Acoustic Guitar Recording

At RecordingReview.com we hear two questions all the time when it comes to acoustic guitar recording:

1) Where do I start when recording acoustic guitar? What gear do I need?

2) How do I make my acoustic guitar recordings sound better?

For anyone looking to answer these questions right here and right now, I’ve created Killer Home Recording: Acoustic Guitar.

Killer Home Recording: Acoustic Guitar
Every beginner asks similar questions? What microphone do I need? Where do I place these mics/ Should I use a DI? What preamp will make my acoustic guitar sounds better? Do I need a compressor? How important is the guitar, the room, the player,the song, etc? We tackle pretty much every question I could think of after running the RecordingReview.com forum for 3.5 years in the hope that you can learn it all in the time it takes to read a few pages and listen to quite a few audio clips.

When combined with Killer Home Recording: Audio Engineering Essentials you have a 1-2 punch that should knock the edge off getting started with recording acoustic guitar in no time. You’ll be on the fast track to making awesome sounding acoustic guitar recordings.

The Broke, The Bad, and The Ugly
If you are broke, bad or ugly or just aren’t ready to pull that thing out of your pants that holds your money, I understand. There is no pressure. You’ll find tons of outstanding information on acoustic guitar recording here at RecordingReview.com. The only problem is it is scattered and fragmented here and there, much like most of the good info around the web.

On some topics I’ve written dozens of free articles that may even change your life. For other topics I’ve barely scratched the surface reading it may just make you want to change your pants.

However, I have no doubt that the home recording forum here at RecordingReview.com and utilizing individual forums like Bash This Recording and Audio Engineering can be a massive help in your quest for mega acoustic guitar sounds!

  • Visit The Audio Engineering Forum.
  • Find forum threads relevant to acoustic guitar recording.
  • Search the entire RecordingReview.com site for acoustic guitar.
Join Cubase Forum
Recording tips and tricks
Getting Started With Home Recording

Are you new to recording and not exactly sure what gear you need? RecordingReview.com specializes in helping beginners jump into the world of recording. There are about 2,000 traps that can easily waste thousands of hours of your time. Recording Review focuses on giving you the info you need to make the right decisions for you. This is what the Getting Started With Home Recording Guide is all about.

Getting Started With MIDI Production

MIDI production is not just for techno and dance music anymore. The use of MIDI has become an integral part of the recording process in rock, metal, and even country. In fact the only genre's of music that don't utilize MIDI that often are Folk and Bluegrass!

With that said, MIDI can be confusing at first. MIDI brings up a big, new list of definitions to learn and MIDI just seems to play by a different set of rules than convention computer recording. Luckily, I've created the Getting Started With MIDI Sequencing Guide to help you burst through the learning curve and reap the benefits of synths, samples, and MIDI production.

MIDI Production
Steinberg Cubase 4 Studio
Steinberg Cubase 4 Studio
PreSonus FIREPOD Studio Package
PreSonus FIREPOD Studio Package
Waves SSL 4000 Collection Native
Waves SSL 4000 Collection Native
Toontrack DFH Superior Custom and Vintage
Toontrack DFH Superior Custom and Vintage
Propellerhead REASON 4.0 Music Production Software
Propellerhead REASON 4.0 Music Production Software
Neumann TLM-103 Microphone
Neumann TLM-103 Microphone
My Electric Guitar Secret Weapon

For a rock guitar player, there is something about a killer distorted guitar sound that becomes a passion, or maybe even an addition. Of guitar, many beginners in the home recording world have trouble with recording electric guitars. In this member only guide, I'll talk about my secret weapon for recording huge electric guitars.

Electric Guitar
10 Things Every Band Should Know Before Recording

Before any band walks into a recording studio, they had better prepare themselves. There is a lot to learn about the recording process, but taking a few minutes to read this guy could save you thousands of bucks!!

10 Things Every Band Should Know Before Recording is my attempt to get you up to speed on the process of recording extremely quickly! If we can immediately rule out beginner mistakes and make sure you have a clear idea on how the process REALLY works, the odds of your next recording being successful are improved immensely.

Every Band Should Know
Do I Need A High End Mic Preamp?

Don't let peer pressure convince you that you need to dump thousands of dollars into a high end microphone preamp. Let your ears decide! Maybe after listening to this preamp shootout, you can decide if the subtle change in character offered by a preamps is going to be worth the cash.

