Home Recording - Questions about mic(s) for guitar and voice

[GoPappy]

If you were starting out with no mics and wanted to simultaneously record vocals and solo acoustic guitar (mainly fingerpicking):

1. Would you use one mic for both guitar and voice, or separate mics for voice and guitar?

2. Which mic or mics would you use?

Assume a budget of $500 - $600 total on the mic(s).

I'm a simple guy and prefer simple solutions, so using one mic would be preferable if good results are obtainable with a single mic.

[gurroz]

What device are you recording to? I am using a Zoom4N Pro with a Shure SM58LC for vocals and a Shure SM57LC for instruments. If I were going to use a single mic it would be an Aston Origin, they run about $350.

[YamahaGuy]

For a vocal mic, I'd go for a Sennheiser e945 or e935. For the guitar, I'd get an AKG small diaphragm condenser (P170). I'd definitely use two different mics. I like to pan my guitar all the way to the right and vocals all the way to the left when recording or vice versa. Just to hear the separation in the mix.

[Rudy4]

There are tons of options for you. A mod will most likely move this topic over to the "Recording" forum. There are lots of previous topics there relating to inexpensive ways to do recording, and a very nice "sticky" topic that compiles a bunch of information for the new home recordist.

The first thing you'll want to read through is the "Complete Introduction To Recording" posted there.

If you're starting with nothing you might consider the new Zoom R4 recorder. There's a brand new topic posted about it HERE. A very good option might be using the R4's built in microphone for your guitar and using the second input for a large diaphragm condenser mic (with pop filter) for your voice. Recording your voice and guitar on seperate tracks allows you to mix them for a good balance.

[jseth]

I've been both surprised and pleased by the results I've obtained using my little Tascam DR-05... just a small digital recorder with two condenser mics... I mount mine on a tripod and adjust it so the unit is at 90 degrees, and then I position it between my guitar and voice.

A little closer to the guitar if I'm fingerpicking, a bit further towards my mouth if I'm strumming. Takes a little bit of fiddling around, but the results are very good. I set the machine to "mono", and either set-up in a corner with flat walls on either side, or in the bathroom, where the ambient reflections are pretty much perfect for the reverb on a recording like this - somewhere between 80-150 ms...

Through a "head's up" on this Forum, I got mine from Guitar Center... they were having a big sale on them, plus there were rebates from both the manufacturer and Guitar Center, so the thing ended up costing me around $30!!! Another $10 for the tripod (used) and I'm in business!

It really depends upon how much you want to "mess' with the recording. I use ZERO outboard effects or any sort of post-recording production... into the recorder, then upload it via my computer to Soundcloud... could hardly be easier.

Of course, hearing oneself singing and playing "naked" can be a bit of a rude experience for some, but ti certainly coaches you on what needs to improve!

[alexevans917]

I’m going to buck the trend here and say it’s not a bad idea to start recording with a single microphone. Plenty of excellent recordings have been done of guitar and vocals with a single microphone, and having just a single source means you won’t have to account for phase issues or bleed. Getting a single good microphone and really working on controlling your volume and tone at the source will make you a better player, and you’ll still reap the benefits of that if you decide to add more mics down the line.

Do you have something you’re recording into (an audio interface and computer or a standalone recorder)? If not, you’ll need to allocate some budget for that. If you want really simple, one of the Zoom recorders is a very easy solution and super portable. If you can manage a bit more complication, a simple interface and a large diaphragm condenser microphone would be a good starting point as long as you have a relatively recent computer. There are hundreds of options with different features and prices, but I’d consider SSL and Audient’s lower-priced offerings.

On to the microphone itself. If you do indeed have $600 to spend on just the microphone, that’s quite a solid budget, and there are hundreds of decent contenders. Even if your budget of $600 includes something to record to, you have some decent options. It’s been a bit since I’ve shopped in that price range, but a few options that I’ve really enjoyed within your budget:

- Aston Spirit: a quite striking looking microphone sonically modeled after the Neumann U87. It has a transformer-balanced output so sounds a bit thicker and more solid than some other mics in the price range. These can be found well under your budget used or new.

- Audio Technica AT4050: a real workhorse microphone. I’ve owned four or five of these and worked for a while in a studio where at least one was employed in nearly every session. These are very neutral-sounding mics but are incredibly versatile for that reason. They may not be the best choice on every source if you have many options, but they’ll work fairly well on almost anything.

- Shure KSM44: similar in features and sound to the AT4050, just from a different brand. Like the other mics listed above, these are multipattern, meaning you can adjust how directional the mic is. Cardioid means it picks up just what’s in front of it (unidirectional), figure-8 is bi-directional, meaning it picks up from the front and the rear, and omnidirectional picks up sound evenly from every side of the microphone.

These are really just the tip of the iceberg, as there are hundreds of models you might choose from, most of which sound quite good. It’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole with this stuff (much like guitars), but any of the above options will give you nice sounding results on most voices and guitar. Buying used (from a site like Reverb or through a dealer) will get you the best deals.

If you decide you want to get additional microphones (either now or down the line), I can think of few deals better than a pair of Line Audio CM4s. These are small diaphragm condenser mics, great for stereo recordings of acoustic guitars and other acoustic instruments. They don’t have a reseller in the US (they used to sell direct but recently stopped), but you can order them from dealers in Europe for about $350 brand new—an excellent deal for a pair of great sounding microphones. I recently sold my pair as I happened upon a great deal on some vintage Sonys from a high end studio, but the Line Audios are a screaming deal and often recommended to folks doing classical recording.

[Eastbound]

You can get good results from one mic. Normally a condenser would be used and the trick is getting the guitar and vocals balanced from mic placement. Try a couple different positions and see what works best. Mic can be placed at a distance to pick up everything and get some room sound

Two mics works because you can balance the guitar and vocal after recording, but it will require two mics. In this case you want to (try to) keep the guitar and vocal from spilling into the other mic

Id get a zoom with built in condenser mic and ports to add external mics. Its probably the simplest solution I can think of

[Charlie Bernstein]

If you're careful, you can do it with one good mic, but it'll take some work to learn to balance the voice and guitar. Google studio microphones. My favorite all-purpose mic (which I can't afford to own) is the Electro-Voice RE20. It can do anything.

I used to work at a radio station with frequent live guest artists. A lot of the younger ones liked using at least two mics. The old pros who came up during the Great Folk Scare always used just one. As Eastbound was describing in post 7, they positioned them to create an equilateral mouth-soundhole-mic triangle and aimed the mic somewhere between mouth and soundhole, trying different angles until they got it right. It never took long. The mic was on a hanging boom, so it was easy for them to fool with.

Keep in mind that the mic wasn't a Shure SM58, which you could make to work solo but would be better it were one of a pair.