If you have an electro-acoustic, you can always record the DI as well as using mic'd options and record to separate tracks in the same take. Then you can blend between them, or throw some spacial fx on one or either track.
This! Some of the best advice I’ve ever heard was to always arm everything you have up regardless of what where in the room or what you are recording. You never know what cool sounds you might find and hard drive space is dirt cheap
You could also feed it into a clean amp sim and blend the two. George Martin used to record John Lennon’s acoustic with a mic for clarity and blend in an AC30 for body.
I think some of Pat Metheny's acoustic sounds are done this way. But the mic is a small mini mic built in to the guitar's body. I have tried this with a DPA tiny mic stuck near the bridge under the strings, and a LR Baggs Align Series Session pedal for acoustic guitars on the DI output.
Love the video Austin! Professional tracking/mix engineer here, really appreciate a producer like yourself going over techniques like this. Just wanted to mention ORTF and NOS are also great techniques for recording acoustic guitar if you have a stereo pair of small diaphragm condensers. Both sound wider than XY but are much more natural sounding than using a spaced pair or MS.
@MakePopMusic on a DI track you can add acoustic IR in DAW, same thing is fishman aura pedal, its just adds an IR to your DI signal to make it sound more real, but benefit of using an IR is you can make your guitar sound like different guitar model (small/big body etc.)
Hey Austin, Great video. Thanks for this. 1. Can you please let us know at what gain stage level we should start recording an acoustic guitar ? 2. Do you prefer different type of acoustic guitars over different type of playings. Eg, which guitar will be more suitable for strumming over intimate playing. Thanks for your time.
Hey Austin, a video about recording and tips using hardware synths (like the Juno in the background) would be neat! Maybe what preamps or what earcandy you use constantly while tracking hardware like this. Excellent content
Love all this! I like to use DIs when I'm demoing/writing for the sake of speed and ease, but I hate the sound. Something that helps is putting an acoustic IR and a little room reverb on the DI tracks. I have a couple of the Taylor IRs from 3 Sigma. They're not a perfect substitute, but they're a lot better than a bone dry DI.
Very comprehensive and easy to understand! It was also helpful for me, personally, to back the mic away to a bit of a distance where it isn't roomy, because nobody listens to a guitar with their ear up against the soundhole. :D
I haven't recorded acoustics in ages and this video is so good at explaining these methods! I do remember using a mix of DI for the punch and definition without the sound-hole boominess, and a condenser about 1 meter away (or far enough to sound "ambient"). maybe threw an sm57 on the 12th fret, can't really remember, but sounds like something I would do :D
Great stuff - also depends how much of the instrument body noise - tapping etc - you need / want to capture. The mid side is good for that as deeper percussive sounds will be centred.
Hey Austin, can you make a video about fake guitars in the future? Like for example a lot of us producers don't have access to real guitars or don't know how to play, but there are so many kontakt libraries and VST plug-ins that emulate guitar. Like a video going through options and how to make them sound as realistic as possible. Could be a dope idea for a video.
Yeah I can work on that. I’m in the process of making a new course that uses a ton of guitar and bass and in the course I show how to replicate every live part with a plugin.
hellooo how are youu? Hope you're doing great, so today i'm here craving you an updated video on how to mix a pop music ;) , not only the vocals but the whole mix
Lauten Audio 120s. Same as spaced pair! Mono mic was the Lauten LS208 Mid side and blumlein were Lewitt LCT 1040 on bottom and Lauten Eden on top at 90 degrees.
