Timothy Lawler Classical Guitar

Tips on Beginning a Home Studio

Here's a list of inexpensive gear that I've tested and can recommend. Remember though that the sound you get on your instrument and the room's acoustics have much more affect on recording quality than the electronics do.

Microphones: Naiant omni mic's, KEL HM-1, MXL 603s, Behringer ECM8000 omni. Get two of the same make/model of mic so you can record in stereo.

Computer Recording Interface: A computer interface for recording is a free-standing device that has built-in mic preamps and analog-to-digital converters, and connects to your computer via a USB or Firewire cable. It's used for playback also and has jacks for connecting to your home stereo or self-powered desktop speakers. Get one that has two recording channels so you can record in stereo, and phantom power - needed by most mic's used for classical guitar, including those listed above. I've used the Tascam US122 and it works well, but there are many other good inexpensive units also. An interface like this will sound better than your computer's stock internal soundcard. A quick-lo-fi approach though, if you already own a mic preamp (or a mixer that has them built in), is to use the computer's line-in jack to connect the output of the preamp or mixer to the computer's internal soundcard.

Recording/editing software: Reaper - stable, easy to use, free unlimited demo, and it includes high quality plugins for EQ, reverb, limiting, dither, etc. Audacity is good for basic recording, probably the simplest of any to use, and it's freeware. Kristal is also good freeware.

Software processors and effects: SIR convolution reverb , Blockfish limiter by Digitalfishphones (both are freeware)

Other things you'll need: 2 mic stands with short booms, mic cables and a stereo bar.

Mic placement: Every guitarist, instrument and room are different so you have to experiment here. Small differences in placement can change the sound drastically. If your recording space is small a good starting point for a single mic is 2 ft out from the mid-point between the bridge and soundhole (for steel string acoustic guitars start with the single mic out from the neck/body joint). If you want a more complex sound, try two mic's, 2 ft out, one in front of the bridge and other at the 12th fret. Record each to a separate L/R channel and keep them panned hard left and right during playback. Small rooms tend to emphasize frequencies unevenly and can cause harsh high frequency reflections. Closer mic positioning helps. Larger rooms with high ceilings are better, and a good starting point for mic position in a very large room with good acoustics is 4 feet out from the soundboard in one of the classic stereo configurations such as ORTF or XY for cardioid mic's, or a spaced pair for omnis.