What’s the best interface for making acoustic music?
When you’re recording acoustic instruments, the purity of the recording is vitally important, as is your choice of audio interface. Not only do you want to capture a clean, accurate copy of what is being played, but you’ll also want to be able to hear the space in which you’re recording.
Room to breathe
A room with natural reverb can really help to lift your sound – you’ll find it in rooms with harder surfaces, such as wood panelling, tiles, and glass. For even more lift and brightness try applying the Air button. Air is a feature found on all Focusrite audio interfaces, which can give colour to your sound and bring out amazing high-end detail.
The re-engineered Air mode for Scarlett 4th Gen has two modes and addsa truly musical presence and rich harmonic drive, just like a classic console in a big studio. It’s an additional way to bring your sound’s unique character to the front of the mix.
Another benefit of Air is its ability to capture transient response. Not only will it reproduce the sound of the instrument accurately by holding on to the transients in the audio, but it will help to ensure you retain that clarity you’re looking for.
That analogue sound — but digital
Everyone loves the sound of analogue — it seems as if you’re right there in the room with the band. Making sure you don’t lose that special something can be a worry, but with Focusrite audio interfaces you needn’t be concerned. All Focusrite interfaces have the highest quality analogue to digital converters (A-D converters) as well as digital to analogue converters (D-A converters), so you can rest assured that what you are playing is what you are getting, even though it ends up as bits and bytes.
More than just guitar
If you’re a singer/songwriter recording with an acoustic guitar and little else, then you’ll be all set with a Scarlett Solo audio interface – it has all the features mentioned and comes with one high-headroom instrument input for plugging your guitar or bass straight in. It works great at recording vocals, too, providing clarity and detail as well as ultra-low latency to make it easier and more pleasurable to record.
If you need more inputs, we’ve a whole range of Scarlett interfaces offering anything from one input on the Solo to a plethora of options on the Scarlett 18i20, which gives you eight preamps for miking up instruments and recording vocals as well as two high headroom instrument inputs, four monitor outs and a built-in talkback microphone.
Even more?
If you need to hook up a whole band, Focusrite have the interface for you, too. Our Clarett+ range of interfaces offer studio-quality recording with more inputs than you can shake a drum stick at. Of course, they all come with our superb A-D/D-A converters, Air, super-clear instrument inputs and an Easy Start tool to get you going.
Choosing the right audio interface for recording acoustic music can be confusing, but with Focusrite it’s simple — pick the inputs and outputs you need and select the best interface for those needs from a range of audio interfaces that are backed by over 30 years of experience.