Acoustic Guitar micing, Pt. 4

In our ongoing series on acoustic guitar micing, today we’re going over the mono mic setup! This one is the simplest of all the recording setups, and also one of the quickest and easiest to set up. It looks like this:

Sometimes, less is more

Don’t use two microphones when one is enough! In a lot of situations where you’re trying to finish writing your songs, rather than professionally recording them, using one mic is def enough.

In the music writing context, quick and easy is often a better choice than taking forever to fiddle around with some complicated mic setup. By the time you finish with this, you’ll likely have forgotten that great idea you just had. We want something that’s quick, easy, and convenient in a writing and demoing context.

Just throw a mic up, get your ideas down, write your songs, and then re-record them later in a pro setting-it’s still the most cost-effective choice!

More advantages of the mono mic setup

In addition to being simple and easy, the mono mic setup works great for micing close to a source. You can often get a nicely focused sound using just one mic close in. In a noisy recording space like your typical bedroom or living room, micing close in will help you minimize background noise. That means better sounding demos that help your music stand out!

Great mixes can also help your music stand out. I’ve got all the steps to doing a great mix on your own laid out in my free mixing cheat sheet!

You can reference the full series on acoustic guitar micing, for additional techniques that are useful for capturing this instrument.