Recording Classical Guitar
Time to get back to David Brandon’s CD, Legacy. When David called me to record him, it was a massive honor. Here is one of the greatest living classical guitarists and a mentor of mine entrusting me with documenting his life’s work. It was a great opportunity… and a little daunting. David is known for his incredible tone. Afterall, he was a student of Andrés Segovia and Christopher Parkening. He knows what he wants to hear and has impeccable taste.
We started the project by listening and analyzing many of Parkening’s great recordings. Most classical guitar is recorded from a distance. The tone is round and warm, and the distance from the mics minimizes nail clicks and squeaks. But it also increases the noise floor. David wanted to capture the depth of a Parkening recording, but he wanted to develop his own sound. He was looking for something intimate. Something immediate and close but rich and human feeling.
We wanted to record with a little bit of space. Afterall, you normally wouldn’t mic a nylon string the way you would a steel string (the old 1 mic on the sound hole, one on the 12th fret is out). Close micing magnifies all the things classical guitarists hate: nail clicks and string squeaks.
So here’s our solution:
My “large†room isn’t that big. We’re talking about 10’ x 13’. We’ve got a 9’ ceiling. The room is treated well and sounds really balanced. We’ve used broadband absorption and diffusion, with a special emphasis on the ceiling.
I placed David at the back of the room facing length-wise. I made sure to get a bench for him to sit on that was the perfect height for him… and that wouldn’t squeak or make odd noises!
I wanted to kill the reflections of sound from the wall behind him. Eliminating that would help with a lot of phase issues. So I used a series of bass traps I own (custom made by Ryan Dixon, a fellow engineer and studio owner) in a semi-circle behind him (see the diagram below).
We spent 12 hours (yes 12) testing mics, preamps and positions. We tried a pair of vintage U87s, a pair of Peluso P12s, a pair of KM81s, and pair of Scheops MK4s, along with a few other pairs. We tried MS, XY, and numerous other techniques. All of the mics sounded good, but the Scheops took the cake. I borrowed the pair from a friend, Matt Quick, who is the director of the Live Sound Program at South Plains College. The MK4s were extremely transparent. The frequency range was balanced from top to bottom. What an amazing pair of mics. I have to own a pair.
As far as preamps, we tested a stereo pair of Amek 9098s, an API A2D, and a Hamptone tube unit. The API was the clear winner for this application. It’s got a tight low end and beautiful top and matched with the MK4s perfectly.
Before the session, I did my homework and researched classical recording techniques. I tried every one of the textbook approaches. We’d find elements of what we were looking for in each position we tried, but we were still missing the magic. So I finally decided to do what my gut told me: walk around the room and listen for sweet spots!
That’s my first approach when recording a more pop-oriented project. I found 2 spots at the front of the room (about 8 ft. apart, 5 ft. above the floor) that sounded beautiful. So I put the mics there. Viola! Richness, texture and magic!
But we’re not finished, yet. Next time, I’ll share the “secret” David and I discovered about minimizing nail clicks and string squeaks. Until then…
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Comments
Scott,
Wow this is amazing!
My new recording I made on
my Korg digital recorder
at home, but I think yours
has way more depth for
classical guitar, which
is one of the hardest if
not THE hardest instruments
to record well…I’m
excited to hear David’s
new CD….God bless ya!
Susan aka ‘uziSuzi’
Posted by: Susan Grisanti | September 1st, 2007 11:35
You’re right, Susan. I think classical guitar is truly one of the most difficult instruments to record. I’ll be giving away a couple good secrets about how we recorded David soon. We did a couple innovative things that really helped. More to come!
PS- I’d love to hear your new CD. Is it available locally?
Posted by: Scott | September 1st, 2007 13:57
This is like being hooked to a television series where you have to tune in next week for the rest of the episode! Happy 40th!
Posted by: Cale | September 1st, 2007 21:45
Wow, I’m so glad I found my way to this blog (via a bulletin on MySpace). I’d missed hearing the news of you and Amy so it’s nice to catch up. Blessings on you all as you pursue your dreams!
Posted by: Janet Thompson | September 2nd, 2007 11:39
Scott,
What a great way to
keep in touch with
you! I’ll be debuting
my new CD here either
on Sept 25th or Oct 18th
at Orlando’s in Lubbock
it will depend on when
the producer, Uri Harel
can get me my promo copies
I’d love for you & Amy
to come out for the
debut & get a Free
copy! Keep in touch
more often & God
Bless, I miss our
coffees! Susan aka
uziSuzi
Posted by: Susan Grisanti uziSuzi | September 10th, 2007 19:27
The essence of the classical guitar is very difficult to capture accurately! What a great dialog here… I used a simple technique to get a “good” recording using my low-end classical guitar.
