With home recording setups getting more and more pro these days, a studio-grade acoustic guitar sound is within reach.
Let’s discuss how to get you there.
Before Setting up Anything …
1. Consider the Space.
Most folks prefer a less reverberant space to record guitar. This gives us a dead, clean sound to work with in post-production. Try to find a room or a corner of a space that doesn’t have a lot of pingy, slappy echoes. Oftentimes, playing with the soundhole pointing into an open closet will do the trick!
2. Consider the Guitar.
If you have the choice among multiple guitars, you should select the guitar that gets closest to the sound you’re looking for on the track. If the acoustic guitar is the only instrument on the track, maybe a more balanced or even low, beefy sound is what you want. If it’s a rich track with lots of instruments and all you need is a shiny top end sound, avoid that beefy guitar and select the guitar that excels in the high range. Sometimes the more expensive is not the better sounding one for the track you’re working on. Listen carefully to the guitars you have on hand and maybe even do some quick test recordings if you have time. Making educated choices at this stage will pay off later in the mix.
3. Consider the Pick.
Is the guitar part fingerpicked? Is it strummed? How much does capturing the sound of the rhythm hand to you? Be aware of not just the notes being played and the guitar’s tone, but how the picking attack sounds relative to the part. Speaking very generally, here are some rules of thumb… Thin picks will be better for rhythmic strumming, and they won’t sound great with single-note parts. Fingerpicking with no aids is usually a bit quieter, so you may want to mic the player much closer or hotter.
4. Consider the Microphones.
While it’s true that any mic can be used to capture acoustic guitar, there are some tried and true choices that you should know about. Using condenser and dynamic microphones is an industry staple when it comes to acoustic guitar, for sure. Dynamic mics such as the Shure SM57 at the lowest price end, or a step up in price to the Rode M3, would be the best starting point for anyone. When selecting condensers, large diaphragm models will generally capture more low and middle frequencies than a small diaphragm counterpart. The Rode NT1A condenser mic has long been a stand-by for acoustic guitar home recording, and justifiably so. At a higher price point, consider Neumann’s TLM series of condensers. Ribbon mics are also a great option for capturing detail and vibe – they do the best when the guitar part is a bit quieter, with the Royer R-121 being a classic go-to in such situations.
Microphone Setups…
Alright, it’s showtime. You’ve done all the necessary thinking and gear acquisition. Let’s mic setup options.
The main thing to remember about any mic positioning is that you do not want to point a microphone directly perpendicular to the sound hole of the guitar. This may seem counterintuitive at first, but if you make a test recording, you will immediately hear why: it will just sound boomy, muddy, and overwhelming. While the soundhole is obviously crucial to the resonance and projection of an acoustic guitar, the overall sound of the guitar comes from more than just the soundhole. We will discuss this further as we walk through all the approaches.
1. 1 Mic
Your options are obviously more limited with 1 mic, but you can undoubtedly still get great sounds. As mentioned above, do not point your mic perpendicular to the soundhole. Almost any other choice will sound better. The most popular and proven option is to point the mic where the neck meets the body, or alternatively at the 12th fret. (For some guitars that’s the same place, of course.) Generally you will want to place the mic about 8 inches to a foot away from the guitar. This will allow a very balanced amount of high (mostly from the neck/strings), mid, and low (from the body of the guitar) frequencies to be captured. Further away and you will get more “room” sound. Closer, and you may not get such a balance of frequencies.
If you’re not getting a sound you like when the mic is perpendicular to the neck, play with angling the mic either slightly toward the soundhole or slightly toward the headstock. You can probably guess what the resulting change in sound will be. Closer to the soundhole brings in more mids, lows, rhythm hand sounds, and everything happening on that side. Toward the headstock, it’s more high frequencies, strings, and the fretboard hand. As always, use your ears to decide!
Neumann made a wonderful YouTube series on mic-ing acoustic guitar that you should check out. Here’s the video where they explore the 1-Mic approach.
2. 2 Mics
The introduction of a second mic opens up some really fun options.
