Aggressive acoustic playing

P

polarity

New member
I have been trying to record a couple friends and am new in general. I tried plugging the acoustic in and using the pickups (before I read the acoustic thread) although I only went through the first couple pages not all 130something.

So my quick question would be do you use the same strategy for someone who is playing with a more 'aggressive' style. Harder strums, strong mutes, etc. Would you move the mic farther back in terms of distance but still keep it around the 9th fret or do you use something completely different?
 
That would depend on room, player, performance style, mic (polar pattern), pick or finger (if pick what thickness)
and oh so many variables.
If you can seperate yourself from the player and listen through headphones while some one positions the mic in front of the guitar and moves it slowly until you hear the sound you want.
then looky see where the mic is and put it on a stand at the very same place.
How many mics are you using?
what mic? what does your room sound like (treated or live?)
I wish i had a straight simple put your mic here kinda answer but theres just to many variables.
Please give more info thanks.
A miced guitar will usually sound better than an onboard pick up.
again depends on the style.
 
I'll take any answers I can get. Room is completel untreated and a 12x12 square (been reading this forum about treatment the last few days and it's coming). Swapped through a few guitars getting different sounds. A martin (dont have model it was his) with no pickups that I just placed the mic originally at the hole and hit record. A washburn with no pickups (same mic location) and a Fender with pickups, for that I did same mic position and DI then tried to EQ and put them together but it didn't sound good.

The mic is an AT2035 and he's using a pick. The pick is .60mm.

I was considering picking up a second mic for this but didn't know which direction to go, or if I should stick with 1 mic until I get the placement and understanding down and then move on to adding the second.

Thanks for the help
 
A good place to start with mic placement experimentation is called the 12 @12
mic facing the 12 fret 12 inchs away. Then move it from there lots of people put the mic on the neck joint. or in 12@12 but facing back towards the sound hole.
Most of the time i find opposite the sound hole position too resonant or woofy.

If you want to capture more of the picking sound move the mic towards the bridge position. That all depends on the central or supporting role of the guitar in the mix.
I prefer to use sdc mics or my mini Niaint omni mic on guitars and low pass filter to get rid of the sub bass freqeuncys. maybe a bit of reverb again depends on the mix.
Keep it simple.
 
So you think it would be in my best interested to get a different mic for this? Any suggestions on a sdc, I know there are tons of reviews on the site so I can search those as well.
 
I'd go with one mic and the one you have. With Martin Dreadnaughts, stay away from the sound hole as it'll sound woofy. As suggested try starting at the 12th fret aaimed at the body/ neck joint and experiment.
 
I'd probably go a little further back than 12 inches too if it's particularly loud agressive playing of a chordy nature, but as the others say, there are many other variables, so you'll need to experiment. Take a line in from the pickup as well, it can be useful, or if you have access to another mic, stick that higher up the fretboard. The solution (for me anyway) is usually some blend of two different channels.
 
just to add even more questions, are the songs just acoustic guitars and/or vocals or are they going into a full band mix? what style of music is it (i.e is it big open chords, altered tunings, hard strum stuff, or is it power chords and chugging rock acoustic stuff?)

alot of my acoustic playing is pretty hard hitting/aggressive and i've found a couple of ways of improving my recordings;

Firstly, and especially with acoustic guitars, if it sounds good in the room it should sound good recorded.

Secondly, and hopefully an obvious point, new guitar strings. old strings sound flat and empty.

Thirdly, i've found using a thicker plectrum gives a much attack and really helps gives an "aggressive edge". i recorded a guy at the end of last year who had very dynamic songs but found that when the acoustic guitar shifted from the quiet parts to the louder parts it just sounded flat and weak. the answer; rather than using his 0.6mm plectrum we swapped it for a 1.0mm pick and suddenly the loud parts has a real impact

in terms of mic's and mic placement; the 12 @ 12 is always my starting point. because i have a smaller bodied acoustic (Taylor Big Baby) i normally find that works fine, although sometimes i move it more towards the neck joint. however, on full sized guitars with hard hitters i normally pull it back a bit.

I'm a big fan of LDC's on acoustic guitars most of the time, but opt for an SDC if the guitar is going into a very busy mix to let the highs come through a bit more. again, in terms of polar patterns, if the room sounds good i really like an omni mic, but with my style of harder playing i normally stick with a cardioid mic to get a more solid sound.

if the 12 @ 12 sounds too thin/weak (even after experimenting) i sometimes add another mic pointed just about 3 - 4 inches below the bridge to thicken up the sound. however, if you do go down the two mic route you do need to be very careful with phase issue. realistically you should be able to get a really solid sound from just one mic.
 
Thanks for all the info, just got home and about to setup and start toying with it. To answer the questions though, it's just an acoustic and him. Mostly just open chords and hard strums, but his voice is big.. Think CCR style maybe for the vocals?

I would post a clip but it's his material, I might be able to clip a small section of just the acoustic to get some input though and leave the vocals out.

Thanks again!
 
Dumb question, with the LDC do I want to point the top at the 12? I would have thought side angle but for some reason I just thoguht well that could be the problem?
 
unless i'm very much mistaken, the AT2035 is side address which means you want to point the side at the 12th fret.

i think the front is the side with Audio Technica written on it
 
That is what I figured, but all the pics I've found have been SDC which of course are pointed with the top (face) at the guitar... Suddenly I wasn't sure I was doing it right
 
polarity said:
That is what I figured, but all the pics I've found have been SDC which of course are pointed with the top (face) at the guitar... Suddenly I wasn't sure I was doing it right
Click to expand...

no worries man, we've all been there :)
 
Last edited:
I record both finger-picking and hard strumming. It's always gonna be different, so each take gets a lot of experimentation to find the right spot. I usually start with one LDC (Studio Projects C1) near the 12th fret pointed slightly towards the soundhole, but I never seem to stay there. Instead of moving the mic around, I move myself around the mic.

I tried using two mics before; SDC and an LDC, but eventually sold off the SDc and only use the one LDC. Never liked what I was hearing with the SDC.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Played around with it some last night and was definately able to get some decent sounds recorded. Still sounded more "clicky" than I wanted but that was most likely just the pick I had, it was really thick and I didn't have any others laying around. Definately not as full as the sounds in the acoustic thread, but he did 4 tracks so it might still be something I move twords. All in all it looks like it's just going to take a little playing each time to set it up for whoever is coming in to record.

thanks for all the help
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top