Is it me or my gear? Countless recordings and live performances have used SM57 / SM58 $100 If you can't get a respectable capture into one of those mics. It's not the mic. Headphones -- unless someone is paying you 'I can retire now' money. You probably just need some basic cans. $200 Monitors -- Don't fall for the YT vids. Learn the monitors you can afford. I have heard killer mixes that were done on 6x9 speakers a guy ripped out of a car. He was a real musician / engineer. He had passion. 'All input devices (preamps - Audio interface) are the same'. Kinda. These days the cheap stuff is so good that if you don't push it most can't tell the difference. The thing is if you want character you want to push the pre so the expensive stuff wins. BUT .. you can go clean and then distort in the box. So... is it you? or your gear? Guitar finger squeaks ... I'm sure there is a plugin for that but TomoFugitaMusic can fix that for you. You won't like the discipline and neither did John Mayer. So what is my point? The best advice I have ever gotten, and it always seems to come from many respectable professionals. Stop spending money until you have something that you know for a fact will make a difference OR you are building a collection OR money is simply not an issue in your scenario. The thing you buy, even though considered better, might make you sound worse. Why? because you put a better mic in your less than adequate room because the new guitar amp is super responsive and your technique is inadequate because -- and this could be an expensive good thing -- oh, I thought I was ok but I have work to do. The ENTIRE WORLD is awaiting your new music that is raw, real, and creates an emotional experience for them.

Hi, I’m not happy with my acoustic guitar recording. I’ve recorded successfully in the past but that was strumming the guitar. I’ve attempted recording finger picking style on my Taylor Grand Pacific about 50 million times using an sm57 and on separate takes my AKG P170. The latter is too brittle and the 57 is not at all smooth and the tone sounds like clock chimes. On both occasions I have the mic pointing at the 12th fret going through an Apollo twin with no plug ins active. Joseph Berg suggested that another mic might be the answer and recommended the Shure SM81 condenser mic. Does anyone out there record finger style acoustic guitar, if so, what is your setup, do you use a compressor or other effects on the way in? This is royally doing my head in. tia Geoff

We're just letting people know that we understand Ai is part of the music business and can be a very polarizing subject. In light of that, we have created an Ai Related category and all Ai discussions should be posted under that category. All conversations pertaining to Ai, or any other subject, must remain friendly and positive or they will be removed. We strive to create a safe and positive environment here, and although we encourage discussion, we never want anyone to feel their opinion isn't valid, for or against a subject. Thank you for understanding this. It is important that people come here focusing on what THEY need to move forward toward their goals, and we are here to help everyone achieve the level they want to reach. The Mentors here work hard with people to help with their specific situations and strive to keep them on track. If anyone has anything they wish to discuss concerning this, or any other subject, feel free to reach out to me so we can make sure you are getting the most from your membership. That is our main mission. Keep Creating, and See you around the Virtual Campus!! Nick Allegro - Community Moderator, Mentor, (and All Around Nice Guy)

Evening yall, ive had the pleasure of true texan company this week, and have been coeerced into this one, not a genre im a fan of but we got clever with the guitar production on this one, its 9 seperate guitar tracks, maybe a secret plot of my part to ruin the hearing aids of people who line dance. was a learning too with this genre they are so busy dancing the lyrics dont take centre stage - you could literally write a song about opening peanuts once they have a stuck down beat. Id love a drummer collab on this, its suno whilst its a wild drum sound to me, AI is totally useless at staying in time, i think the over compensated to try and humanise it and assume a drummer will slip time, the good ones dont. If there is a drummer out there i can tempo lock these at 126 and post stems for the rest. feedback good bad indifferrent would be great. Thanks yall

I'm working on a song and would love to know what I don't know or can't hear!