can this setup be me mixed as sterio, by doubling the guitar part? will the vocal bleeding in them affect if same panned left n right ? vocal part should be in centre right?
I was shocked to see this video the other night. Mainly because the next day I was meeting a friend to record his acoustic performance using the exact same setup you used. Well, very similar. I used a Rode NT1a microphone and a second mic for more guitar. We used a Shure SM58 for the guitar body and the Rode NT1a for some guitar and mainly focused on vocals. It was nice to get a tip on doing this before doing it. I felt nicely prepared. Looking forward to seeing how you process the audio in the next video. Because my recording needs the help. Thanks for always providing top tips that are actually useful and applicable to us here at home. Cheers!
Graham, just wanted to thank you for this great tutorial :) What a great time to be alive when we have all you awesome people sharing your hard-earned knowledge online, sometimes on the other side of the globe!
It sounded great! And the bleed actually helps glue everything together. The SM 57 response actually emphasizes an important part of the guitar so it completes the other condenser sound wihout an EQ. I though the condenser would pick a lot more of the vocals, it's surprising how much it rejected them.
Been following your videos for must be 10 years now. Learned a hell of a lot from you about recording, never seen you play though. Never knew you were such a good artist in your own right! Good job!
Hey, Graham quick tip...you can use a towel or a barbers cape to minimize bleed just place it in between the two mics and tide it to your neck. Simple Thats very useful if you are in the studio.
Well done. Rode NT1 is my favorite mic for both guitar and vocal. It’s amazing how much the Rode adds to the vocal as soft as it is picked up. Magic. :-)
Very impressed by your suggestions. As a seasoned Engineer /Producer, I find it extremely important to check your ego at the door. I have this personal rule and that's remember your 'ABC' s' "Always Be Challenged '... I am truly blown away with that insane separation / isolation, of you Microphone choices and placement. Well done, Sir indeed!
I’m enjoying going through your 6-step process for creating radio-ready tunes. When listening to your demo, I could hear where some awesome vocal harmonies would fit perfectly and add a pleasant dimension (didn’t know you were going to do that in your final mix at that point). And then in your final mix-BAM! I’m using an AEA ribbon mic and a CAD condenser mic (another AEA will be purchased this Fall), but recorded vocal and guitar cab from different sides of the room; however, after watching this video, I think I’m going to take advantage of the ribbon mic’s incredible side rejection capability and mount them sideways to see what results I get...seems promising! Thanks for a great tutorial. Okay, back to your 6 steps!
I love your set up, sounds great! One thing that could help is moving your vocal mic about 4-5 inches left (your perspective)... still angled at your face... this will reduce losing vocal consistency when turning to look at your guitar neck.
If you have a ribbon or a figure 8 Mic try that with the dead zone pointer towards the mouth... Can yield very nice results like very much nearly no bleed in my tests, I could overdubs the vocals later and even change the lyrics and nobody would notice
Great video, Graham...this helped solve our ongoing problem of how to capture the feel of our live jams, which often gets lost in overdubs. Much appreciated!
It's not a super cheap way to do it, but using two ribbon microphones to do this is the absolute best. Ribbon mics have terrific rejection in the nulls/dead zones. There are several mid-high end condensers that give you the ability to get a figure 8 pattern mic, but they still don't reject as nice a ribbon mics. The bleed when doing this setup with ribbons is virtually undetectable. Check out a video on the Sterling Audio ribbon mics. Affordable and seem pretty nice.
Eureka! I've got it! You could make a shield out of very thin plexiglass that sort of comfortably rests on your shoulders and as it extends it widens to a bit beyond the mic stand separating the mics and the sound projected from the guitar and your voice. It's lightweight and clear and I know it would work for me anyway. I wouldn't perform with it lol but even If say you upload songs with you sitting and playing in your mini studios surrounded by your gear would you even see it? Depending on the lighting you could catch reflection but If it makes better recording sound for those who like to record while playin-n-singin who cares it you look like the professor from Back to the Future.🤓
This is an amazing video Graham! It's a long time I follow you and I'm glad to see your constant growth. Thanks for your quite clear English speaking and pronunciation. It's a pleasure to hear and see. Regards from Argentinian Patagonia :)
I like using 2 bidirectional mics one pointing at the guitar with the null pointing at the voice then the other pointing at the vocals and the null at the guitar. works amazing
I have a Shure SM57 and they are amazing. Can be used on anything! I will be looking at a Rode for my acoustic. This is a great video, so useful. Thank you for sharing this info.
