The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > RECORD

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 10-08-2017, 09:34 AM
cghbuilder86 cghbuilder86 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 23
Default Need some tips for recording solo guitar.

Hello everybody, I have been playing around with some home recording for fun. I don't need anything pro quality of course but I would like to make my recordings as good as I can for the equipment and room that I have. So, if you guys could listen to my video and then give me some tips if you see some ways I could easily improve it.
https://youtu.be/YgP-6i5xqnU
Here is exactly what I have and have done.
Zoom Q8n video/audio recorder.
Rode NT4 stereo condenser mic.
Audio edited with audacity.
I placed my mic 1' in front of the 14fret, the first input is panned left, the second input panned right, and the zoom built in mic is locked in L&R. So three mic channels in all.
I edited each channel separately in audacity by touching the bass/treble control just a little, ran the high and low pass filters just knocking back the extreme frequencies, added a touch of reverb and the ran the compresser at default setting something like threshold -12, ratio 2:1, added an extra .2 of gain under amplify just to have it almost clipping. Then mixed the video and audio tracks in NCH videopad editor.
So, my main questions are how can I improve the overall quality. It sounds just a little distant and unfocused. I have experimented with mic placement. Is this probably just the best my living room can be. (it is the most sound dead room in the house). Is there an easy to use editing program that is a lot better than audacity. Would using a full band equalizer or adding more compression improve it. Lastly, how is it so quiet? After using compression and adjusting the gain when mastering to a minimal clipping level it is still quiet. Any info and tips would be appreciated.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 10-08-2017, 10:25 AM
Al Acuff's Avatar
Al Acuff Al Acuff is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: May 2017
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Posts: 759
Default

I prefer to record acoustic guitar in a small to medium room with a wood floor and ceiling, and with a combination of absorption and diffusion. When you record an acoustic guitar the room has to be a good one or you're pretty much wasting your time.

It sounds like you're getting a lot of room ambience in your recording. If you want to make better sounding recordings you'll want to find a better place to record. Try making test recordings in every room of the house. You'll probably find a better sounding location.
__________________
Al Acuff
Al's Folk Music Blog
Alan Acuff Music
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 10-08-2017, 10:27 AM
Fran Guidry Fran Guidry is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Walnut Creek, CA
Posts: 3,712
Default

Sounds fine to me, I'm not hearing the room issue you mention. And not too quiet at all. Don't try to compare your stuff to commercial recordings, they'll generally have their levels cranked and you don't need to do that.

Audacity works fine but doesn't allow real-time adjustment of effects, or at least it didn't last time I checked.

Especially if you're concerned about room effects, more mics are probably not better than fewer.

Fran
__________________
E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key in California - www.kaleponi.com
My YouTube clips
The Homebrewed Music Blog
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 10-08-2017, 01:20 PM
cghbuilder86 cghbuilder86 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 23
Default

Thanks! I clicked on your youtube links under your status and your recordings sound good! It is also louder than mine. What if I turned the gain up when mastering to where is says its to high on the meters, like hitting the 0 and turning red a lot of the time? What would be the negative result of that. I can't hear any distortion coming through on my monitors. What does digital clipping sound like?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fran Guidry View Post
Sounds fine to me, I'm not hearing the room issue you mention. And not too quiet at all. Don't try to compare your stuff to commercial recordings, they'll generally have their levels cranked and you don't need to do that.

Audacity works fine but doesn't allow real-time adjustment of effects, or at least it didn't last time I checked.

Especially if you're concerned about room effects, more mics are probably not better than fewer.

Fran
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 10-08-2017, 01:26 PM
cghbuilder86 cghbuilder86 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 23
Default

I have done some experimenting with very little noticeable change. can you elaborate more on the absorbtion/diffusion? What about a room with hard floor and a foam mattress pad against the walls front and back and sitting in between them? I have to keep it cheap and kind of a knock down setup. Don't have a extra room to really keep anything permanant setup.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Acuff View Post
I prefer to record acoustic guitar in a small to medium room with a wood floor and ceiling, and with a combination of absorption and diffusion. When you record an acoustic guitar the room has to be a good one or you're pretty much wasting your time.

It sounds like you're getting a lot of room ambience in your recording. If you want to make better sounding recordings you'll want to find a better place to record. Try making test recordings in every room of the house. You'll probably find a better sounding location.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 10-08-2017, 01:34 PM
cghbuilder86 cghbuilder86 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 23
Default

If a distant unfocused sound due to bad recording locations is the problem what about blending with a better pickup? I tried blending with the Taylor ES2 and it doesn't sound very good in recording. There is more focus...but the pickup also sounds a lot like a dry undersaddle pickup. And it will be hard to remove to add a complete new system because of the transducer mounted on the bridge plate. But I have thought about adding a miniflex mic pickup to the guitar with a seperate end jack. I could then blend the pickups with an external mic. What do yall think? I just don't want to add the mini flex and it not be good for recording because I do very little live playing using pickup and amp.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 10-08-2017, 01:51 PM
Al Acuff's Avatar
Al Acuff Al Acuff is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: May 2017
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Posts: 759
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by cghbuilder86 View Post
I have done some experimenting with very little noticeable change. can you elaborate more on the absorbtion/diffusion? What about a room with hard floor and a foam mattress pad against the walls front and back and sitting in between them? I have to keep it cheap and kind of a knock down setup. Don't have a extra room to really keep anything permanant setup.
I have some Real Traps Mini Traps for absorption and and a floor to ceiling bookshelf along one wall for diffusion. My room is small and without the absorption I get bass buildup and it muddies up the sound. The diffuser on the other hand breaks up the flutter echoes but leaves you some live ambience.

