Voice and Guitar Together

Hi,
New here. Soon, I will be experimenting with Audacity to record original songs. I’d like advice on how to record acoustic guitar and voice at the same time but on different tracks. I’m getting a USB mic (Blue Yeti) and will get a 1/4"-to-USB cable for my acoustic/electric guitar. I have two/three USB ports on my laptop.

Will this work? Suggestions?

Doodlebug

Hmmmm, just read/heard that Audacity can only handle one recording device at a time…like guitar or voice, or guitar and voice together (via one microphone), but not guitar and voice on separate channels recorded at the same time. Can anyone verify this?
Doodlebug

Normally, yes. You need analog microphones and a mixer, however, there is one product that might be able to help.

http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Voicemeeter/

Koz

This is a big problem.
I love Audacity for thousands of reasons and will always use it but there must be a way to cater for this situation, a very frequent one, when you need to record two split mono tracks simultaneously.
Voice and guitar is such a common combination that it should definitely be possible to record them easily. Otherwise paid software wins and I will never accept such a thing. NEVER :slight_smile:

By the way, is there a way to split them after recording them in two different channels inside a stereo track? Is it possible to split a stereo track into two mono tracks?

Yes, see here: Audacity Manual

Using two devices to record from at the same time is not a particularly good idea (even if Audacity did support it) because the devices will tend to drift out of sync with each other. They get round this problem in professional gear by synchronising all devices to a common (hardware) “word clock”, but that tends to be quite an expensive feature.

Yes it’s common, and that is one of the major down-sides of USB microphones (another problem is the limited length of USB cables means that you can’t get far away from the noise of the computer fan).

The two options that don’t cost a fortune are either to record the guitar and vocal separately (overdub), or to use hardware that supports 2 channel recording (such as a 2 channel USB microphone pre-amp with two conventional microphones).

What about using two mics, strategically placed? I assume that would record stereo ( left mic/right mic). Then you could seperate that to two mono tracks for editing[?]. Personally I’ve yet to be able to experiment with two mics!! But for one mic–with guitar/vocals (live) you sort of get the feel about bringing your vocals closer in/not too close/or loud. And of course you have to be careful with the guitars ability to drown it all out. :question:

Won’t/Don’t have 2 mics…not yet anyway. Having 2 won’t matter if Audacity can only handle one recording input at a time.

And, you got it…the “voice-too-loud-or-guitar-too-loud” issue that usually results from only using one mic is the very problem I’m trying to avoid.

The problem is not “2 microphones”. The problem is “2 audio devices” (sound cards).

USB microphones have their own “sound card” built in, so 2 USB microphones = 2 “devices”.

If you use 2 “conventional” (non-USB) microphones plugged into one stereo (2 channel) sound card, then that’s no problem. One stereo sound card is one “device” with two inputs.

Sounds doable…can you give me an example of a device with a “one stereo (2 channel) sound card”?

There are loads.
I use a mixing desk with a Behringer UCA 202 (microphones cannot be plugged directly into a UCA 202 because it does not have microphone pre-amps).

Other options include (in no particular order and I don’t own these so it’s not a recommendation)
ART USB Dual Pre
PreSonus AudioBox USB
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Avid Mbox USB Audio Interface
Omnitronic ADI-004M
M-Audio M-Track - Two-Channel USB
Behringer Xenyx Q502USB
Tascam US-322 USB
and many more.

Note if you want to use “condenser microphones”: Most condenser microphones require “phantom power”. If you use microphones of this type, check that the microphone pre-amp can provide phantom power or the microphones will not work.

Note if you want to use “condenser microphones”: Most condenser microphones require “phantom power”. If you use microphones of this type, check that the microphone pre-amp can provide phantom power or the microphones will not work.

Note on the note. We discovered one tiny Behringer mixer that has “PHANTOM POWER” is big letters, but somewhere obscure admitted that it wasn’t “48 Volt Phantom Power” required by many high-end microphones. Koz
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… when you need to record two split mono tracks simultaneously.

I agree, I do it with a small sound mixer.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PV6

The problem is the natural assumption that you can plug two different microphones or pickups directly into a computer and I don’t think that’s ever worked. The closest we ever got was recently with that Voicemeeter thing.

One problem with USB microphones is that they’re aggressively non-expandable. You “upgrade” a USB microphone by putting it in a box in the garage, not buying two.

Thousands of people also want to plug a stereo mixer or player directly into their Windows laptop and that doesn’t work, either. Skype has mopped the floor with the sound production people.

Koz

I find that a single mic placed about 6 - 8 inches from my mouth picks up just about the right balance of voice and acoustic guitar. I usually record a scratch track this way and then overdub individual vocals and guitar tracks again. Then I delete the scratch track and mix the new tracks.

I postulate the problem there–for me anyway–is only by recording with voice and guitar together, at the same time, can you truly harmonize the two together. For instance I heard a performer recently sing with a machine of pre-recorded material and it was so off–then he did a few songs with his live acoustic guitar and it was so much better/harmonically. It may go beyond just aligning sound-wise but as well into aligning vibration-wise[?] Or the true musical vibration excelling over a recorded reproduction vibration/sound[?]. :question: If there’s truth in what I’m thinking here I’m sure someone could explain it better/just a thought.

I find that a single mic placed about 6 - 8 inches from my mouth

That depends on the type and directionality of the microphone, but yes, that sounds about right.

If you have good recording environment (no room echoes) you might also get a pleasant mix further away.

Koz

I use a Line 6 USB UX2 tone port it has two mic inputs with a gain control for each input .Also two line inputs fixed level and a Instrument input fixed level. It works fine with Audacity

Dave