Recording A Acoustic Guitar - Roland CD-2e Manual Book

Recording a acoustic guitar

Minimize the room resonances and
capture the sound of the guitar itself
The acoustic guitar is a familiar instrument that can
be conveniently played at home. But when played in
a typical room, the sound may resonate excessively,
blurring the tonal characteristics or possibly causing
specifi c pitches to be inappropriately accentuated.
Try closing the curtains or draping blankets over
the backs of chairs to dampen the resonances of the
room. On the other hand, a completely dead sound is
not desirable either. You can use reverb to add spatial
ambience.
Emphasizing the
sound of the strings
If you feel that the mid and
low ranges are too strong,
point the mic toward the
neck so that the string vi-
brations will be picked
up more strongly.
Well-balanced strings
and body resonance
Aiming the mics at a point be-
tween the sound hole and the
neck joint will give you a well-
balanced recording. You can
vary the tonal characteristics
by changing the angle.
Record a good balance of the
strings and body resonance
The enchanting sound of the acoustic guitar is a
combination of the rich mid- and low-range body
resonances together with the highs produced by the
plucked strings. But if the body resonances are exces-
sively emphasized, the result will sound muddy. Place
the mic about 20–40 inches (50 cm to 1 meter) away
from the guitar to get a well-balanced recording. It's
also important to avoid moving the instrument dur-
ing the performance. If tonal characteristics seem to
waver, pay attention to your playing posture.
Use a blanket to reduce
unwanted refl ections
You can use blankets to re-
duce unwanted acoustic re-
fl ections from the walls. This
is also a very useful technique
when recording vocals.
This also works for
ukulele
In the case of instruments that have
a substantial diff erence between
loud and soft notes, turn the [MENU]
→ "Limiter" setting "On. " Even when
loud notes are played, the input level
will be automatically adjusted to pre-
vent distortion.