Hey there!

I hope I'm posting this in an okay place.

I've been recording a lot of acoustic cover videos for YouTube, and I've primarily been using a Zoom H6 with an X/Y capsule. I've linked to one of my most recent covers below.

I was wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks for further improving the sound. I'm not entirely happy with the overall sound of the guitar or the overall balance, and I know this may likely be more to do with the placement of the mic. It just feels as if it lacks a certain presence, and I'm not sure how to best obtain it while keeping the mic in a solid position relative to the vocals / not driving the gain too high. It's gotten better over time, but it still feels lacking, and if anyone has any tips or insights, I would greatly appreciate them.

I'm very new to audio production of any kind, and I'm currently working in Logic Pro X, with Slate's Virtual Mix Rack (I've tended to use the FG 116, FG A, Revival, and Trimmer, but arrived at these with just some research and trial and error), Slate's Infinity EQ, Slate's Verbsuite, Slate's Fresh Air (though I don't push this very hard), and Logic's stock Tube EQ and Compressor.

I know there is only so much to be done with a recording taken from one mic source, but I know (or think) it's possible to get a good sound this way. Maybe there are glaringly obvious issues/fixes that more trained ears might hear -- here's hoping!

When I start releasing my own music, I'll likely turn to a pro to do the production side of things, but I am trying to learn as much as I can myself as well.

Anyways, would love any feedback or insights. Thanks very much.

Bloom - The Paper Kites (Josh Mandilk Cover) - YouTube

Probably the two most important things you have to work with are 1) your environment and 2) the position of the recorder (and thus the position of the mics).

Here's a pretty good-sounding guitar recording that was done on a Zoom H6; it's solo guitar with no vocals, but note the acoustic space and the placement of the mic in terms of distance and position:

https://youtu.be/7UwA8zvDcho

If you record in an acoustically good space your recordings will sound better, and if you have regular access to that space it's worth experimenting for an hour or two with different mic placements until you find one that works best.

Many thanks for that advice and for linking me to the wonderful performance. I'll see if I can do some more experimenting with placement.

try using the Logic "Direction Mixer" to help with the soundstage. Some multi-band compression might help as well. Follow the whole thing up with some Space Designer reverb...

Oh, I'll definitely check out those options! Hadn't looked into the Direction Mixer. I did use Fabfilter's Multiband when I had a trial -- might be worth trying it out again. Thanks so much.

Logic has its own multiband compressor as well, no need to pay for the Fabfilter multiband (although it's probably better).

XY has a dual mono soundstage, very wide. While it sounded great on the classical guitar, for your recording and XY in particular, I like to collapse the stereo image 15 to 20 percent. If you insert a stereo imager on your track and put headphones on; slowly narrow the width and you'll hear a center image come into focus.

NB I have made bunches of live recordings with a Zoom H2n using both the XY and MS channels - MS facing the source. It isn't hard to adjust the MS recording to get a "better" sound than the XY. I also have a Zoom H6 and added the MS mic to my kit so I could get the "room" recorded in MS. I typically place the Zoom close to the sound source, with an XY pair of SDC mics about 10 ft behind the Zoom (toward the room/audience) and use the other 2 inputs for spot mics that wind up on the stage or strategically placed.

I have a Zoom iQ7 for my iPhone/iPad to do safety recordings (put the thing in airplane mode to kill all the radios) which works very nicely when I hang out in bars...