I just gave you a reply on your recent topic. Really sorry, but I don’t think I’m qualified to give you feedback as your covers were fantastic . I’m super jealous and inspired by your videos, though!
On the recording equipment, it’s a huge rabbit hole. Just try to figure out what problem you’re trying to solve.
I think 2 mics is a great starting point because you can independently add EQ/effects for vocals and guitar. Think reverb, noise gates, etc.
Double micing guitar is interesting because you can pick up some of the ‘room vibrations’ which makes for a more accurate capture of the acoustic sounds.
My Sweetwater rep actually recommended a matched pair of sE7 mics for guitar - but that would’ve meant I purchased 3 mics! I decided a single sE8 was more convenient and sounded enough. Plus I can do double mic using my vocal mic - much flexibility with my setup
There are more advanced techniques like double-recording each track (literally record the acoustic guitar part twice) and pan each track fully left/right to get a wider soundstage. I have not experimented with this yet.
I’d move away from Audacity asap and learn to use a full-featured DAW. If you have a Mac, GarageBand is free and a great starting point.
I forgot to mention, I also use Sony MDR-M1 for my studio monitoring headphones. (Added to above comment)
Any of the items I mentioned can be scaled up or down depending on your budget.
This was a brain dump. Let me know if you have any questions or need anything broken down.
@Willsie Thanks for the comment, John. I’ve been focusing on ‘mastering the basics’ and really just wanted to have a very solid repertoire of 10 non-challenging songs that I can bust out and play anytime. I have around 8ish right now.
I appreciate the challenge to level up the difficulty, though.
Wow this is incredible feedback, thank you. I always seem to get a bit overwhelmed with the number of options and possibilities. And noted on your suggestion of using a DAW vs Audacity. Unfortunately I don’t own a Mac, so let me know if you are aware of any good alternatives to GarageBand. Thanks again, cheers and hope to see more recordings from you
I’m a Logic Pro user too, but also a big fan of the DAW called Reaper. It’s very low cost and extremely powerful. There is a pretty big learning curve, but lots of online resources that can help you get started.
As @mukramesh points out, its a real rabbit hole. Proceed with caution
btw, Mukund, I couldn’t tell in the video if your guitar has pickups, but recording an acoustic simultaneously with a mic and via instrument cable is another approach. It gives you a lot of options when you’re mixing/producing
@dfrazz Hi David! My guitar does have pickups. I had not even considered recording both via the mic and instrument cable! I’ll test it out.
I’ve recently been experimenting with another technique - recording the acoustic guitar part twice via mic (literally play and the same thing twice) then panning each track hard left/right. It’s supposed to sound better(?) due to wider soundstage or something. I think it actually does sound kinda good!
I use that technique a lot with electric guitars, playing the same thing with different guitars and different amps and then hard panning. It’s a really cool “trick”, and in a lot of cases really adds a lot to the mix.
To further mix things up, you might also try playing the same chords, but with different voicings instead of playing exactly the same thing. So, on one track you might play a big G chord as
3 2 0 0 3 3 and on a 2nd track play an inversion like x 10 9 7 8 x. That can also sound really cool.
I enjoyed your cover, look forward to seeing more of them!
Oh, I so enjoyed singing the Chorus along with you. You played and sang beautifully! Maroon 5 - one of my favorites. As all have said before, you had a solid performance. I loved it!
You’re doing great progress. I remember I gave you advice to be more confident with your voice, and look at that - you sound very confident. I say - that’s totally my achievement and I should get all the praise! but seriously though, amazing singing, great strumming (I can’t do that so pulsy and even - jealous), and those high note - ooph! another envy point!
. I’m super jealous and inspired by your videos, though!
but seriously though, amazing singing, great strumming (I can’t do that so pulsy and even - jealous), and those high note - ooph! another envy point!