Sound absorbing blankets like these or these or even some regular moving blankets can be used to good effect as a temporary sound treatment for a room. Duvets work also. Foam mattresses may be less effective. Maybe you could start with a couple of inexpensive sound blankets and see where it leads. Experiment with them and trust your ears to tell you what's working.
__________________
Al Acuff
Al's Folk Music Blog
Alan Acuff Music

Last edited by Al Acuff; 10-08-2017 at 01:56 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 10-08-2017, 03:49 PM
Fran Guidry Fran Guidry is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Walnut Creek, CA
Posts: 3,712
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by cghbuilder86 View Post
Thanks! I clicked on your youtube links under your status and your recordings sound good! It is also louder than mine. What if I turned the gain up when mastering to where is says its to high on the meters, like hitting the 0 and turning red a lot of the time? What would be the negative result of that. I can't hear any distortion coming through on my monitors. What does digital clipping sound like?
My first impression would be that the difference in "loudness" between my clips and yours is down to the style of music. The slack key stuff I play has a relatively limited dynamic range - I'm trying to capture "smooth" and "relaxed." The tune in your clip is very dynamic with the tapping and such. Our impression of loudness is based on the moving average of the sound but the metering in digital systems is based on peaks, and the tune in your clip has lots of large peaks.

The way this is usually addressed is with compression and limiting. A very transparent brick wall limiter is commonly used to raise average levels in highly dynamic material.

Digital clipping of very brief peaks may be inaudible, or it might give a sense of harshness or edginess to the track. The number one rule is "if it sounds good it is good" so if the clipping doesn't make itself evident to you I'd say you're good to go. You might try cranking things until you _do_ hear distortion, then backing down until you don't, as a way of determining the threshold of annoyance.

Fran
__________________
E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key in California - www.kaleponi.com
My YouTube clips
The Homebrewed Music Blog
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 10-08-2017, 04:08 PM
rick-slo's Avatar
rick-slo rick-slo is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Posts: 17,172
Default

Fairly clean sound but a bit phasey and thus distant sounding.
Suggestion is to use two separate microphones in spaced pair configuration.
Also, as suggested earlier, some degree of use of room reflection sound absorbing panels is helpful.
__________________
Derek Coombs
Youtube -> Website -> Music -> Tabs
Guitars by Mark Blanchard, Albert&Mueller, Paul Woolson, Collings, Composite Acoustics, and Derek Coombs

"Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."

Woods hands pick by eye and ear
Made to one with pride and love
To be that we hold so dear
A voice from heavens above
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 10-09-2017, 08:34 AM
Al Acuff's Avatar
Al Acuff Al Acuff is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: May 2017
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Posts: 759
Default

Check out this short article from the Neumann folks called WHAT ARE THE ACOUSTIC REQUIREMENTS FOR RECORDING AND MIXING?

They explain it better than I do. I hope it helps.
__________________
Al Acuff
Al's Folk Music Blog
Alan Acuff Music

Last edited by Al Acuff; 10-09-2017 at 08:46 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 10-10-2017, 10:37 AM
MikeBmusic MikeBmusic is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: On the Mass/NH border
Posts: 6,663
Default

I suspect the Zoom's built-in mic causing some of the problems - try eliminating it from the mix, and panning the (current) left and right mics in about 25%.
But, if that mic is truly pointing LEFT and RIGHT from it's position, rather than AT the guitar could be a problem, in which case using two separate mics is the answer.
__________________
Mike

My music: https://mikebirchmusic.bandcamp.com

2020 Taylor 324ceBE
2017 Taylor 114ce-N
2012 Taylor 310ce
2011 Fender CD140SCE
Ibanez 12 string a/e
73(?) Epiphone 6830E 6 string

72 Fender Telecaster
Epiphone Dot Studio
Epiphone LP Jr
Chinese Strat clone

Kala baritone ukulele
Seagull 'Merlin'
Washburn Mandolin
Luna 'tatoo' a/e ukulele
antique banjolin
Squire J bass
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 10-10-2017, 12:44 PM
IndianaStrummer IndianaStrummer is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Indiana
Posts: 68
Default

No help with your questions, just wanted to say that was a great cover of Tobias!!
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 10-11-2017, 03:47 PM
cghbuilder86 cghbuilder86 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 23
Default

hmm, that is good thinking. thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeBmusic View Post
I suspect the Zoom's built-in mic causing some of the problems - try eliminating it from the mix, and panning the (current) left and right mics in about 25%.
But, if that mic is truly pointing LEFT and RIGHT from it's position, rather than AT the guitar could be a problem, in which case using two separate mics is the answer.
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 10-12-2017, 07:27 AM
Puerto Player Puerto Player is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 821
Default

Have you tried using that mic a little further away? I also use a Rode mic but with the Sony MV1. For me, using the stereo mic was always better sounding about arms length away from the guitar and not 1' like most non-stereo mic's. Might want to give it a quick try and see what the raw tone is like. Up close, I got too much boominess but it really cleaned up with a little distance.
__________________
2001 Goodall RGCC
2004 Goodall RPC-14
2022 Emerald X20 Hyvibe
2021 Emerald X7 Select
2020 Emerald X10 Woody Select 3-way
2016 Emerald X20 Artisan
2002 Gibson J185EC JJ Cale
2009 Gibson EC-20
1974 Alvarez Dreadnought
2013 Woody Tahitian hybrid Uke
2008 Zager 3/4 Size
Some camp fire guitars, classical's,
& electric's
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 10-13-2017, 09:06 PM
cghbuilder86 cghbuilder86 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 23
Default

Thanks, I'll give it a try
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > RECORD

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:29 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=