A/B Spaced Pair
The classic! This is basically the aforementioned 1-mic approach, plus a mic down by the body of the guitar. Place one at the 12th fret, and then one down near the end of the guitar body, angled slightly toward the soundhole. The second mic will now be capturing most of the low end for you, so mix accordingly. You can use any two mics, but refer to the earlier discussion of mics for ideas on selection with this approach. Use your ears to find the best position for the second mic, being careful to avoid any boomy spots. Check out this video for a great in-depth study of the approach. In the video, many different options for the position of the second mic are explored – not just down near the rhythm hand – but here at Supreme Tracks we do recommend using the second mic down at the body of the guitar. Judging by this UAD video on acoustic guitar mic-ing with legendary mixer Jacquire King, we are in good company. One other thing to note about this approach is that sometimes you can come across phase issues between the mics, which is not desirable. Check out the two linked videos for more discussion of that. If you find that you struggle frequently with phase issues when recording acoustic guitar, the next approach is definitely one that will interest you.
Stereo Pair
If you have a matching pair of microphones, you can explore what’s called X/Y stereo mic-ing. This is where the two mics are positioned from the same point, as close to each other as possible, but pointing in different angles. (The “X/Y” is referring to their axes of orientation in this case.) The resulting tracks, when panned left and right, produce a relatively clean stereo image that is devoid of phase complications. Since it’s the same model, manufactured at the same time, pointing from the same position, you know you are getting a reliably similar recording on both tracks. Getting a full, beautiful stereo image of the acoustic guitar can be lovely when you want to feature the instrument on your track. The two things to play around with are the distance of the microphone capsules from one another, and the angle of spread between their directions. This video offers a good exploration of both those parameters.
Mid-Side
This is a lesser known approach that can lead to stellar results: a wide stereo image without needing matching mics. If you have a microphone that has a figure-8 polar pattern available (such as the Royer R-121 mentioned earlier), you can employ the Mid-Side approach. Once again, we start with the 12th fret, 1-mic approach. Then, similarly to the X/Y Stereo approach, we take the figure-8 mic and place it as close to the first mic as possible without touching, so that they are basically in the same physical position. But here’s where it gets interesting: for the figure-8 mic, you want the mic pointing parallel to the guitar, so that both ends of the guitar are being captured by the polar pattern. This may be hard to understand without images and demonstrations, so definitely look up a few videos on this technique. Here’s one we recommend that’s extremely clear. A few pointers… With this technique, you’re going to want the first mic to be truly perpendicular to the fretboard of the guitar, and the figure-8 mic truly parallel. This is important for your overall image during the mixing stage. Take your time setting up. The other consideration is that in the case of some figure 8 mics there is a “front” and a “back”, so if you have such a mic (once again the Royer R-121 is an example of this) you’ll just want to explore a bit as to which side of the guitar to put in “front”. Finally, the Mid-Side technique also requires a certain approach in the mixing stage. It’s not complicated, but it is specific. Make sure to check out our Mixing Acoustic Guitar article for all the info.
1-Mic plus Direct Input
Some acoustic guitars have a pickup option, in which case you may want to take advantage of that. If you’re not confident in the sound you’re getting from the mic, or you only have 1-Mic available, or even if you just want a consistent-sounding additional guitar track when you’re mixing later, making a Direct Input track could be the way to go. While a DI track rarely sounds as good as an acoustic mic, it certainly gets the job done. And if it’s good enough for John Mayer, it’s good enough for you!
Beyond 2 Mics
If you have more than 2 inputs available in your home recording setup, consider using one of the standard 2-mic setups discussed above, and playing around with the additional mics. A “room” mic, placed much further away from the player to capture the ambiance of the overall space, could be a great starting point. Another option (that’s also popular with drum kit mic-ing) is putting a mic above the head of the player, trying to hear the guitar the way they hear it while playing.
The Player
Once you’re ready to hit record, remember one last thing: the player shouldn’t shift around too much! If they swivel and turn and lean with the guitar, your recording is going to be affected. A little movement is inevitable, but make sure the guitar’s position relative to your mic setup isn’t shifting a ton, both during individual takes and across a recording session. If you decide to let the player know about not moving too much relative to the mics, just make sure to speak to them in a way that affects their performance as little as possible. The mics are there for the player, not the other way around. If you do have a very fidgety player, consider adding that DI track as an insurance policy.
You might be interested: check out our article on Mixing Acoustic Guitar to finish the job.
