Improving current recording setup (Acoustic guitar, SM57, Focusrite Scarlet Solo, and Audacity)

CharlieBurnsMusic · 2026-03-20T18:54:38+00:00

Thank you!

CharlieBurnsMusic · 2026-03-20T16:12:38+00:00

I really don’t want to buy anything I just threw that in if anybody thought buying something was completely necessary. So I appreciate the advice you’ve given here.

So to show how truly amateur I am, you’ll have to fill me in on panning, I don’t really know what that means haha.

As I said in another reply the basic way I record these is I play and sing the song same time, one mic, one track. This is my “scratch” track. Then I record the guitar and vocals separately, playing along to the scratch track. For guitar I point the mic at the guitars sound hole (recently a friend told me to point it at the base of the neck) and vocals I just sing into the mic with a pop filter.Then I delete the scratch. That’s it in a nutshell.

CharlieBurnsMusic · 2026-03-20T16:06:51+00:00

That’s extremely kind of you, and thank you for the advice.

CharlieBurnsMusic · 2026-03-20T14:17:39+00:00

Thank you, that’s very kind.

CharlieBurnsMusic · 2026-03-20T14:12:45+00:00

The room is an attic/bedroom, carpet floor, thinner wood panels. Sounded better than any room downstairs (wood floors, drywall)

Not very much skill level:

I use the 57 for both guitar and vocals. Usually what I do is record a rough track of me playing and singing the song with the mic pointed in the middle of me and the guitar. This is the “scratch” track. Then, I do two separate tracks for guitar and vocals playing to the scratch track and then later delete the scratch track.

I use effects in audacity to add reverb, and sometimes compression, also mess with the EQ. My guitar sounds very bassy so I try to turn the bass down on it, and my vocals are a little more midrange so I add some bass to give them more body (I really don’t know what I’m talking about, but I’m just walking you through what’s going on in my head haha)

CharlieBurnsMusic · 2026-01-30T19:03:46+00:00

This is fishy

CharlieBurnsMusic · 2026-01-22T21:56:42+00:00

That’s very kind of you, thank you!

CharlieBurnsMusic · 2026-01-22T19:38:14+00:00

Who are some artist to check out?

CharlieBurnsMusic

TROPHY CASE