Best way to do this is to record a scratch track with a really good performance with your guitar And voice at the same time then use that recording as a guide while recording the guitar and vocal separately and just match the performance while hearing the scratch track as a reference. You can concentrate on each part until you get it matched up like the scratch reference.. it will be a bit time consuming but once you get a good overdubbing, the sky is the limit as to mixing options.
I’m spending a lot of time trying for effective separation. It’s good to know here that figure 8 works better than cardioid for it. This is a nice vid. Subbed you. Thanks.
I did a bunch of experimenting along these lines. My SE ribbon mic figure 8 patern was by far the best for rejecting guitar bleed. The next best was using a CAD large diaphragm 48V laying mostly flat 90 degrees to the SE Ribbon. That way I could get very close to them and sing across their face. Didn’t notice any phase problems The texture difference in the mics added richness to my not so good voice. That increased vocal presence without adding gain. I do plug my acoustic guitar in but I don’t use the under the saddle Pieso that came with it. Never used that even live disgusting! I got K&K pads the glue under the top near the bridge. That with some EQ I can live with. Also use a cloud lifter on the Ribbon mic and the passive piezo pickups.
I was just wondering today whether I’d have the chops to record a friend performing with their acoustic. This video will help! Also, many lols for: “I’m fine. Everything’s fine.” Dinner sounded tasty enough, too. My current studio conundrum is that I’ve acquired my first 500 series gear, and it involves my first TT/TinyTelephone jacks and my first DB25 cable. I hadn’t anticipated the expense or apparent relative rarity of cables for this application, and in trying to think of the best “set it and forget it!”) configuration for all this. Along these lines, I’d love to see a video on the growing pains (apart from the obvious ouch on my wallet!) of transitioning from entry-level gear to more semi-pro or professional stuff!
Thanks so much! Ooh, 500 series is a frontier that I haven't been brave enough to forge yet. Honestly, it'd make a lot of sense in this room. But I've been hesitant to buy into the ecosystem so far. How do you like it so far? I'd also love to replace my patchbay with a TT one, just because I could squeeze more inputs/outputs into a single space. But yeah, the availability of the cables kinda scares me.
@@YHRS Hello! Thanks for the reply. I _think_ I like what 500 series gear I have so far, but I haven't been able to put it to any real productive use just yet, and my budget has kept me from grabbing any units north of the $250 range. One positive shout-out: I purchased a wacky thing by Kludge Audio called the "Transwarmer." It's a passive unit with nothing but a teeny toggle switch on the front which subtly alters its character. The imparts a warm gooeyness to anything routed through it without a lot of fuss. I'm looking forward to trying more cheap synth or old Casio sounds through it. I'm about to sit and troubleshoot a rogue unit that unexpectedly cuts ALL sound. (It's probably my fault, as the unit required some assembly.) Not a headache I wanted to face so soon! And there are so many chassises (is that the correct plural? how many syllables is that?) to choose from, and few if any of the budget ones are said to be worth the trouble. I settled on an expensive treat which I got open-box: a Black Lion Audio PBR-8 chassis-and I _think_ I'm happy with the purchase so far. Its front-panel patchbay is TT-which is neat, because I don't have to move the 500 modules around to change the flow (which I presume to be an issue with other units?). That said, it's my only gear that uses TT, and I wasn't prepared for needing to stock another kind of cable. Eh. Growing pains, huh? In fact, it's the idea of "growing pains" I'd love to hear more about on your channel. What annoyances and challenges did you face when your home studio began to grow? And how did you manage to surmount them?
I’ve been trying to do this effectively for a long time. The number one problem I have is with pitch correction. I want perfect takes, for youtube, but that rarely happens. Even if I just have one note to correct (and there’s always at least one) the pitch correction “hears” and tries to “correct” the guitar bleed. I’ve heard Melodyne can do polyphonic pitch correction but I can’t afford it and there’s no guarantee it’ll work as well as I want.
Hi this is a great video (subbed!) but I'm a bit confused at something...at around 12 mins, you put the guitar mic in fig 8 and vox mic in fig 8 too, so does cardioid not reject from the side? If you angled the mics the same way but in cardioid would it not be the same result? Also, in fig 8 mode, aren't they then picking up too much of the room? Cheers for any advice! Nice work!! Ha! I should have waited till 14mins....
Thanks for this video. I have just found myself in this position with a performer who wants me to record an album for her. She's never worked by layering before and wants to sing and play together. If I can't convince her to record separately then I'll have to try your figure 8 method. I did a test using an SM57 on the guitar near the 12th fret pointing slightly down and it separated quite well but I haven't tried a figure 8 on the vocals yet. It'll be a shame to have to do it this way because I was keen to record the guitar using the M/S method with 2 mics.
Great video with great advice. As someone who has never used a figure 8 mic I have a question - would it help to rotate the guitar mic 90 degrees so that it is picking up the 2 ends of the guitar make a difference? The “null” side would still face you. But would the 2 “active” sides pick up guitar instead of one side guitar and the other side getting tour voice bouncing off the wall?
I'm not sure that I follow...although sometimes I have trouble visualizing the polar patterns in 3 dimensions. If you rotate the mic along one axis (twist it like a screw) then the entire pattern would rotate along with it. Or if you rotate it along its other axis (like it's doing cartwheels), I believe that the pattern's direction would look identical relative to the guitar. But hey, experimentation is the key so it'd be worth playing around with all of this if you get your hands on a figure-8 mic.
Thanks Vatche! I tried an SM57 last week and it did a very good job of rejecting the guitar since I could get right up on it. It did have quite a bit of proximity effect, but a little bit of EQ in post helped. Thanks man, and I hope that you and your family are safe and sound at home!
Thanks so much! I actually haven't done any official teaching, although I've been in somewhat of a mentor role at work for the last few years. I do enjoy it, though! I'm so glad that you're finding the videos helpful!
Now that takes talent, I struggle to do them individually. Love the track and your content seems pretty cool mate, I just subscribed. I’m new to RU-vid and yeah hope my channel gets as polished as the content on yours. Feel free to check it out. Can’t wait to see more videos mate
