Getting a Huge Acoustic Guitar Sound!

[AcousticDreams]

Huge Fan of Michael Watts. There is no limits to his ability to cover all the different types of Guitar Styles.

Absolutely Adore the tune he created. An Otherworldly rhythm. He once again reminded me that sometimes simplicity, will not only have the greatest voice, but the greatest impact.

[KevWind]

Interesting concept

[b1j]

Watching the video unfold, we can see the importance of copying the performances as closely as possible to avoid sloppiness. Playing something simple helps.

I’ve done this with just one standard and one Nashville. But my tracks were intricate fingerpicking — just can’t help myself. My style is evolving backwards. I find it more natural to fingerpick than strum, so I’m not very clean with strumming. Time to practice, I guess. This is inspiring. The mono mic’ing is appealing, too, in its simplicity.

Nitpick: he got “Nashville” and ”high strung” mixed up. He was in Nashville tuning:

https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/blog...%20an%20octave.

Now I need to write, or cover, a song that lends itself to a lush (“huge”) acoustic background. Any suggestions?

[Glennwillow]

Yes, Michael Watts can really work some magic! His guitar playing is pretty inspirational!

- Glenn

[AcousticDreams]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Yes, Michael Watts can really work some magic! His guitar playing is pretty inspirational!

- Glenn

Magic is the perfect word to describe the sound that Michael gets out of every guitar he plays.

He also posted this video..and the tone is sublime. Even though the strings on this guitar are years old...he adapts and plays in a manner that brings out the best qualities of the given guitar.

Once again proving that the player is the most important park of any recording chain.

[DupleMeter]

It reminds me of the story I heard about the recording of "Dust In The Wind". The acoustic guitar tracks took 2 full days to record. Day 1 was trashed because the timing wasn't tight enough on all the doubles. Day 2 was re-recording of all the guitars to get that huge layered sound we're probably all familiar with.

[AcousticDreams]

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

It reminds me of the story I heard about the recording of "Dust In The Wind". The acoustic guitar tracks took 2 full days to record. Day 1 was trashed because the timing wasn't tight enough on all the doubles. Day 2 was re-recording of all the guitars to get that huge layered sound we're probably all familiar with.

After reading what you said about "Dust in the Wind" I looked up their video. And indeed you can see two guitarists playing the same acoustic guitar parts.

[DupleMeter]

Originally Posted by AcousticDreams

After reading what you said about "Dust in the Wind" I looked up their video. And indeed you can see two guitarists playing the same acoustic guitar parts.

There are definitely more than 2 guitars on that track. Of course, the video was just staged & not a true representation of what happened in the studio.

If I recall the guitars were:
2 regular tuned steel strings
1 nylon string
1 high-strung steel string

Yup - just found the story online. Here's the story:
https://youtu.be/nXDbfjid2BQ?t=610

from about 10:10 up through about 12:15

[AcousticDreams]

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

There are definitely more than 2 guitars on that track. Of course, the video was just staged & not a true representation of what happened in the studio.

If I recall the guitars were:
2 regular tuned steel strings
1 nylon string
1 high-strung steel string

Yup - just found the story online. Here's the story:
https://youtu.be/nXDbfjid2BQ?t=610

from about 10:10 up through about 12:15

Thank you so much for posting this interview. I really enjoyed it.

Several things that rang out. For one, he was basically perfecting(learning) his finger picking on the spot. Sometimes high pressure makes us better. As the moment of truth is at hand.

The other, is that they worked those guitar parts all day(both days). Which is another testimony for me to realize, that a great recording takes time.

[DupleMeter]

Originally Posted by AcousticDreams

Thank you so much for posting this interview. I really enjoyed it.

Several things that rang out. For one, he was basically perfecting(learning) his finger picking on the spot. Sometimes high pressure makes us better. As the moment of truth is at hand.

The other, is that they worked those guitar parts all day(both days). Which is another testimony for me to realize, that a great recording takes time.

Perseverance is often the difference between "ok" and "great". I try to tell my son that. He grew up seeing his parents excel at music and pull off hard things with seemingly no effort. I keep telling him "anything that looks easy is the result of lots of time & practice. There are no shortcuts." This doesn't just apply to playing music, but also writing it, arranging it, recording it, mixing it...

I think it also shows a little into how much happens in the recording process that might not be obvious.

[ghostnote]

That’s cool. I never knew any of that. I think one of the key things when recording is to not fall in love with your track. You have to be objective about it - if it ain’t right, don’t keep it. Because I’m not a pro, I will sometimes delete 18 or more takes of something before I keep it. And I’m still a little, “meh”. I pretend I’m one of those guys that Steely Dan uses, playing it over and over and over without any ego, changing a couple of things each time. As if…