Take a listen to my Preamp Shootout. With preamps such as API, Great River, Vintech (Neve 1272 clone), Presonus M80, and Mackie 1604 you can listen to the difference between super expensive and super cheap preamps and decide for yourself if you want to drop the cash on a preamp yet or not.

Mic Preamp
Home Recording Soundcard Wizard

The hardest part to choosing the initial gear to get started recording at home is the audio interface / soundcard (same thing). It used to take hours and hours and hours of research to figure out the features you needed. Then it took hours and hours and hours to figure out which brand of audio interface was most reliable. Of course, then, someone would say that X brand is way better than Y brand (which is usually a total lie!). It was a mess!

Now, choosing an audio interface is much simpler. Just go through the Audio Interface Wizard. It'll ask you 10 questions and spit out the audio interfaces that meet your needs in order of price. You immediately know which audio interfaces work for you. Then it's just an issue of choosing the most reliable audio interface that meets your budget. It's easy!

Electric Guitar Microphone Shootout

Do you really need a super high end microphone to get great sounding electric guitars? Here is a shootout I put together with the Royer R121 ribbon microphone, Shure SM 57, Audio Technica AT4033, Sennheiser MD 421, and Soundelux U99.

electric guitar microphone shootout
Home Recording Soundcard Wizard
Find the audio interface for youChoosing an audio interface just got WAY easier!

Home Recording Soundcard Wizard

Latest Recording Blogs
Latest Recording Forum Posts
  • What kinda song is this ??

    It sound like a movie sound track. I would love to put a guitar track with it. If you have never heard my stuff check it out at SoundClick artist: T
    Posted in Unfinished Ideas

  • Help me getting this acoustic guitar sound right

    It's pretty hard to tell how a sound on it's own will work once it's in a mix with more instruments... I can tell you this - The raw recorded sound of
    Posted in Bash This Recording

  • guitar grounding issues

    is it still there when you unplug the guitar from the head?
    Posted in Audio Engineering

  • Creating thick vocals with minimal tracks

    There's no real substitute for VERY well tracked layers on R&B vocals. That's a magic little sound. The closest thing to this is chorus, which i
    Posted in Audio Engineering

  • Optimum dB levels when recording

    Good news is that you are making it harder than it needs to be. It doesn't really matter all that much. The whole -18/-24dB is referring to a time whe
    Posted in Audio Engineering

  • composing/arrangement tips

    ---Quote (Originally by newkid)--- Learn the theory first. If you understand the basics you will be able to apply it to the style of music you are a
    Posted in Songwriting

  • I need monitors.

    Both are small 5" budget monitors, so you will just have to pick one and learn it. Meaning that listen to your fav album that you've heard for years a
    Posted in Home Studio Equipment

  • Using multiple sliders at once

    Thanks. However, I tried, I had a look through the manual, but the bit about group tracks might as well have been written in Chinese, just can't make
    Posted in Cubase

  • Your Favorite Vocal Mics?

    Singing Lessons & Tips - Head Voice Vocal Compression - Rock the Stage Video (http://vodpod.com/watch/1923295-singing-lessons-tips-head-voice-vocal-co
    Posted in Audio Engineering

  • looking for advice on manageing and interpreting bass levels on tracks/mix

    ---Quote (Originally by arktisk)--- from reading the replies here, and judging from the fact that i have no money/income, does this mean im screwed e
    Posted in Audio Engineering

Recording Reviews

Talking about recording is great. However, one thing the internet world is not so good at when it comes to helping people get better at audio engineering is the overemphasis of words. Without a doubt, the best way to get better at your recordings is have them reviewed by experts, peers, and everyone in between.

So, simply Join Recording Review today and post a new song / mix you are working. We'll give you real world advice to drastically improve your music recordings. I love the Recording Review section because it focuses on EXACTLY what the problems are on your mix. It's common for a beginner to say “I'm not happy with the way my mixes are turning out” and a typical, generic response is “Buy better preamps or better mics!”.

Well, that's a stupid way of solving a problem. There is no use guessing with thousands of dollars in equipment when the problem may be the way you are approaching your mix. Maybe you just need to move your studio monitors? Maybe you are recording substandard musicians? Recording Reviews is the fastest way to improve your recordings!