| Home recording and general music post from the archived Yabb Recording Website Message Board. Some of the info here may be outdated but many of the audio recording and home studio tips are still good. Note: The only tags I made and attempt to convert are italics, bold, center and underline. So if you see some gibberish surrounded by brackets, just ignore it.
Recording Website Archived Yabb board Post
Febuary 2001 Yabb Message Board Archive
Subject: Miking Acoustic Guitar
by xigaa | 06/10/01 at 04:14:29
I know that using mics is a matter of personal taste shaped by years of experimentation, frustration, pouting, and eventually peace and joy - BUT - I'd be interested to hear what works for other people.
I've been using two mics and a line from a bridge pickup, with mixed results. One mic is a large condenser and the other a small. Sometimes they have bright tone, and turn out really organic and kickin', but other times boomy and muddy.
Lately I've been setting one mic at about the tenth fret pointing back and the soundhole with the other mic at the base of the neck angled away from the soundhole (see primitive graphic below). The mics are panned hard L and R, with slightly opposing eq with the line in panned center and mixed at a lower level.
I was wondering if anyone thought this would present any phase problems or anything. When I try to picture the physics of it, my brain overheats. And if anyone else can share some knowledge, I would appreciate it. The artist whose acoustic sound I jam on is Radiohead: clean and dynamic, with a well rounded sound.
:P
/
(mic one) --> / (mic two)
[III]-----------------{{{{{OOOO}}}}}}}}}}}
(neck) (soundhole)
Subject: Re: Miking Acoustic Guitar
by Puke | 06/10/01 at 08:41:27
What generally works is
1)try to get the guy who "has" to use his jumbo to get rid of it temporarily and go with a smaller guitar. I believe a concert steel (slightly smaller sound chamber) is the one that gives the least amount of problems in the studio and on tape. I've heard there are some old 3/4 scale all mohagany acoustic guitars out there but they are way too sought after by studios for me to have one. The reason to loose the larger guitars is because they are boomy by nature, so if you capture the sound accurately, you get to deal with that before you even get to the regular stuff.
2) One main mic only (and NOT TOO CLOSE), if you insist on another one, use a "room mic" a bit farther off. But DO NOT USE A CRAPPY MIC, no amount of mics will help you if none of them are sufficient. Acoustic guitar is one of those things that needs an expensive mic.....like vocals. You can use nearly anything on electric guitar, but when you do acoustic, you need to be careful to get "all" the sound.
Subject: Re: Miking Acoustic Guitar
by Harry | 06/11/01 at 01:59:04
Also on this thread: I'm amazed how much difference is made by a tiny shift in position relative to the mic. I recorded my acoustic with an AKG C1000, in several takes, thinking I was sitting in the same position, they sounded OK on playback but when I got to mix time I realized there were extremely noticeable tone variations, and it was too late to re-record so I had to correct with EQ (I hear cringes). Next time I'll use a body brace.
Subject: Re: Miking Acoustic Guitar
by dunc wani | 06/14/01 at 04:33:31
hello. to get a good sound, try putting on a good pair of headphones and just move the mics round while the person is playing. it may take a while, but eventually you will come upon a sweet spot. for a less boomy sound try not to point the mic directly at the sound hole.
Subject: Re: Miking Acoustic Guitar
by Broken_Recor | 06/14/01 at 09:29:51
This might sound a little retarded, but I used some over-simplified logic a few months ago when I was having a real hassle getting my acoustic to sound "natural" when recorded.
I tried putting the microphone near the sound hole, different places on the neck and the body of the guitar, etc. etc. and nothing ever came out right. Too much bass, too much treble, blah blah blah.
So I thought to myself, I wish it would just sound like I hear it. That prompted me to put the mic way above the guitar closer to where the signal hits my ears. Strangely enough, with just a small amount of tweaking after that it sounded great. I don't know why and honestly I really don't care why, but try using a boom or a goose neck and put the mic near your head level above the guitar. I've used an AKG C1000 and an SM 57 with an ART tube preamp.
Subject: Re: Miking Acoustic Guitar
by ds | 06/14/01 at 11:32:56
I usually throw on the headphones, and have the guitarist play while I move 2 mics around listening for the best balance of tone. The best results I've gotten were recently with a Shure 315 ribbon mic, and an AKG C1000. The vocals were going into an akg 414, and I ended up not using the C1000. The balance between the ribbon mic and the 414 turned out really nice with the vocals. But the guy was also an excellent guitar player, and knew how to fill the room with sound and get it to the mics.