If you are reading this then you might have known by now that recording an Acoustic Guitar is not a simple task. Bad acoustic guitar recordings will considerably bring down the quality of your entire mix. And honestly, we don’t want that to happen with you.

Some might have questions like how to record, which Audio Interface to use or which DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). For that, we have AN ESSENTIAL HOME RECORDING GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS, which we would suggest you have a look at it.

In some cases, like for home recording, a single microphone for the guitar which captures in mono is enough, but if you are recording studio type space then recording guitars in stereo is much recommended. It’s not always obvious to decide on how to record the performance it just comes within.

Instruments like acoustic piano, drums and percussion have their own natural stereo width because of their size and design.

There are no ground rules on how to record acoustic guitar or how it should be captured because the sound engineer has many options. Here let’s check out 10 essential tips to get kick-ass acoustic guitar recording at home or in studios.

Let’s start

1. Find A Room Where You Feel Your Guitar Sounds The Best

Fetch some markers, and make a mark in your room floor, like where your guitar and vocals sound the best. Marking also includes placement of mic, the distance and the position of you with your guitar. Or maybe you can have your picture clicked in your sweet-spot.

2. Practice on clicks/tempo

If you wish to have an accurate recording, then we say practice on clicks/metronome. This process will help you achieve a great recording without much flaws and retakes. So practice your song as much as you can.

3. Stop Stereo Miking Acoustic Guitar

Using two mics for recording guitar might give you a better stereo sound. But is always better to record in mono with a single, high-quality condenser or ribbon microphones. Recording in mono eliminates phase problems and reduces noise, this is exactly what we need, right? However, we can later equalize the track and create it to stereo from mono track. This might even help your pockets, instead of looking for two mics to record just look for one high-quality mic.

4. Volume Levels Below Red

The first thing to do is to set the volume levels. Just so that you don’t push the volume to the red in the volume meter also called peaking in technical terms.

5. Avoid Reverb

It’s always better to record your vocals without any reverb to it. It will give you open access to the track while mixing and mastering process. So, you can add reverb and other effects or EQ as you want.

6. Give Some Space Before You Start Your Recording

It is advisable to have one measure or two measures of space before the track. This process will help you a lot while recording in layers or recording in multiple layers.

7. Make No Noise

Condenser microphones are sensitive and capture even the smallest sound which we couldn’t hear normally. The noise includes your breath, your body movements like arm, hands and also if you move your guitar. These unwanted noises can spoil your recording. If you have an Electro-Acoustic guitar then it might help you avoid the noise which comes from the guitar and it will also help you to get a proper guitar recording.

8. Check Your Guitar Tuning

There are high chances that your guitar may go off tune while recording process. So be careful and tune your guitar after each takes just to make sure your song sounds the best. Re-tuning is not just for guitars but also for all other instruments.

9. Check Your Track For Squeaks

Ones the recording is completed, listen to your track and search for squeaks. For guitar players, the chances of spotting squeaks are higher than others. If you found it and then you’ll have to rerecord the layer again as squeaks are hard to remove or avoid so we are aware of it. If you don’t have a monitor speaker or monitoring headphones it might be difficult to check for squeaks.

10. Listen to your mix repeatedly

To get better quality output, we recommend you listen to your mix on every audible source you have. I.e Boombox, mobile speakers, 2.1 or 5.1 speakers everything you’ve got, this will help you know how the song is gonna sound.

We know after reading this you might also wish to know which microphones it the best for you. Below we have listed down some of the best condenser microphones for every budget to help you get a proper studio quality recording.

Starting with the best

Lewitt LCT 240 PRO Cardioid Condenser Microphone

A surprisingly versatile cardioid condenser microphone for everyone who’s eager to take the next step in professional recording. All major applications can be covered thanks to its highly nuanced and transparent sound.

AKG P120 Condenser Microphone

AKG P120 series of microphones come with legendary AKG sound and quality at an outstanding price/performance level. AKG's ξmics are among the best-wired condenser microphones at their price point.

Vault VCM Studio Condenser Microphone

The Vault VCM studio microphones are suitable for any kind of recordings from Vocals or Instruments. VCM microphone is specially designed to reduce external sound and give you an exact representation of your own recordings.

There are much more things to be known and to be considered while recording. If you find any difficulties then please don’t hesitate to speak to our studio specialist at +91-22-61235399 or mail them at helpdesk@bajaao.com. Our specialist can be a valuable resource for you and their knowledge and expertise will help you decide with ease.