Recording Acoustic Guitar (Direct)

BRISTOL86

Hello folks

After a little guidance please regarding recording acoustic guitar without a microphone. I have a Scarlett 2i2 and a Taylor electro acoustic, as well as Logic on the Mac. 

Is it possible to get good, fairly natural sounding results this way? It’s only for basic recordings to send to friends etc so I’m reluctant to spend any more money on gear.

I’m quite new to recording so any tips on this much appreciated. For example is it best to always have the volume at max on the guitar and adjust things in Logic or any other tips and tricks. 

Thanks!

spark240

Done with a Taylor 414 DI to mixer into Studio One. I tend to have the guitar about 1/2 way volume, then use a light compressor on the way in, thats it...almost always double track / pan the guitars, then maybe same chords with a capo to add some dynamic.

Sounds ok to me.

BRISTOL86

Sounds good Spark, thanks. Will give it a shot!

Funkfingers

For recording, my songwriting collaborator plugs his Taylor electro-acoustic straight into my MOTU Ultralite interface. He sets the guitar's volume to full and the onboard EQ flat. I use the MOTU gain trim to set a level. 

Any EQ, compression or other processing is applied in Logic. The exact choice of compression plug-in depends on the playing style and how prominent the acoustic guitar needs to be within the Project arrangement.

Quite often, the "fairly natural sound" you mentioned may not be appropriate. The low frequencies of an acoustic guitar could be in competition with the bass guitar and piano parts. Use Logic's channel EQ to subtract some of those frequencies. Multi-band compression can also help with this. 

spark240 said:

almost always double track / pan the guitars, then maybe same chords with a capo to add some dynamic.

I do a similar double tracking trick with an electric guitar in Nashville High Tuning. This can add a percussive texture to the arrangement. I tend to mix it in fairly low.

Panning adds a sense of movement within the stereo image.

Thus, several fragmentary acoustic guitar parts can create the illusion of one impossibly big whole.

BRISTOL86

Thanks that’s some great info