How to Record Classical Guitar

What you need

Phantom power (48V) is needed for condenser mics; it is a switch on the interface.

Why classical guitar is harder to record

A nylon-string guitar is quieter than a steel-string, and its sound is soft at the attack and rich in the low mids. That means:

• You need more gain, so noise from the room, the computer fan and the preamp is louder relative to the guitar.
• The low mids pile up easily. A mic close to the soundhole gives a boomy, muddy sound.
• Small noises are obvious: breathing, the chair creaking, nail clicks and finger squeaks on the wound bass strings.

The rest of this guide is about getting a clean, natural sound around those three problems.

One mic: where to put it

Start here; most good classical guitar recordings at home use one or two mics.

1. Aim at the 12th fret, where the neck meets the body, about 20–40 cm (8–16 in) away. This hears both the strings and the top without the boom of the soundhole.
2. Set the height level with the guitar, or slightly above, angled down.
3. Record 20 seconds, listen on headphones and move the mic a few centimetres at a time:
   • Too boomy or muddy: move toward the neck or further away.
   • Too thin or squeaky: move toward the bridge or the lower bout.
   • Too much room: move closer.
   • Too close and in-your-face: move back.
4. Mark the floor with tape at the chair legs and the mic stand once it sounds right, so the next session starts in the same place.

Mic types

• Small-diaphragm condenser (pencil mic): detailed, quick, natural. The usual choice.
• Large-diaphragm condenser: warmer and fuller; can be flattering on a bright guitar.
• Ribbon: smooth and dark; works well a little further back. Needs a lot of gain and careful handling.
• Dynamic: usually too dull and insensitive for solo classical guitar.

Directional mics get a bass boost when they are very close (the proximity effect). That is another reason to keep at least 20 cm of distance.

Two mics: stereo

A stereo recording gives width and a sense of the room. Get the single-mic sound right first, then try one of these:

• XY: two mics with their capsules almost touching, angled 90° apart, pointing at the guitar. Simple, and the result stays solid if played back in mono.
• ORTF: capsules 17 cm apart and angled 110°. Wider and more open than XY.
• Spaced pair: two mics about 40–60 cm apart, one near the 12th fret and one near the lower bout. The widest sound, but check it in mono for a hollow, phasey tone.
• Close plus room: one mic at the 12th fret and one 1.5–3 m away for room sound, blended to taste.

Gain and levels

• Record at 24-bit, at 44.1 or 48 kHz.
• Set the gain so the loudest notes peak around −12 to −6 dBFS. The 24-bit format has plenty of headroom, so there is no need to record close to 0 dBFS, and a sudden loud chord will not clip.
• Turn off any input processing in the interface software (compression, “enhance”).
• Record a few seconds of silence at the start of each take; it helps with noise reduction later if you need it.

The room

The room is part of the sound. Hard, bare rooms give harsh flutter echoes; very dead rooms make a classical guitar sound small.

• Clap once and listen. A quick ring or flutter means the room needs soft things: a rug, curtains, a sofa, a duvet hung on a stand.
• Sit away from walls and corners, which boost the bass.
• Turn off fridges, fans, heaters and air conditioning; put the laptop as far from the mic as the cable allows.
• Record at quiet times of day.

Player noise

• Nail clicks: smooth the nails with a fine buffer.
• Finger squeaks on the wound strings: lift slightly when shifting; newer strings squeak more for the first days.
• Breathing and chair noise: a firm chair with no creak, and a moment of stillness before and after each take.
• Tuning: nylon strings drift as they warm up under hands and lights. Tune right before each take with the guitar tuner.

Fresh strings sound brighter, but they also stretch and drift for several days. Fit them three to five days before a session; see how to restring an acoustic guitar.

Mixing a solo classical guitar

Keep it simple:

1. High-pass filter around 60–80 Hz to remove rumble below the guitar’s lowest notes (the open low E sounds at about 82 Hz in standard tuning).
2. Gentle cut in the low mids if it sounds muddy, often somewhere between 200 and 400 Hz. Sweep to find it.
3. Light reverb to place the guitar in a natural space. A hall or chamber reverb suits classical music.
4. Little or no compression. Classical guitar depends on dynamics; if you use any, keep it gentle.
5. Export at the same sample rate you recorded.

Classical vs acoustic guitar: what changes when you record

The same placement method works on a steel-string guitar. If your guitar has a pickup, you can record it on a second track as a backup, but a mic usually sounds more natural. See what an electric-acoustic guitar is for how those pickups work.