CF MARTIN D-42 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
Budget........ and a little common sense is key !!!
First off, YOU must spent a trillion dollars on state of the art equipment or your project will fail. You may do so at Musicians Friend. Please enter via my website so that I can get the credit. Without the BEST equipment available none of these suggestions will work.
Actually, "COMMON SENSE" goes a long way.
The acoustic guitar is generally made of WOOD !!!
The better the wood and craftsmanship, the better the guitar. Different tone woods sound different. Plywood is wood and is the least desirable. Spend the money to get a guitar with a solid Spruce Top. ( laminates are not a solid piece of wood )
Typically Spruce or Cedar are used in the tops for an acoustic guitar. I've seen others, but this is typical.
The wood vibrates to create the tone. Look for a nice tight straight grain. The price of the guitar will help you find it. OBVIOUSLY, the best is on the best.
MARTIN, GOODALL, SANTA CRUZ, CLIFF RICE, TAYLOR,
Craftsmanship is ones ability to apply the technologies of wood working with the physics of sound to put it all together. We will not go there here!
THE HOLE IN YOUR GUITAR DOES NOT PRODUCE THE SOUND !!! It is not an invisible speaker. The sound comes from the vibrations of the wood( tone woods ).... all the wood, from the neck to the bridge to the top and the body.Generally the better the wood the better the sound,
I have played a cheap "ARIA" guitar that sounded incredible and played great, generally I prefer "MARTIN GUITARS".
So do we put a mic at the sound hole ????
( maybe )
Play your guitar for a little while to vibrate it up. Do the strings sound ok ? Are they gummy and several years old and deader than ___________ ( fill in the blank ) If so change them and play a little more.
Do you like the sound in the room you are in ? This can have an efect on what the recorder hears. Is your Guitar in tune ????
Sitting comfortably, have a friend place a mic ( say a SHURE SM-57 which is a good yet moderately priced mic) about 8" from your guitar just below and behind the bridge. Plug the mic into a mixer. Do you have a pick up on your guitar ? If so, use it...especially if you want to use a Chorus pedal. Plug that into the mixer.
Try a 2nd mic 4 feet away aimed at the guitar for more of an open air sound...( you can vary this distance also ) plug it in. Now BLEND the three with the mixer and try recording the sound. How was it ?
TOO BOOMY ! Move the mic closest to the guitar a little closer to the neck for a brighter sound. Tweak the EQ on the mixer a little. EXPERIMENT with the placement. Try sitting in a corner to bounce the sound around differently or face a wall. Vary the distance. Once you have that perfect recording sound, DO NOT EVER MOVE.........
If you do not have a mixer, try recording 2 channels on your 4 track recorder ( I assume you have at least a 4 track..... if not, get one........or give up !) You can then blend the "TWO" tracks onto the 4th track by mixing them to the last available track. Spend some time getting the mix because we are going to delete the original 2 tracks to allow vocals, bass, etc. To be sure your rhythm is PERFECT.. record a drum track with your Alesis Drum Machine on to 1 track to start, or a click track to keep it all in sync.
MIX TRACK 2 AND 3 TO TRACK 4 (NOW MASTER GUITAR)
RECORD BASS ON TRACK 2 ( YOU COULD NOW MIX 1&2 TO 3 ) RECORD VOCALS ON TRACK 3
NOW YOU HAVE....
TRACK 1 DRUM OR CLICK TRACK
TRACK 2 BASS
TRACK 3 VOCAL 1
TRACK 4 MASTER GUITAR
MIX THIS TO A STEREO CASSETTE RECORDER ( USE GOOD TAPE )AND WOW ALL YOUR FRIENDS.
