For some, recording and mixing acoustic guitars can be difficult and frustrating, but it needn’t be if you know some of the production basics behind recording this popular instrument. In this set of Production Expert Premium Tutorials, you will learn a variety of fundamental recording and mixing techniques to help you discover and develop your own acoustic guitar production skillsets, including how to get acoustic guitars which sound full and natural at source while delivering tasteful and purposeful prominence in a mix. Once you’ve got a few of these lessons under your belt, you will be able to confidently produce great-sounding acoustic guitar tracks time and again.
Subjects Covered In This Collection Of Acoustic Guitar Production Tutorials
We have organised the following tutorial videos in order of a production workflow to help you find the acoustic guitar production skills you need:
Recording: The journey to great sounding acoustic guitars starts before and during tracking. It’s essential to know how to prepare for recording as well as key microphone techniques for capturing your guitar takes. Equip yourself with a pallet of creative choices that you can call on the next time you produce a song with an acoustic guitar.
Editing: Learn helpful time correction editing techniques for fixing small timing issues in acoustic guitar performances that have moments in which the performer played either before or ahead of the beat.
Mixing: Learn the basics of how to sit acoustic guitar tracks in a mix along with some creative production techniques that can make your guitars sound more exciting and radio-ready.
Total Watch Time: 45 minutes across seven tutorial videos
Who Are These Acoustic Guitar Production Techniques For?
Songwriters: Singer-songwriters who produce their music will benefit hugely from these videos. All the essential skills you need to know to record your acoustic guitar parts in the comfort of your studio are covered in this collection from tracking through to mixing.
Producers: Knowing how to record an acoustic guitar is one of the first lessons in audio production. These videos will help you if you feel the need to develop your skills further in this fundamental audio production field.
Mix Engineers: It’s relatively uncommon these days for a mix not to have at least one acoustic guitar track. Even if a subtle acoustic guitar part is there for texture, knowing how to treat them is a necessary mix skill to have at your disposal. In our acoustic guitar mix-centric tutorials below you will learn the basics of sitting any acoustic guitar track in a mix.
How Can I Watch These Production Expert Premium Tutorials?
Several of these acoustic guitar production tutorials are free to watch and enjoy. Others can only be viewed if you are a subscriber of Production Expert Premium. If you are not a subscriber, you will be able to watch short preview sections for free of any of our premium videos at no charge and without a membership, but if you want to view these premium videos in their entirety you will need to subscribe for a free 14-day trial or sign-up for a monthly subscription which you can cancel at any time.
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Recording Acoustic Guitars
Essential Acoustic Guitar Recording Advice For Those Recording Mono Guitars With A Single Microphone
Preparation is also vital in acoustic guitar recording. Though simple, never underestimate the importance of tuning as guitar recordings with even the slightest of tuning issues can ruin the overall vibe of a mix. In this Production Expert Premium tutorial you will also learn how to approach an acoustic guitar recording if you only have one microphone available. Often one microphone is enough to achieve great-sounding results. The key here is to experiment with placement which we demonstrate in this tutorial.
Check out our next tutorial if you plan to use two microphones to recording acoustic guitar with.
Fundamental Microphone Placement Techniques For Recording Great Sounding Acoustic Guitars At Source In Stereo With Two Microphones
Microphone placement options are plentiful when preparing to record an acoustic guitar. You could keep it simple and choose to use a single microphone, or you could opt for one of several creative stereo configurations, but which should you choose? Where should you place your mics, and how do these setups differ in sound?
You will learn several key mic placement configurations in this Production Expert Premium tutorial, which demonstrates recording with two microphones. We also show side-by-side comparisons alongside a mono recording to help you hear the differences between each of the placements.
We have now covered the basics of how to use microphones in the recording stages. Next, we move on to some editing techniques you can use if certain areas in a performance are slightly out of time.
Editing Acoustic Guitar Recordings - How To Address Timing Issues
4 Quick Ways To Fix Out Of Time Guitar Tracks In Pro Tools
This premium tutorial provides useful information for anyone using a DAW. Though this tutorial is centred around fixing acoustic guitar timing issues in Pro Tools, most of the lessons translate to other DAWs. The secret to getting transparent sounding results here is only to fix the areas that cause the most significant issues in your mix. Otherwise, you run the risk of your acoustic guitars sounding rigid or robotic if you overdo time correction, you have been warned.
Acoustic Guitar Mixing Techniques
The mix is the final stage in acoustic guitar production. Like microphone placement in tracking, choices in an acoustic guitar mix is also plentiful. If your acoustic guitar tracks were recorded with a considered approach, then there is a good chance they sound pretty close to complete in the mix, though you may need to apply a touch of EQ, dynamics processing and effects just to finish them off.
The tutorials below show you several processing techniques for sitting acoustic guitar tracks in the mix. Though these demonstrations are in Studio One and Pro Tools using third-party plug-ins, these techniques are easily transferable to other DAWs and plug-ins.
How To Mix Acoustic Guitar Tracks In Studio One Using Waves Plug-ins
How To Create Big Stereo Acoustic Guitars In Pro Tools
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