This Round Is Done!

This was suggested by MadRabbit and it'll make a good breather round for #17. The idea is to do a song with just a single guitar. Of course MadRabbit is the master of this, but lets see if we can put him in his place.

What you're going for is just a guitar. That's it. No drum tracks, no effects, just what you can get from a guitar, amp, and your natural room acoustics. This will be a good one to practice recording, and also just simply making a nice song with just the guitar.

There's no other restrictions, except it's just a guitar. Chord melodies, a full solo, mixes of chords and solos, whatever works as a good simple song.

Recording Advice

For this round you'll want to do a few test records to make sure that you get the sound quality right. In the case of a purely acoustic recording your mic placement, input levels, and room acoustics are important to the quality. This is in addition to your normal playing quality.

First thing you should do is make sure you have the basic tone of your amp and guitar setup the way you like. If you're using an acoustic guitar make sure that you're getting the best sound out of it you can. If your picking hand is too heavy from years of hardcore metal then practice a lighter touch.

Next you'll need to setup your recording inputs. The range of recording equipment is massive, but make sure you check the following:

1. You input level and mic's placement to the sound source.
2. The balance between multiple mics if you are going for a stereo record.
3. The level of the recorded track when you finall master it.
4. The volume of your amp if you use one and how close it is to the mic.
5. The "proximity effect" on many mics will add bass you may not want. Move the mic back or look at dropping the bass on your amp a bit.
6. Try to get the same tone you get with your ears from the mic by listening through the mic to what you're getting.

Once you have it all setup, take notes of what worked. I write down the dials on the amp, distance of the mic from the amp, angle of the mic, and input levels and settings on my recording devices.

Another suggestion is to spend the week practicing through this recording setup so that you get used to playing that way. Playing through your recording gear is yet another way to hear how you play, sometimes showing mistakes you might not notice when playing normally.

Finally, if you're going through an amp and you can record two mics at once, try this trick:

1. Setup your amp to record just like normal, getting your tone right.
2. Now, setup a second mic that's slightly away from the amp near you.
3. When you play, play so that this second mic picks up your picking.

When you finally mix, you'll be able to mix these two together and give more of a realistic acoustic feel, especially since there's no drum track so the clicking of the pick will give you the rhythm.