Guitar Recording Tips for Better Studio Recordings

Guitar Recording Tips for Better Studio Recordings

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/255d68_9cdb368d2d174cd787ebca9abe8e56e3/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

When recording guitar there are a lot of things to consider in order to get professional sounding recordings.

 

Here are five tips that will take your guitar recordings to the next level:

1. Tuning to a Specific Chord

When recording guitar tuning can be a nightmare, the guitar is an equal tempered instrument, which sacrifices perfectly tuned chords for playability across the whole fretboard.

When recording we can take advantage of recording guitar parts in sections and tuning the guitar to those specific sections.

For example the G# on the G string in the E Major chord pictured below sounds sharp when a guitar is tuned to 440 Hz with a digital tuner, if you flatten the G string this E major chord will sound far more in tune and pleasant even though the G string will read as flat on the tuner. To get the full benefits of this tuning trick it is best to try and stick to one chord shape for a specific part, otherwise you’ll be recording one chord at a time!

2. Using Different Types of Plectrum

Plectrums come in different shapes and sizes and are often a very personal to each guitar players playing style and taste. Don’t be afraid to try out different plectrum sizes and materials whilst recording different parts.

For example, a thin nylon plectrum works really well on strummed acoustic guitar parts, whereas a thicker plectrum such as the classic Dunlop Jazz III is better for more aggressive parts and lead playing.

3. Taping/Removing Strings

When recording guitar, excessive string noise can make or break a good guitar performance. The best way to tackle it is with good muting technique using your hands, however there may be times where that is not possible due to the part that you are playing, an useful alternative is to tape or even removing strings that you aren’t playing during this part. Doing this will greatly reduce any unwanted sympathetic resonances that are generated whilst the guitar strings are vibrating.

4. Recording String by String

While this may seem excessive, it is more commonly used than you would think.

When playing chords on electric guitar with distortion, the chord definition can become muddy and undefined due to the excess of harmonics produced by the distortion, this is why rock guitar players often only play with perfect 5ths (power chords), octaves and single notes.

If you want to get good chord definition whilst using a distorted sound, the best way is to layer the part string by string, this will keep the guitar chord much more defined.

5. Using Capos to Change the Chord Voicings

Getting guitars to sound big and wide on a recording is more than just the way they are mixed. Part of it is how they are layered and played. An easy way to get some easy variation between two guitar parts is to use a capo, take the same chord progression you’ve already recorded with one guitar and find the same chords on a different part of the fretboard using a capo. The combination of two different voicings for the same progression will add some depth and width to the guitar arrangement in the recording. See the next section to learn more about tips on layers and Capos.

 

Less is More:

How to get big guitar recordings with less layers?

When recording guitar with modern DAWs it can be tempting to layer, as many different parts as you want, with endless tracks available it can get out of hand pretty easily. In order to keep your arrangement from getting cluttered it is best to record the minimum number of layers required, whilst still retaining a full sound.

In this section, I will go over some tips and tricks to achieve the layer issues.

Play ‘Big’

To play ‘big’ is to fill out space with your approach to playing the guitar. Some techniques that make a difference is to play with full chords, use open strings as a drone, playing with a more aggressive pick attack and not leaving much space in the arrangement. Examples of guitar players who do this include Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Matt Bellamy, all of which have albums with minimal guitar layers yet a big sound due in part to how they approach their playing style.

Use Effects

Another effective way to fill out the arrangement with minimal guitar layers is to use effects, particularly ambient effects such as delay and reverb. Using delay and reverb can add width and size to a single guitar part that will fill out more of the sonic spectrum than a dry guitar layer, Edge from U2 is well known for this, using delay as a integral part of his song writing that gives the guitar a huge sound from one single part.

Another effect that can work to make a single guitar layer bigger is an octaver, this can add either an octave above or below the guitar sound, giving it the impression that two guitars are playing at once in unison, guitarists such as Tom Morello and Jack White are famous for their use of octave pedals.

Stereo Guitar

When recording guitar, you typically record with at least one amplifier that has been miked up, however it is also common to record with multiple amplifiers with a blended sound. One way to take advantage of this approach is to record one guitar part with two different amps and then to pan them out across the stereo field, this will provide some width from one single guitar part without having to record multiple layers of the same part. The two amplifiers need to be similar but not set exactly the same to get this to work properly, if they are both exactly the same then the sound won’t be as wide.

Open/Drop Tunings and Capos

Most guitarists like to play in ‘open’ keys such as E, A, D and G, as open strings and chords are available to play, these typically sound fuller and are easier on the left hand as less tension is required to play these types of chords compared to barre chords. If you want to get a big sound then using these open strings and chords will make a big difference however you may be playing in a song that isn’t in an open key such as Bb or Ab for example, in that case then you can either tune your guitar to an open chord, detune your guitar to fit the key of the song or use a capo to keep the open shapes intact whilst playing in one of these keys.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *