Home recording for GJ Guitar

LeftyKevan · May 14

Hello Django Hive mind.

Curious what everyone here is using these days for home recording, especially for quick solo guitar videos or small ensemble stuff.

I’ve been trying to strike a balance between:

- ease of use

- low maintenance/setup time

- and still getting genuinely good acoustic sound

For solo guitar, I often use an Apogee HypeMic straight into the iPhone. Honestly for the simplicity, it sounds surprisingly solid.

If I want to layer parts with the same mic setup, I’ll usually use Acapella- it allows for split screen recording

For small ensemble or more dimensional recordings, I’ve also been experimenting with two (or four for an ensemble) Audigo mics placed in different spots:

- one positioned more for mids/highs

- the other catching more low-end/body

It’s been convenient and pretty musical, though I’m always chasing that “easy but still sounds professional” sweet spot.

Curious what other people here have landed on over the years:

- stereo pairs?

- interface + condensers?

- clip-on mics?

- portable recorders?

- phone-based setups?

- anything surprisingly effective?

Would especially love to hear from people recording Gypsy jazz guitars specifically, since getting the attack and body balance right can be tricky.

Here's a bunch of reference recordings for the sound I'm able to get with just the equipment I mentioned

Lastly big Shout out to @MichaelHorowitz for helping my get this new Dupont in the solo/split screen videos, i cant wait to start recording in an ensemble with it.

Four Audigo mics

https://youtube.com/shorts/BG2VGNuejE0?si=bhcOsyp1rGI2Oett

Two of the same mics

https://youtube.com/shorts/XV0JQRW4CHA?si=t8BKChHqfceprGG_

The Apogee Hype mic layered with the Acapella app

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYQ9ikxMvsZ/

Solo Guitar on the apogee

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX2i2ONSGex/

Single split screen with the apogee

https://youtube.com/shorts/q9vBFOwJKWc?si=HY1wBUF6CU3Fwe18

Lastly, one with just the Audigo Mics, both tracks are the Dupont

https://youtube.com/shorts/e50awIG25mQ?si=05M7zveTJmfFpbok

paulmcevoy75 · May 14

I think Davinci Resolve is probably the way to go but I haven't spent much time with it. But it's super full featured and I think you can do anything.

As to how to combine the audit and video, I'm sorta thinking old school, doing a clap on screen and then matching the audio to the video.

BUT

If I remember correctly it has a function to match the audio from your phone video to your recorded audio.

So for the highest quality I think it would be a high quality mic recorded into an audio interface and video with your phone or a camera and then match them up. But this is slow.....

paulmcevoy75 · May 14

Your videos sound really good though.

richter4208 · May 14

Used zoom h6 for around 150-200. Connect to iPhone usingApple Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter (or USB-C to USB adapter for newer iPhones).

Excellent quality.

LeftyKevan · May 14

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/125337#Comment_125337

does it have an external app to use? or does it go straight to video

LeftyKevan · May 14

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/125335#Comment_125335

thank you so much! and thanks for the follows on IG and Youtube!

Scoredog · May 15

Hey Kevan,

Your tone and rhythm as always sound great. I think you are getting a good sound though balances are off on the Wes tune (nice arrangement btw). Your solo can come up and bass is a bit buried. I find mics that are good in comparison to each other have minimal impact from a listeners viewpoint on the final product. If it is clean then the sound and imaging becomes subjective. The mix becomes more important.

Just as an add-on though there may be an easier way I also use Davinci for my videos if I am putting anytime in them...it is free and full featured in case you don't have that (you might).

LeftyKevan · May 15

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/125340#Comment_125340

i don't have davinci. is that something that's just on a computer or is it also ios compatible?

unfortunately the wes one is off because i couldn't get two of the mics to sync properly- so its only two mics that we meant to be all four of us with one microphone. it still picked up all of us enough to use the take though hahaha

Scoredog · May 15

With Eq you might be able to pull the bass up...I can take a look if you want me to...

From AI on DaVinci Resolve

Yes, DaVinci Resolve is available on iPad, offering a professional-grade editing and color correction tool tailored for iPadOS, primarily designed for Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4 chips). It provides a similar interface to the desktop version and is optimized for touch, Apple Pencil, and external displays, allowing for portable, high-quality post-production.

I'm back, it is also available for iPhone mostly 16 and up but editing on a phone I'd rather be beaten with a sharp stick.

paulmcevoy75 · May 15

Davinci is an editing program that's made by Blackmagic, who make all sorts of movie cameras. It's free, more or less. I think they use it as a loss leader to get people into their cameras, and there are paid features but I think you could make a whole movie on it no problem.

As such, it's somewhat complicated but when I've used it, I've been able to do stuff without knowing much of anything. It's fairly well laid out.