Learn How to Mic Acoustic Guitars with Jacquire King

In this exhaustive UAD Tones & Techniques video, Grammy-winning producer Jacquire King (Tom Waits, Kings of Leon) shows you how he records acoustic guitars. Along with Nashville session guitar ace and Taylor Guitars artist, Jerry McPherson (Faith Hill, Kelly Clarkson) and UA's Ben Lindell, King details how he captures professional, soulful-sounding acoustic guitar tracks for three distinctly different genres — singer/songwriter, roots/blues, and pop/rock — using mic placement, careful mic preamp selection, and other tips that will greatly expand your production toolkit.

In the Beginning

First, King details his thought process when choosing mics, taking into account genre and eventual mix placement, how he selects mic pairs, and how different combinations of microphones will give you superior results.

Mic Placement

Next, watch and listen as King runs through various mic positions as McPherson plays. Learn how to avoid "cloudy" areas that introduce mud, create a lead vocal "pocket" using panning, and how to effectively "EQ" with mic placement in order to avoid later EQing.

Choosing a Preamp

Get the lowdown as King walks you through various UAD mic preamps, including his faves — API Vision, UA 610-B, and the Neve^® 1073^® plug-ins — and how he casts each preamp depending on mood, genre, and feel of the track. King also runs through the benefits of pairing the right mic with the right preamp.

Bring on the DI

Looking for a little more detail? Learn how to harness an acoustic's onboard pickup, whether you're in a pinch or if you're looking to add some spice to the miked sounds. Learn how King uses the UA 610-B Tube Preamp & EQ plug-in along with a bluestripe 1176 Limiter, Ocean Way Studios, and Helios Type 69 Preamp & EQ plug-ins to add air and tone.

Tips from the Trenches

A Nashville vet with credits on thousands of records, McPherson shows off a variety of Taylor acoustic guitars and details how he chooses different models depending on the vibe of the track. He also details why experimenting with different picks is preferable to EQ tweaking.

BONUS: Downloadable Presets for Recording Acoustic Guitars with UA Audio Interfaces

Download exclusive plug-in presets based on this video for your UA Audio Interface Console app, and quickly dial in professional acoustic guitar tones.

Simply download and unzip the included file, then place the resulting folder into:

Mac: /Library/Application Support/Universal Audio/Presets/Channel Strip

Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Universal Audio\Powered Plugins\Presets\Channel Strip

To open a channel strip preset in Console, click the “Inserts” label at the top of the Inserts section on any Console channel and use the Preset Manager window to load the preset.

Note: To use the included “Reverb” and “Room” presets, load them on one of Console’s Aux channels and then raise the corresponding send on your guitar input channel to hear the effect.

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