Recording Outside the Box

Jun 14, 2005 6:21 PM, By Pat Kirtley

           
 

You needn't limit yourself to mic or electronic techniques when going for boldly different guitar sounds. A staple trick for years in country music has been to set up a guitar with the “Nashville Tuning,” which involves raising the pitch of the lower four strings an octave by using individual strings from a set for 12-string guitar. The octave shift creates a sound with lots of stringy harmonics but no lows or low mids to muddy the mix.

Another trick invented in Music City is much less known. This one came from Chet Atkins (and was also used by Jerry Reed) in the days before digital effects units existed. Atkins recorded a track and then slightly detuned all the strings of the guitar and played identically on another track. The result is something like chorusing, but with its own unique character, and nothing about it sounds digital. By varying the amount of detuning (chromatic digital tuners make it easy to get an exact detuning), you can go from subtle and spacious to something pretty crazy. It works well for guitar solo parts too. The hardest part is playing exactly the same way twice in a row (never any trouble for Atkins and Reed).

While there are few guitar recording challenges as exciting as the ones faced in the early days, the ideas in this column are guaranteed to add refreshing colors to lifeless guitar sounds. I know: I've had occasion to try them all, usually out of blind desperation. (“Must get killer guitar sound!”) My reckless extremes were never as deeply driven as the young Les Paul's, but my desire for a unique sound is just as serious.

If nothing else, using these techniques will change your attitude about recording acoustic guitar and help avoid the same-old-same-old syndrome on your next recording. By all means, read the textbooks about recording acoustic guitar and learn the classic techniques, but next time you pull out the six-string, feel free to go a little nuts.

Pat Kirtley is a guitarist, composer, and recording artist with an extensive background in pro audio. His latest CD release is Brazilian Guitar (MainString Music, 2002).

The various nonstandard methods for recording acoustic guitar discussed in this article are summarized below.