How to Record Acoustic Guitar at Home

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Learn How to Record Acoustic Guitar at Home — Mic Selection, Placement, Room Treatment, EQ, Compression, and Mixing Tips for a Professional Sound.

A Guide to Acoustic Guitar Recording: From Microphone Selection to Final Mix

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Acoustic guitar is one of the most challenging instruments to record well and one of the most rewarding when the recording captures the fullness of the instrument. The combination of percussive attack, sustained note decay, harmonic complexity, and the physical presence of the body's resonance makes acoustic guitar a demanding subject for any microphone and recording chain.

This is the complete workflow from mic selection through final mix.

Choosing the Right Microphone for Acoustic Guitar

The small-diaphragm condenser microphone is the professional preference for acoustic guitar recording in most contexts. Its extended high-frequency response captures the brightness and air of the strings, its tight polar pattern provides better off-axis rejection than large-diaphragm designs, and its transient response is faster — capturing the pick attack with more definition and less smearing than slower-responding microphone types.

The AKG C451 B, the Rode M5, and the Shure SM81 are the small-diaphragm condensers most used for acoustic guitar recording in professional contexts. Budget alternatives including the Behringer C-2 pair and the MXL 603 pair provide adequate performance for home studio applications at accessible price points.

Large-diaphragm condensers produce a warmer, more rounded acoustic guitar sound that suits certain vocal-centered recordings where the guitar's role is supportive rather than featured. The Audio-Technica AT4050 and the Neumann TLM 103 are the large-diaphragm options most respected for acoustic guitar recording.

Dynamic microphones — particularly the Shure SM57 — produce a more midrange-focused acoustic guitar sound with less high-frequency air and less low-end body than condenser options. In dense mixes where the acoustic guitar needs to cut through without adding excessive frequency content, a dynamic microphone provides a more targeted tonal contribution.

Stereo Recording Techniques

The acoustic guitar's natural sound is produced across the full width of the body — the soundhole, the top wood, the sides, and the neck all contribute to the instrument's radiation pattern. Stereo recording captures this spatial dimension in a way that single-microphone techniques cannot.

XY coincident stereo — two cardioid microphones positioned with their capsules as close as possible and angled 90 degrees outward — produces a focused stereo image with excellent mono compatibility. One microphone is aimed toward the 12th fret, one toward the body. The coincident positioning eliminates phase issues that plague spaced microphone techniques.

ORTF stereo — two cardioid microphones spaced 17cm apart and angled 110 degrees outward — simulates the spacing and angle of human ears, producing a wider stereo image than XY with natural spatial impression. The capsule spacing introduces a small but manageable phase relationship that sounds natural rather than phasey.

Spaced pair — two microphones positioned further apart, typically 30cm to 100cm — produces wide, enveloping stereo images at the cost of significant phase interaction that creates mono compatibility issues. It is most appropriate when the stereo recording will primarily be heard in stereo rather than summed to mono.

The Recording Environment

More than almost any other instrument, acoustic guitar recording is affected by the recording environment's acoustic character. A condenser microphone aimed at an acoustic guitar in an untreated room captures not only the guitar's direct sound but the reflections from every nearby surface — producing a smeared, indistinct recording that no processing can fully correct.

Recording in the most acoustically controlled environment available — a closet, a corner with heavy curtains, a studio space with broadband absorption — produces a drier recording with more clarity and definition. Room reflections can always be added through reverb after recording. They cannot be removed once captured.

If recording in an untreated space, close-microphone positioning — six to twelve inches from the guitar — minimizes the ratio of room sound to direct guitar sound at the microphone. The trade-off is increased pickup of body noise, fret squeak, and breathing from close microphone positions.

The Acoustic Guitar Mix

In a mix, acoustic guitar requires primarily subtractive EQ — removing the frequencies that cause problems rather than boosting to add character.

A high-pass filter at 80Hz to 120Hz removes low-frequency rumble and body proximity effect without affecting the musical content of the instrument. A cut around 300Hz to 500Hz reduces the boxy, honky quality that acoustic guitars produce in this region in most recording environments. A boost around 10kHz to 12kHz adds sparkle and air if the microphone and room allowed it to be captured.

Light compression with a slow attack — 30ms to 50ms — allows the initial pick attack through before compression engages, preserving the natural transient character while controlling the sustained level variation across the performance.

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