Great job as usual Graham. Last time I tried to record guitar and vocals I was somewhat underwhelmed with the results. I'll definitely try it this way now.
Very hard to get right...phase issues.... Flashlight analogy , smart. A matter of degrees , subtle positioning changes can make large results. Good Video!
Terrific video Graham, just what I was looking for! I am doing research on just what audio equipment I would need to do this type of recording...............Thanks, Steve
In editing you can separate the different volumes, making it easier to distinguish vocals and guitar. You can actually run a program that minimizes the background noise in live performance as well.
Graham, thanks for doing this! I can make thick and dense mixes sound pretty good, but am just not as good at doing this kind of sparse live type thing. You are the bee's knees.
Nice video. I’d always considered my SM57 to be mainly for gigs, but will give it a shot per your suggestion. Btw, I do a similar setup, but flip the guitar mic upside down to get better separation. Thx.
Your videos are so incredibly helpful, i almost have the same mic setup (have a shureSM58 instead), but i always had problems making my stuff sound good. These tips really helped! Subscribed :).
Hello! This didn't work for me. I have the exact same guitar mic and followed the distance instructions. It actually picked up more vocals than guitar. Using logic pro x and a m-audio 2x2 card
You're better off using 2 condenser microphones and using them in fig 8. Point the null of each at the bleed you don't want. The nulls are deafer than the back of any cardioid pattern dynamic.
Ok, this really helped me out. I was using the condenser mic on the vocals and my SM58 on the acoustic. Changing that around made my life much easier in getting the levels right. Thanks so much! My interface right now is an Allen & Heath Zed 10FX as I had it already for gigging. Just starting to try to record. Would I be better off getting a dedicated interface like a Focusrite 2i4 or a Moto m4 ( I want the midi interface)?
Hi Graham!! Thank you very much!!! It would be great if you could make a video about the mixing of a track recorded this way, and how to deal with the bleeding so it is not noticeable in the mix. Cheers from Mexico!
Graham, do you plan to release more complicated recording and mixing tutorials. I've been watching your videos for years, and would benefit from a progression from beginner videos
@@kornjoe9 if you're sitting the guitar and mouth are for sure closer together. Depends though I guess how you hold it, or how low you let it hang when standing. Hmm ok actually after testing, yeah it really isn't a huge difference lol. Especially since my posture isn't great :p
Hi Graham, what is the reasoning behind NOT plugging the guitar, say into the focusrite Solo? Wouldn't that be "Complete separation" of Vocals and Guitar? And then mixing would be easier, without bleeds? What are the cons of not plugging the guitar into the Audio Interface? Is it not possible to do that? I haven't tried, as I don't have the equipment to try yet.. I would love to know what you think! (Hope you see this!) Thanks brother!
Love your vids. Unfortunately, for the life of me I can not get Pro Tools First to work. Ableton, no prob. Cubase, no prob. BUT no one has laid out how-to vids like you have on those programs. Pro Tools even looks easier to use, but when I set up a project. Let's say just like this one. I get to the point of enabling the track for recording and I get a wall of static and the program crashes.
I don`t know... even if you are right about the bleed (which I am not sold on) it doesn`t feel or sound right to me to relegate a nice condenser microphone to the acoustic and then put a 57 for vocals. I have a Warbler MK1 microphone and much prefer it as the vocal mic with the dynamic 57 handling the acoustic.
Question: what do you do when your audio interface has 2 mic preamps, but a single button for phantom power... it is either on or off FOR THE 2 MICS at the same time... Because I want to record just like your setup, a condenser mic for the acoustic guitar and a SM057 for the vocals, BUT... my audio interface CANNOT have phantom power on just 1 of the 2 mic inputs... OR maybe the SM-57 can remain unharmed by the active phantom power sent to it? Please advise! Or am I doomed to record the guitar and the vocals separately?!! BTW very nice and very useful video!
