How To: Vocal & Acoustic Guitar

I recently had a text conversation with a home studio guy on vacation, and he was surprised that he'd never recorded a vocal and acoustic guitar at the same time.  He asked my advice, and this is what I sent him.  :)  Thought it was a worthwhile share.  

"First, I hope the performer is decent at controlling their own dynamics, better at singing, and a good guitar player.  It’s a useless endeavour unless you can check off those boxes.

Second...  Use the “Null” of the microphones to eliminate the other source.  It may look oddly angled, but it’s worth doing because you can get GREAT isolation that way.  For example, if you use the ribbon on the vocal, put it on its side and rotate it so the side of the microphone is pointing at the guitar body and the front of the microphone is slightly angled upwards...

Second (also) ...  You can achieve the same with the WA-87 (or do you have a WA-14?), set the microphone to “Figure-8” polar pattern and do the same as with the ribbon.

Third...  If you can use a “Figure-8” microphone on the guitar too, same principle applies, except the front of the microphone would be pointing slightly at the floor.

Fourth...  The vocal mic will hear more of the guitar than the guitar mic will hear the vocal.  There’s nothing you can change about that.  So, get the vocal sounding good with JUST the vocal mic, then adjust the guitar mic without singing so the guitar sounds as good as it can with BOTH mics live.  Guaranteed best results.

Tweaks...  You can rotate either mic to adjust the “Null” to taste to try to eliminate more sound from the other, but there will always be some.  You can also use more absorbent material in front, above, and behind to reduce bleed, but you’ll never eliminate it."

That was the end of the text messages.  I'd also like to point out that if the singer/guitar player is really good, you should be able to place a single mic about 3 feet in front of them and it will sound amazing.  One of my favourite recordings was a girl with a ukulele, the ONE mic aimed at her collarbone 36" away.  It was intimate and full, as though she was right in my ear.  I loved it.  

​Hope it helps.  :)