recording

Fig. 1: Unlike traditional microphones, contact mics only pick up the vibrations of the surface they’re attached to.

Using a contact mic on your acoustic guitar has many advantages—and can open the door to some adventurous experimentation.

Hello and welcome to another Dojo! In honor of our “acoustic” issue, I want to focus on one of my favorite creative, yet sadly under-used, mic techniques—using an external contact microphone. This type of microphone (aka piezo microphone) picks up sound vibrations through direct contact with a surface and, of course, is the same technology that is already embedded in your under-saddle or bridge pickup for those of you who have acoustic guitars with a 1/4" output jack. But having an external contact mic allows us to move it to unlimited locations on any guitar (acoustic or electric) and, more importantly, on almost everything else you can imagine
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Fig. 1

This time-proven approach can help keep vocal and guitar tracks at the fore.

Hello and welcome to another Dojo. This time, I’d like to explain sidechaining and how to use it on different sources for greater control and expressivity. Sidechaining typically involves routing the output of one track to control the dynamic range or volume of another track. Think of old-school radio broadcasts. Remember how every time the DJ spoke the music would “duck” or reduce in volume. This technique made a very quick transition into studio and live recordings, as mix engineers used it as a way to keep the lead vocalist on top of cymbal crashes, guitar solos, horns, background vocals, etc.

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Reverse Multitracking | Recording Dojo FINAL

How cutting tracks in reverse, then reversing those reversed tracks, will add zing to your mixes.

Hello and welcome to another Dojo! Since this issue is dedicated to all things acoustic, I thought I’d share a fun technique that I call “harmonic clouds.” It involves learning a section of your song backwards, recording it, reversing the new recording, and placing it back in the appropriate spot (or not!). I usually do this with acoustic guitars, but it can be applied with equal aplomb to electrics and can supercharge your creativity. Tighten up! The Dojo is now open.

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