Current Events > Any CEmen with tips on recording/mixing?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Im trying to record some songs of mine with guitar, vocals, and harmonica. I really dont know jackshit about the best way to go about mixing, EQ, that type of stuff. Im not trying to get professional recordings by any means, just trying to figure out what I sound like and get some demo recordings to show people when I start looking for venues to play.

Im using Reaper as my software, cause its free lol. Im using two mics; a Shure SM57 for the guitar (its an acoustic-electric, so I could plug it in with a quarter inch too) and an Audix i5 for vocals/harmonica. I wish I had a condenser mic, but alas I do not. Im hoping to buy one soon.

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I'm not the best at mixing but I can help with recording guitar. You'll improve your guitar sound tenfold if you use multiple mics. Also play around with where you're placing the mics.

What kind of amp are you playing through and what sound are you going for? Depending on the kind of tone you're looking for you'll want to place the mic either further or closer to the center of the cone of your speaker.
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Smashingpmkns posted...

I'm not the best at mixing but I can help with recording guitar. You'll improve your guitar sound tenfold if you use multiple mics. Also play around with where you're placing the mics.

What kind of amp are you playing through and what sound are you going for? Depending on the kind of tone you're looking for you'll want to place the mic either further or closer to the center of the cone of your speaker.

No amp, just using an acoustic with a mic up to it.

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Ahh okay I missed that in the OP my b. Mic placement is still important but a little easier with an acoustic and doesn't need as much fiddling from my experience.
Don't place the mic in front of the soundhole. Place it around a foot away from the 12th fret. Imo that gives the most balanced sound. Some people place the mic above the guitar or below for more bass/midrange (accordingly). So it depends on what you want there. A condenser mic is definitely preferred for acoustic but you already got that figured.
Mixing and EQing is all about knowledge. So depending on what you're recording you'll want to cut out the unwanted frequencies when EQing. Reaper should have something that visualizes the EQ which makes it easier.



Theres a good cheat sheet for frequencies. Basically you dont want whatever instruments your recording to battle for the spotlight. So make sure you're eliminating whatever frequency space they're taking up that isn't the focal point for the instrument. Just to make it stupidly simple let's say you were recording a bass drum. That is obviously on the low end so youd want to cut the higher frequencies that it produces so a guitar or a harmonica can shine.

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Smashingpmkns posted...

Ahh okay I missed that in the OP my b. Mic placement is still important but a little easier with an acoustic and doesn't need as much fiddling from my experience.
Don't place the mic in front of the soundhole. Place it around a foot away from the 12th fret. Imo that gives the most balanced sound. Some people place the mic above the guitar or below for more bass/midrange (accordingly). So it depends on what you want there. A condenser mic is definitely preferred for acoustic but you already got that figured.
Mixing and EQing is all about knowledge. So depending on what you're recording you'll want to cut out the unwanted frequencies when EQing. Reaper should have something that visualizes the EQ which makes it easier.



Theres a good cheat sheet for frequencies. Basically you dont want whatever instruments your recording to battle for the spotlight. So make sure you're eliminating whatever frequency space they're taking up that isn't the focal point for the instrument. Just to make it stupidly simple let's say you were recording a bass drum. That is obviously on the low end so youd want to cut the higher frequencies that it produces so a guitar or a harmonica can shine.

Okay. Seems like a lot of trial and error. Thanks for the advice!

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the Lewitt LCT 240 Pro I have is a beast of a Condenser mic, I use it with a SM57 (near the sound hole) and the condensor around the 12th like pmkns said.. the NT-1 by Rodes is also a staple in guitar recording (it has the same tenure as the SM57 for recording)

I'm not really a pro at recording or mixing, I just do concept stuff for myself - but an easy way to immediately get mileage is to understand what an EQ will do with that chart up there^

For example a bass lives on the lower end of the frequency, so if you know a flute lives up in the higher register you will benefit from cutting out the 'redundant' high end of a bass to basically give breathing room for the flute

the acoustic guitar tends to live wiith beautiful midrange and I find often I OBLITERATE the low end - I just remove EVERYTHING that's sub-lows.. why even keep it there? It's just taking up space for an instrument that would nicely fit there (the EQ will show you where the frequency lives to notch out unnecessary ones)

Compressors are something to dabble with, they basically try and bring up the lows and squash down the highs so you can get a more direct, controlled sound.. it's THE sound of Adele-esque vocals and funk guitars

Limiters are also pretty handy - you can really bring up the input of a sound without really clipping (hence limiter) which helps control wild sources of audio

You can also stack the same track and pan them out to give them more GIRTH (YEAH! Girth! :D)

All of your tracks are going to fed into a MASTER fader.. that means all the audio data and effects will be summed up together, this is where you can slap on another limiter so the final mix isn't tearing someones poor eardrums with squeaky highs

How and what is really up to you honestly - lots of people use specific vocal chains to get a modern sound or whatnot.. I follow Warren Huart and Andrew Scheps on YT

Basically just find up as much as you can about your favorite songs and the way they were recorded and who recorded them

FrankJaegr posted...

the Lewitt LCT 240 Pro I have is a beast of a Condenser mic, I use it with a SM57 (near the sound hole) and the condensor around the 12th like pmkns said.. the NT-1 by Rodes is also a staple in guitar recording (it has the same tenure as the SM57 for recording)

I'm not really a pro at recording or mixing, I just do concept stuff for myself - but an easy way to immediately get mileage is to understand what an EQ will do with that chart up there^

For example a bass lives on the lower end of the frequency, so if you know a flute lives up in the higher register you will benefit from cutting out the 'redundant' high end of a bass to basically give breathing room for the flute

the acoustic guitar tends to live wiith beautiful midrange and I find often I OBLITERATE the low end - I just remove EVERYTHING that's sub-lows.. why even keep it there? It's just taking up space for an instrument that would nicely fit there (the EQ will show you where the frequency lives to notch out unnecessary ones)

Compressors are something to dabble with, they basically try and bring up the lows and squash down the highs so you can get a more direct, controlled sound.. it's THE sound of Adele-esque vocals and funk guitars

Limiters are also pretty handy - you can really bring up the input of a sound without really clipping (hence limiter) which helps control wild sources of audio

You can also stack the same track and pan them out to give them more GIRTH (YEAH! Girth! :D)

All of your tracks are going to fed into a MASTER fader.. that means all the audio data and effects will be summed up together, this is where you can slap on another limiter so the final mix isn't tearing someones poor eardrums with squeaky highs

How and what is really up to you honestly - lots of people use specific vocal chains to get a modern sound or whatnot.. I follow Warren Huart and Andrew Scheps on YT

Basically just find up as much as you can about your favorite songs and the way they were recorded and who recorded them

@FrankJaegr this is all good knowledge, thank you. im familiar with the terms because ive actually had a lot of studio time with my band when we recorded and done some basic stuff of my own with my classical audition tapes, but the actual procedures behind it are so foreign to me lol.

if i may wind up recording a couple things and sending em your way as an ear for mixing suggestions, if you wouldnt mind

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