about the noise removal. At the end of the song I recorded you can hear the duct work in my home rattling with the air conditioning. I have Rea Fir but was not aware that it could function as noise reduction. I'll have to see if I can locate some documentation on it.

Off topic but I love the guitar piece you chose.  :- Is it any type of standard picking method?   

Hey Michael
When I sing I always do it by itself. Can't do both together.
I lay down the guitar track first then put the vocal along with it.

I'll see if I can find time to do a quick tutorial on the noise removal. It is so easy once you've done it a couple of times.

As for the picking style ..... it's what is known as 'make it up as you go along' .... like most of what I do  ::)

James

 8)
As promised....
a quick run-down on noise removal using ReaFir.

First, insert ReaFir as the first effect in your chain.
In the ReaFir window select ‘Subtract’ and tick ‘Automatically build noise profile’.

Next, select an area of the track which has the background noise but try to keep it away from the music. A second or two may be enough, longer if possible. Set the transport to ‘repeat’ then press ‘Play’.

Then uncheck the ‘Automatically build noise profile’ box, uncheck the ‘repeat’ and remove your selection and you are good to go !

 ;)
James

What a method! We're going to have to name it...
Hows about, "The James Fraser All-Purpose Low-Rent Acoustical String Audio Solution" (http://www.easyfreesmileys.com/smileys/free-party-smileys-614.gif) (http://www.easyfreesmileys.com/Free-Cute-Smileys/)

Well I've been reading this with a lot of interest - even though I don't own a guitar, and haven't touched one for over 30 years.

I'm always interested in peoples solutions to problems, and am a great believer in keeping it as simple as possible, so full marks to you on all counts!

P.S.
OK clever clogs (Oren) now find an acronym that fits all that verbage ;D

James looking forward to trying out the noise reduction process. Amazing that I could have had that plug in and not known it's potential! Guess we are truly bless with the technology thats available today.

Does anyone use any type of pickup on their acoustic? Any feelings about them and the various options, sound hole, contact, or the more perminent bridge type?

You know in my early recording days I did all of my acoustic guitar tracks sitting on the edge of the tub in the bath room. 

When I heard Brad Davis playing this one, it was a total mind-blower:

http://www.takamine.com/?fa=elec_cooltube


LOL..good one, man..I used to record harmonica in an empty garage..red-neck reverb.

8)

Wyatt

 8)
I don't really like acoustic pickups myself.

I've found that the only ones with a good sound are the ones built in to extremely expensive guitars. As for the rest, they just sound wrong, to my old ears.
I sometimes feel that a compromise can be achieved by recording the pickup and with a mic as two separate tracks and mixing them shrewdly.  :-X
I sometimes do this with the Aria acousto/electric bass.

 ;)
James

+1

Will,
I have always admired those who can lay out phrases like that in conversation, without tripping over their own tongue. :D