Recording Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Drums and Percussion in the Studio.

Every source presents its own problem, but the sequence for solving it is the same: choose a microphone that handles the source’s level and character, place it at a distance that controls the tone, check that the room does not dominate, and listen to the test before repeating it. What changes from one instrument to another is where the critical point lies.

This chapter covers Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Guitar Amplifiers, Piano, Percussion and Drums, using the same structure: a sensible microphone, a starting position, and the most common mistake in each case.

A General Rule for Every Source

Before the finer details, three constants. First, distance governs tone: moving closer reinforces the bass through proximity effect and reduces room sound; moving farther away increases reflections and softens the attack. Second, angle matters as much as distance: moving off axis reduces treble and changes the colour, so a five-degree adjustment can sometimes replace filtering. Third, anything recorded with two or more microphones must be heard in mono before accepting the take.

The guide to microphone types and polar patterns develops the capsule and pattern choices, while recording vocals explores the most delicate case in more detail. Here, the approach is placement, source by source.

Vocals

Vocals expose room mistakes more than other sources, because the ear is particularly sensitive to distance and late reflections. The usual starting point is a cardioid condenser with a pop shield at fifteen to thirty centimetres, or a cardioid dynamic in an untreated room.

Set the distance and keep it consistent. Very close placement adds body and intimacy, but activates proximity effect and requires attention to plosives and level drops when the singer moves. A distant position brings in the room and adds air at the expense of definition. A slight angle away from the mouth’s axis reduces plosives without sacrificing treble, and absorption directly behind the singer reduces the lingering room sound that cannot be removed later.

Make two checks before the final take: ask the singer to perform the song’s loudest phrase to set gain, and listen to the recording on headphones for click bleed from the reference track or hum from a charger.

It also helps to decide how the takes will fit together before starting. If doubles or harmonies are planned, using the same distance and microphone on every pass lets the layers sit together without fighting for the centre; recording each take from a different position turns the mix into a battle of tone. If the performance needs intimacy in a verse and power in the chorus, a sensible approach is to fix a distance that serves both extremes and leave the energy change to the singer, rather than the position of their head.

Acoustic Guitar and Guitar Amplifiers

Acoustic guitar has two sources at once: the body provides weight and bass, while the neck or edge of the soundboard provides attack and detail. With one microphone, aiming where the neck meets the body usually gives a reasonable balance. With two, the temptation is to put one at each point; phase problems then appear because the distances to the source differ and the two channels arrive with different offsets. The 3:1 rule and a mono check address the setup.

A guitar amplifier is highly directional and very sensitive to position across the cone. Ten to thirty centimetres from the speaker, with the microphone aimed slightly away from the centre, gives a balanced sound; directly in the centre it sounds hard, with unpleasant treble, while too close to the edge it sounds dull. If the combo is on the floor, raise it: its relationship with the floor changes the bass as much as EQ does. Recording a combo cabinet in a noisy room is usually worse than lowering the volume and trying again.

Piano and Percussion

Approach piano according to the goal. For a restrained accompaniment track, a single microphone above the harp, halfway between the treble and bass, works surprisingly well. For a piece in which piano is the lead instrument, a pair above the harp opens the image; keep the capsules the same distance from the strings so that both signals arrive in sync.

Percussion ranges from a cajón to a drum section, with attack as the shared characteristic: close miking captures a defined strike, and a second microphone farther away adds body. For individual instruments—bongos, shakers or handclaps—a well-placed directional condenser is usually enough. The typical mistake is increasing sensitivity to record a small instrument and bringing the room noise in with it.

Two cases deserve separate mention. A cajón and hand drums benefit from a slightly off-centre position, so that the strike does not hit the centre directly and the wood retains its colour. Metal percussion—tambourines, bells or cowbells—calls for distance or an off-axis angle: these sources have substantial high-frequency energy that can overload a sensitive capsule a few centimetres away. In every case, recording a test take with the instrument played at the song’s real intensity prevents discovering halfway through the session that the level was too low.

The same principle applies when percussion is recorded with more than one microphone: a close mic for detail and a room microphone for body work well together when their distances are proportional and the mono sum has been checked beforehand.

Drums: Miking That Shapes the Mix

Drums make placement especially critical, because each piece is a source with its own level and spectrum, and all of them sound in the same space.

A reasonable starting arrangement is a microphone inside or outside the kick for the pulse, a snare microphone, a room pair above the kit and, if needed, a separate microphone for each tom worth highlighting. This can produce complete recordings; adding channels gives control, but multiplies phase relationships and dependence on a pleasant-sounding room.

The critical points are familiar. Kick and snare are very loud sources: they need capsules that handle the level and gain with margin. Hi-hat and cymbals are open sources that bleed into every other microphone, so their relative positions determine the amount of isolation. The room pair defines the kit’s size in the mix: too close sounds like a small studio, while too far sounds diffuse and difficult to place.

Before recording a single take, listen to the mono sum and check that the pulse does not become thin. If it does, there is a phase offset between the kick and another channel that should be corrected by moving stands, rather than with EQ.

A final point about working volume. Recording drums involves levels that demand careful margin: a well-positioned kick can need considerable gain, and the sum of all channels pushes towards the ceiling. Set each input with its source played at the real intensity and leave room for the sum, rather than just the individual track. Then balance with faders instead of returning to the preamps.

Checks Before Accepting a Take

1. Gain set with the source at real intensity and peaks with margin.
2. Distance fixed and noted, so that the take can be reproduced if it needs repeating.
3. Room checked: background noise switched off, doors closed and air conditioning silenced if possible.
4. Phase checked in mono when more than one microphone covers the same source.
5. Test listened to in full on headphones, including the first and last seconds.

Next Step

When the source is bigger than the studio—brass, strings, an ensemble or the room itself—the scale of miking changes: recording brass, strings, room sound and audiences with multiple microphones.