I placed an Audio Technica AT3035 large condenser microphone about 6″ in front of the upper bout. It was slightly above the neck pointing slightly downward toward where the neck meets the sound hole.
The mic placement captured just enough string noise, coupled with a full range of tone.
After obtaining a decent recording, I copied the track to a separate track and applied a slight chorusing effect. Result was pretty nice for a noob!
Peace,
Scotty
Posted by: Scotty | December 13th, 2007 14:53
Hi…it feels great to have found a specific blog for classical guitar recording. I am a professional classical guitarist and composer. For many years I simply worked with pen & paper. These days I am trying to build my own recording studio only for my self at home. I find this blog very helpful and will be watching out. Thanks for your detailed hardwork. Hope to hear from you soon.(my first language is not English, soo please forgive me for spelling and grammer mistakes:))
Posted by: Devrim | April 22nd, 2008 05:28
Thanks, Devrim. I’ll do my best to give you good information. David and I just completed recording all the audio for the Christopher Parkening Method Books by Hal Leonard Publishing. I’m waiting for approval on the final mixes. How long have you played? I’d love to hear some of your compositions.
Regards,
Scott
Posted by: Scott | April 28th, 2008 11:02
Sorry for such late responce I been on the road, I would like to tell you a little about myself, I live in Antalya(south Turkey) Currently I am working hard to put the money together to build up my own equipment(Neve premap, avalon omp, T.C konnekt 48,,,very expensive:):),, I studied At the Royal Northern College of Music with Gordon Crosskey and Craig Ogden, And I use a Amalio Burguet Noguera Double top, Very Loud guitar, since projection is the most important subject to me this guitar answers my all questions(or until I can afford to buy a Greg smallman),,,I still have a few months before I buy the equipment, For now I am doing my recordings with AKG1000S and Maudio firewire solo) sooo great deal of power is missing, I use this soundcard and mic with my VAIO fz21m laptop…..Ä°f you want I can send you a small copy of one of my recordings , At least it would let you know my guitars sound and then you may be able to give me some advise,
Take care and hope to hear form you soon
Posted by: Devrim | September 21st, 2008 06:07
Great to hear from you. I’d love to hear some of your music! Sounds like you’re looking at purchasing some good gear.
I’m not familiar with your guitar, but I agree with the projection of a classical guitar. I’ve hear David and Chris play the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas with no amplification and their Ramirez guitars filled the hall (2000 seats).
Posted by: Scott | September 21st, 2008 10:30
I will send you the link as soon as I upload my recording(it will be the one done by FW solo laptop and akgc1000s on CS4)
Ramirez is always a good make, but I prefer greg smallman, since its 35.000 dollars and there is a 4 years waitng list I should carry on getting more lottery tickets,,,great to hear from you,
talk to you soon
Posted by: Devrim | September 22nd, 2008 05:02
http://rapidshare.com/files/147398736/devrim_yolda__guitaristique.mp3 here its I hope the link works, Well before I get my professional equipment this is realy the best I could do , please do not hesitate to give me advise, I am not a tonmeister,
Posted by: Devrim | September 22nd, 2008 05:16
Did you get my last 2 postings?.. for some reason I cant see them here , I saw my last two postings about 10 days ago here and now they are gone, Well I sent you a rapidshare link with my rec. ,,,never mind, take care..
Posted by: Devrim | October 5th, 2008 15:55
I don’t know if you received my email, but we were rolled over by some family health issues, etc., so I have been lax in responding. Sometimes life takes over for a while.
I am back in action, now.
Posted by: Scott | February 2nd, 2009 19:59
Hey Scott! Love your little blog here. So what was that secret that you and David discovered to minimize nail clicks and string squeaks? I am dying to hear!
Posted by: Bill Wagner | March 20th, 2009 09:10
Hey Bill. good to hear from you. Of course, David is a phenomenal player who already minimizes clicks and squeaks in the way he plays. Classical guitar should be miced from a distance. The further you are, the less noise you hear. Since my room is relatively small, I could only get 8-10 feet away. So I used a trick with my bass traps.
I set the mics aimed at the sound hole (both mics exactly the same distance from the guitar) and then placed the bass traps where the curve just intersected the line of site between the mic and the guitar.
The sound of the guitar actually went through a tiny amount of the bass trap before it hit the mic directly. Since mid and low frequencies have more energy, they made it through the edge of the traps. The upper frequencies (where noises and nail clicks are) were caught and minimized.
Hope that helps!
s
Posted by: Scott | March 30th, 2009 12:48