Recording fingerstyle parts

[Sandstorm]

I found recording with Matched Pair of Rode NT5 mics I can get a great sound straight into my interface.  I can add some compression in garageband and it livens up the sound and gives volume a slight boost. 

I've found my ideal input levels for strumming vs when I'm doing a fingerstyle part.

I find sometimes the fingerstyle doesn't seem to record loud enough and I try to sit as close as I can to the mics, have tried various mic positions.. but I find myself making an effort to play parts as loud as I can instead of dynamically as possible.  Is this where one might introduce some type of preamp between the mic and interface?

[B0WIE]

The interface has preamps, they just aren't great ones. The higher you go in preamp quality, the more detail, dynamic range, faster response, lower noise, etc. It's particularly noticable on acoustic guitar.

 Preamps can give you more to work with so that level automation and compression are more successful, tough they don't compress the levels themselves. In a studio, the levels on the low parts would be automated to go up during those passages. You can also try changing mic position. Though the temptation is to use a matched pair in XY or spaced, there's a lot of great 2 mic techniques that don't involve stereo as well.

[jpmist]

I find sometimes the fingerstyle doesn't seem to record loud enough and I try to sit as close as I can to the mics, have tried various mic positions.. but I find myself making an effort to play parts as loud as I can instead of dynamically as possible.  Is this where one might introduce some type of preamp between the mic and interface?

I do a lot of GB recording with guitar and vocal and find that I can get my fingerstyle loud enough when necessary.

One way is to use the EQ setting in the channel you're recording guitar with. That will ramp up the volume up quite a bit. Another way is my main suggestion which is to use an audio editor to do post-recording adjustments in volume. I use Amadeus Pro and it's very easy to highlight low volume portions and amplify them.

The horrible flaw in GB is how difficult it is to use those tiny small dots to increase volume for a portion of a track. Ridiculous. Last year Fender released a free DAW which seems perfect for 4 - 6 track recordings. The mechanics of selecting a portion of a track for adjustments is extremely easy and has tempted me into dropping GB in favor of Fender Studio app

[Sandstorm]

I do a lot of GB recording with guitar and vocal and find that I can get my fingerstyle loud enough when necessary.

One way is to use the EQ setting in the channel you're recording guitar with. That will ramp up the volume up quite a bit. Another way is my main suggestion which is to use an audio editor to do post-recording adjustments in volume. I use Amadeus Pro and it's very easy to highlight low volume portions and amplify them.

The horrible flaw in GB is how difficult it is to use those tiny small dots to increase volume for a portion of a track. Ridiculous. Last year Fender released a free DAW which seems perfect for 4 - 6 track recordings. The mechanics of selecting a portion of a track for adjustments is extremely easy and has tempted me into dropping GB in favor of Fender Studio app

I will check out that program, although I like garageband for everything else and not much of a tech guy, hesitant to learning new software when I just got a reasonable grasp of finding my way around in GB.

I will try adjusting eq first, I usually just made adjustments after, never tried as I go.

[ronmac]

It would be helpful to know what audio interface you are using.

[Sandstorm]

It would be helpful to know what audio interface you are using.

I am using Art Pro audio model, has 4 inputs, two in the front have phantom power for the condenser mics.  I believe this is some reverse engineered version of a Yamaha product if I remember correctly.  I have no gripes with the product, I just find for dynamic fingerstyle I am edging up here on the input gain where anything past 3:00, can get little noisy. 

[B0WIE]

I am using Art Pro audio model, has 4 inputs, two in the front have phantom power for the condenser mics.  I believe this is some reverse engineered version of a Yamaha product if I remember correctly.  I have no gripes with the product, I just find for dynamic fingerstyle I am edging up here on the input gain where anything past 3:00, can get little noisy. 

Noise floor is usually something that gets better as you move to nicer preamps so that's something to consider if you find yourself wanting to record a lot. It's a bit of a game though because, once you upgrade the preamps you will start thinking of how much farther better mics can get you. Then, what about comps and EQs, and the converters on the interface, etc. Unfortunately for us, acoustics tend to expose every weakness in a recording chain like high frequency extension, transient response, noise floor, etc. The things that don't come cheap. But, you can still do a lot just through technique.

 The first thing is to gain stage so that the loudest parts never max out the preamps, but they do use up all available headroom. Try setting the gain so the peaks hit around -8dB and, if you don't hear any ugliness, you are safe there. This helps the signal-to-noise on the quiet parts.

 Solo fingerstyle acoustic guitar is one of those things that sounds best when it's not manipulated too much in the mix. Like a piano, the overtones in a guitar are so complex that shifting one part of the spectrum affects many things. Once it's tracked, I personally avoid EQ boosts and mostly stick to subtractive EQ in the frequencies that are boomy. That's just my method, everyone has their own way.

 Compression can really suck the soul out of a fingerstyle acoustic so I ONLY use it if necessary and tend to leave the attack a bit open so that the initial pluck of the notes isn't smashed. You then have to decide if you're setting the release for each note or if it's holding onto an entire passage and then letting go (which is easier and more natural sounding). I wouldn't use compression to remedy your issue though. That problem really requires automation. If it's too much to figure out, or your software doesn't allow, then just cut/paste that section onto another track and raise the volume of that second track. If the transition is too obvious, you can get into crossfades to blend it. Just that alone should get you pretty far though.

 The toughest recording session I ever had was with a fingerstyle player who transitioned from incredibly light playing (so light I had to edit his breaths out in the mix) to aggressive slapping. And, he had to do it while his singer was in the room singing along. Sometimes, you just can't win, but you work with what you've got. When I record my own playing, I won't hesitate to track the soft parts separately so there's no compromise with noise floor or dynamics.

[Sandstorm]

Thanks for the response, Bowie.  Had some things going in around the house late summer until now, so going to get back to putting some tracks down soon.  Weather here doesn't allow for much else at the moment.