Hey guys, in this video we’re going to continue our acoustic guitar recording series.
We’ll be doing two stereo acoustic guitar recordings in this video with different microphone
setups.
If you haven’t checked out this series yet, we’ve already covered direct and mono acoustic
guitar recording.
Also, if you like these types of videos, let us know by giving the video a like and subscribing
to the channel.
The first thing we’ll do to record our guitar is make sure we have a nice new set of strings
instead of using an old dead set.
Then we’ll make sure the guitar is in tune, since that’s not something we can really
fix when mixing and there’s really no excuse for that.
For the equipment, we’ll use an acoustic guitar, which can be a regular acoustic or
an acoustic electric guitar.
We’ll also put a new set of strings on this guitar.
We’ll also need an audio interface with at least 2 inputs with preamps and phantom
power, which in my case is a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20.
We’ll need 2 microphones, and a set of the same microphones would be ideal but it doesn’t
have to be.
We’ll need 2 XLR cables, 2 microphone stands, a measuring tape, and maybe a stereo microphone
bar, which is convenient but not 100% necessary.
Let’s start getting setup.
We’ll start with a solid place to sit.
We don’t really want to be moving the guitar around much in relation to the microphone,
and this is even more of an issue with a stereo setup compared to a mono setup.
We’ll place both microphone stands in front of where we’ll be playing in a spaced pair
configuration, and attach the microphones.
Now we’ll connect them to the audio interface with our XLR cables.
On the audio interface, we’ll turn on phantom power for these inputs, since these are condenser
microphones.
We’ll then increase the preamp level to get a good signal and try to match the levels
as best as we can.
One might end up being a little weaker than the other with the spaced pair setup, so we
might need to adjust it a bit later.
When we put these microphones in a spaced pair setup, I’ll keep them 3-4 inches away
from the guitar.
Then we need them to be at least 3 times the distance apart as they are from the guitar
to avoid any phase issues.
Now let’s switch over to Cakewalk by BandLab, which is the free digital audio workstation
we’re using for recording.
This is a new project, so we’ll right click on the blank area here to add a new track,
rename it to acoustic guitar, and set the input.
In this case, we’re setting it as a stereo input, whereas in the previous video, it was
a mono input.
This will use the first 2 microphone inputs on our audio interface.
Now we can just arm it for recording, and press the record button to start when we’re
ready to go.
Here’s the recording of the spaced pair setup.
Now let’s switch over to an X-Y configuration at the 12th fret.
I’m setting these microphones up on a stereo bar to make it easier, but you can use two
microphone stands if you don’t have one of these.
This just makes it easier to get them in the right position and keep them that way when
we’re moving it around.
I’ll place them 3-4 inches out again.
So overall, these acoustic recordings were both very natural sounding and had a very
full frequency response.
They do sound a little different, so test them out for yourself next time you’re recording
to see which one works best on a track.
Some advantages of this setup are that it is the most natural acoustic sound out of
all that we’ve tested, and it’s in stereo instead of mono.
We get a good blend of the guitar body and room sound, and it’s well suited for acoustic
songs.
On the other hand, we can get some phase issues when switching to mono if we’re not careful.
Stereo acoustic recordings also require more patience to setup and it’s more difficult,
especially if doing it on your own.
They can also be more sensitive to changes in the position of the guitar.
Unlike the mono guitar, these can be a little trickier to get to sit well in a mix, and
sometimes there are problems getting the left and right balance right.
Finally, these can require a lot more equipment to setup, and that can even mean an audio
interface upgrade for those with just a simple audio interface with one input.
The last thing we’ll cover is how to fix one problem you may have with stereo acoustic
recordings, and that’s having the left and right channels out of balance.
This can be because the preamp levels aren’t matched when recording, and this is especially
a problem when you don’t have someone to help you set up the levels.
For me, I’ll usually make sure I get a good clean level, then make minor adjustments to
it after to get it to be balanced.
To do this, we’ll add the MUtility plugin from Melda Production.
This is a free plugin that has a few controls to it, but the one we want to use is the left
and right gain controls.
I’ll bring up the gain slightly on the right channel of this track to balance it out.
Some digital audio workstations might have their own tools to do this, I’m just mentioning
this plugin since it’s free and you can use it with whatever software you already
have.
Thanks for checking out this video on stereo acoustic guitar recordings.
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