Amplifying a flamenco guitar is not simply a matter of making it louder.
That is probably the first mistake worth avoiding.
A good flamenco guitar contains an enormous amount of acoustic information: the immediate attack of the string, the response of the soundboard, golpes, the contact of the fingers, the difference between basses and trebles and, above all, a dynamic range that can change in a fraction of a second.
When that guitar reaches a stage, the challenge is to carry all of that information to the audience without transforming the instrument along the way.
The acoustic sound as the reference
Before placing a microphone, connecting a pickup or adjusting an equaliser, there is one reference that should always remain present: how the guitar actually sounds a few metres away from the performer.
Amplification should begin there.
A flamenco guitar does not necessarily need more bass, more brightness or more volume. It needs to retain its identity.
This is particularly important in an instrument whose response is extremely fast. The sound appears, develops and disappears with remarkable speed. If the amplification system compresses that response too heavily or exaggerates certain frequencies, the result may be impressive in terms of power while being far removed from the true character of the guitar.
There is no single way to amplify it
Different systems can be used on stage: external microphones, contact or clip-on microphones, pickups installed in the instrument, internal systems or combinations of several of these.
Each solution brings its own advantages and compromises.
A microphone can provide a very natural sensation, but it can also pick up other instruments on stage and increase the risk of feedback.
A pickup normally allows higher sound-pressure levels and greater isolation, although its signal may require careful treatment in order to recover some of the acoustic depth of the guitar.
Systems positioned very close to the instrument provide another interesting possibility: retaining much of its acoustic character while reducing some of the problems associated with a microphone placed farther away.
Even with an excellent transducer or microphone, however, positioning remains crucial.
Moving a microphone only a few centimetres can substantially change the relationship between body, attack, bass strings and the soundboard.
Where the guitar is captured
One common mistake is to search for a single theoretically perfect position.
In reality, every guitar responds differently.
Moving too close to the soundhole can produce an accumulation of low frequencies that does not represent what a listener hears in front of the instrument. Moving too far away can introduce excessive room sound and make working with monitors and other musicians more difficult.
The area between the soundhole, bridge and beginning of the neck offers different combinations of attack and body. Finding the right balance depends on the guitar, the performer, the system being used and the space in which the music is being played.
A position that works beautifully in a theatre may therefore require significant changes at an outdoor festival.
The right hand is part of the sound
In flamenco, amplifying only the resonance of the guitar body can be insufficient.
The right hand produces an essential part of the instrument’s language: thumb, picado, arpeggios, rasgueos, alzapúa, golpes and countless nuances of articulation.
An amplification system that is too rounded can make precisely this information disappear.
Conversely, excessive high frequencies can turn the natural attack of the string into a hard and tiring sound.
Finding the balance between the two is fundamental.
In Vasco Hernández’s experience on stage, after many years working with different systems and in very different spaces, one of the most important considerations has been preserving that sense of proximity: allowing the audience to perceive the strength of the attack and the clarity of the bass strings without the guitar losing depth.
The aim is not to impose a sound on the instrument, but to find a way for the system to allow the instrument itself to be heard.
Equalisation does not mean transformation
Equalisation should primarily be used to solve problems.
A frequency that builds up in a room, a resonance in the guitar itself, excessive bass or a particular frequency range that encourages feedback may all require correction.
But the more radical the equalisation becomes, the greater the risk of beginning to construct a different instrument.
For that reason, a good soundcheck is not simply about confirming that there is enough volume.
Different registers should be heard. The guitar should be played softly and strongly. Bass and treble strings, rasgueos, golpes and fast passages should all be tested.
A guitar that sounds perfectly balanced during a few isolated notes may behave very differently once the full dynamic range of the playing appears.
The monitor changes the way the music is played
There is another element that the audience hardly perceives directly but which can profoundly affect a performance: what the guitarist hears on stage.
If the musician cannot hear properly, compensation begins almost inevitably.
The guitarist may play harder than necessary, unconsciously change the attack or lose part of the instrument’s dynamic range.
Clear monitoring allows the opposite: playing naturally.
And when the performer can play naturally, achieving a good sound for the audience becomes considerably easier as well.
Every stage starts again
There is no completely universal configuration.
The acoustics of the room, the presence of drums or percussion, the volume of other instruments, the position of the monitors and even the number of people in the audience can all change the behaviour of the system.
Amplifying a flamenco guitar is therefore, to a large extent, an exercise in listening.
Technology is essential, but the criterion remains acoustic.
When everything works correctly, the listener should not be thinking about the microphone, the equalisation or the system being used.
They should simply recognise a flamenco guitar.
Its wood, its attack, its breathing and all the small nuances that allow six strings to fill an entire stage.