Taylor Sappe

BMI affiliated published songwriter since 1979
Private Music Instructor at DeMelfi School of Music and "in-your-home" instruction
Record producer and A&R for Captain Blue Records

Photo by Ken Gallagher

Recording Acoustic Guitar And Vocal Tracks

This free lesson is a tip for basic recording of acoustic guitar and vocal tracks.

Reference tracking

If no other instruments have been recorded to your tracks yet and you are to begin by recording acoustic guitar and vocal, you will first need to create reference tracks. A click track is recommended for the first few tracks, whether reference or not. If you are adding other instruments, you may choose to use the click track later in the recording or not use it after the basic rhythm section has been laid down tightly to the original click track.

Reference tracks are used as a point of reference for recording the master tracks. Some people prefer to lay down only the guitar first, then go back and record the voice track (both as reference tracks). The main problem that arises out of this is that it is easy to get lost and play a guitar part thinking the voice will be doing something that it is not doing. Then when the voice is recorded it is discovered that the guitar track was recorded wrong (the form of the song may be recorded incorrectly).

 Some prefer to record guitar and vocal simultaneously on one track and then use it for reference as they re-record the guitar and voice master tracks. The problem that arises out of this method is that a guitar or voice that is out of time or out of tune will throw off the master tracks. However, this method is recommended when the guitar is only acoustic and not acoustic electric.

With an acoustic electric guitar, the method is two step:

Phase I, Isolation
Acoustic electric guitars are great for isolating themselves from outside signal. However, they do not record as well through their outputs as they do with a good condenser mic. I like to use the isolation feature of the output to separate the voice from the guitar as I record both simultaneously on separate tracks. This prevents the voice track from leaking into the guitar track. However, because the guitar will leak onto the voice track, the voice track must be re-recorded.

As I record both guitar and voice together, along with a click track, I like to get the guitar timing as close to the click track as possible. Playing all the right chords at this point is not as important as the timing unless you hit a real clunker that will prevent your voice from singing on pitch. The idea here is to just create a point of reference, so I focus mostly on timing and dynamics, although neither have to be perfect at this point. Only good enough to be able to lay down another reference voice track on top of it.

Once I have a guitar track with no voice on it recorded well enough to lay down another voice track, I re-record the voice track to get a reference voice track with no guitar leakage on it. Once again, I focus on timing and feel. At this point I am not shooting for perfection. I just want to get a a point of reference without any interference from other instruments on that track.

If you are using a home studio and don't have quiet central air conditioning and are recording on a hot day, this is a good way to warm up your fingers and voice without having to turn off the air conditioner. You can do all of the reference tracks with the air conditioner on because it doesn't matter if there is background noise on your reference tracks since you won't be using them in the final mix.

Phase II, spreading the polish
This phase of reference tracking is like spreading the polish on the car. You want to get everything you need on there so you can then buff it.

The next step is to re-record the guitar, but this time with a good microphone. Find the correct mic placement for the best sound and begin recording along with the click track and the clean vocal track. Timing and feel are now more important, so you want to express yourself through dynamics as much as you can while getting a good solid timing down. A few mistakes are okay as long as the real clunkers are not happening while the voice is singing. Once the timing and feel are solid, the guitar reference track is complete and you are ready to re-record the voice.

When re-recording the voice track, try to match the dynamics of the guitar as closely as possible. Once again, you are shooting for timing and feel at this point, so you don't have to worry if you don't quite hit a pitch square on.

The master tracks

Now it is time to get a precise guitar track down. The better the musicianship, the easier it will be for the vocalist and the better it will make the vocalist sound.

Re-record the guitar with the microphone. This time focus on timing, feel, dynamic expression and the right chords. If there are breaks in the guitar you may want to record a section at a time up to the break until you have that section recorded to perfection. Then record the next section the same way until you get a perfect complete guitar track. Always go back and listen to it and be your own worst critic. Don't critique the voice at this point. It is only there to keep you from getting lost while laying down a good guitar track.

When you have the track down the way you like it, re-record the vocal track to the same perfection, also focusing on timing, feel and dynamic expression as well as pitch. If necessary you can record a section at a time or even a phrase at a time. Use the click track only if you have difficulty getting the timing down. Otherwise, blend yourself as well as you can with no click track and the feel will seem more natural. You may want to turn the click on and off as needed.

All done? I think not!

Often times what happens is that when you have your voice track recorded to what you feel is perfection, you begin to find flaws in the guitar track. You see, as you approach master quality on one track, any flaws that you didn't detect earlier on another track now become more apparent. When this happens, go back and correct the flaws until you feel you have the guitar to perfection again.

After you have done this, two things are happening. First you are building on the feel of the dynamics. Second, you are giving the vocalist a better musician to work with. So now that you have re-recorded the guitar track, you will find flaws in your voice track that you didn't detect earlier.

It is a good idea to keep repeating this process until you no longer find any flaws in each track. However, if you have the tracking capabilities, always keep the previous track each time you re-record a track. This way, if you reach a point of diminishing returns, you will always have the best take.

Ready to mix? Maybe. Maybe not.

I don't recommend mixing in the same session as tracking because your ears become fatigued after several hours of recording and you won't get your best mix. It is always a good idea to do the mix on a separate day. However, it is a better idea to listen to the recording prior to doing the mix. It is very common to hear flaws on fresh ears that you didn't hear during the original session. If you do hear any flaws, it is a good idea to postpone the mix until you have corrected the flaws that you have just detected.

After you have corrected any newly detected flaws, repeat the procedure on another day when your ears are fresh again. Do this until you can no longer detect any flaws. Then you are ready to mix.

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