#1
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how to make an acoustic guitar recording sound more distant
i've been playing around with my zoom h2n. i use the xy pattern and keep it fairly close to the guitar (10"-16"), using headphones to move it around until i find an acceptable spot. i find this gets a reasonable sound and reduces background noise and room effects.
however, when i listen back, the recordings sound "too close", if that makes sense. adding some reverb helps, but i'm wondering if there is anything i can do to make it sound a little less close. maybe it needs more stereo separation, i'm not sure. any advice? |
#2
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One of the side effects of close micing is that mechanical sounds (such as string squeaks, picking attacks, hammer on thuds, etc.) are relatively louder than if your recorded from, say, three feet away. Normally, when a person sitting 15 feet away from hears you play, those mechanical noises will be relatively softer. With a close mic recording, they are relatively louder, making playback sound slightly different. Yes, reverb can help, but too much reverb has it own host of issues. If you adjust the reverb's pre delay parameter, that will change things a bit (all other things in the reverb instance being equal). Two reverbs might get you some "distance", an ambient or room verb followed by a small dose of a large hall with a long tail. From an eq perspective, tightening the bass and cutting a bit of the high frequencies could help. A stereo spatial enhancer might possibly help, by generating a wider stereo image. But this can be easily overdone and generate some phase unpleasantness. Running your tracks through an MS decoder could also help with widening the stereo image. |
#3
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it might be the picking and other finger noises (and breathing sounds too). |
#4
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Back up the mics, roll off the bass and treble with either roll-off filters or shelving EQ, add room reflections. Perhaps record with two sets of mics, a near pair and a far pair, and blend them.
Those are tricks you can use. You can also "re-room" a recording by playing the tracks back through a good set of speakers in a good room, recording at a distance, and blending into the original recording. Bob
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#5
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thanks bob.
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#6
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Don't judge your recordings with headphones! They give false stereo image - when you are listening to speakers your right ear hears some sound from the left speaker and vice-versa.
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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 Last edited by MikeBmusic; 12-04-2014 at 03:02 PM. |
#7
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Get a pair of nearfield monitors and a table to properly position them.
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#8
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Record further out and/or add the right hall or chamber reverb.
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#9
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thanks guys. i don't see any nearfield monitors coming in the near future, but i have some reasonable quality computer speakers and stereo speakers. i will check those out, and experiment with some reverb, mic placement, and maybe mixing in a more distant source.
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#10
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I am very far from an expert on these matters, but one thing I tried recently was recording using my Zoom H2N in front of the guitar as normal, and also recording on a second device which I placed on the bookshelf on the other side of the room (about 6 feet away) and mixed a bit of that in. I imagine this would be a bit like what Bob Womack suggested in re-recording a pass through the speakers.
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#11
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#12
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You could try buying a pop filter, itīs not expensive and you could use it to reduce the unwanted string pop, percussive noises without having to record further from the mics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_filter |
#13
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#14
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In my experience, it works reducing string squeak and percussive right hand noises when recording acoustic. He also says it might be the breathing noises, it would deffinitely work for THAT
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#15
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Try reading to your guitar from the works of Existential philosophers. I bet that will make it quite aloof and more distant.
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