Which mic for steel string acoustic guitar?

O

onemanband

New member
I have a TLM 103 for my voice and that is fine. It also sounds pretty good with fingerpicking - but strumming is a different story.I need a good mic with clear articulation on a strummed acoustic steel string. Any suggestions?????

Thanks

Bob
 
I swear by under the saddle pickups. Ask the boys at your local shop to install a quality pickup in your guitar. Cost should be compareable to a good mic and saves on all that "damnit honey I am recording" stuff you run into.
 
I have a nice under the saddle pickup that came built in with my Taylor. Sounds awesome live. Recording it direct has not produced good results, and though plugging it into my Crate 125d acoustic amp and micing the cabinet sounds pretty good, it's not the natural acoustic sound I'm looking for.

I guess I'm shopping for a small diaphragm condensor. SM 81 and AT 4041 have been the main suggestions so far. I have tried SM57, Earthworks SR71, TLM 103, AKG1000. Earthworks was the best so far.

Still open to suggestions, and thanks for the feedback.


Bob
 
hmm.. i dont see why you wouldnt get a good sound out of thte 103. and the sr71 on principal should sound good. i say before anything try a combination of the two in any position and/or one of the two in any position. get crazy here... stick them anywhere.
 
I'm still learning on a budget but I've gotten very good results with the AKG1000 (2 of them one at the 12th and one facing the body behind the bridge). But you've been the AKG route. This will sound really strange but I miced a guy (just a man and a guitar) with 2 57's. One a boom stand pointing straight down at the guitar over his right shoulder (right handed guitarist) the other pointed at the 12th fret pointing toward the headstock. When mixed together they sound really good (at least to me).

nay
 
I agree that the piezo or condensor under-the-saddle pick up is great live but lousy for recording.

I agree with those who are suggesting a second mic. Since the TLM 103 sounds good fingerpicking, it should work for strumming stuff also; it sounds like you want one mic fairly close and a second mic at a distance (maybe that should be the tlm)to capture that ringing sound.
 
It completely depends on the music.
For some things, I use a crazy rig, maybe with 3 or 4 mics on one guitar. But thats just when recording fingerstyle guitar cuts.
I HAVE recorded with a Fishman acoustic matrix and gotten the results I wanted. When doing 'pop'ish music I will use that piezo, because the drum and bass is really driving that music and the acoustic guitar is amlost a rythmic part of the song rather than the meat of the sound. If you listen to many top40 radio songs with acoustic, you will hear the stinging of a piezo acoustic. With all the sounds and vocals going on in some of these recordings, it just sits well in the mix.

-H2H
 
interesting

What makes the FRAP (does that stand for something else?) better than the Fishman? And what makes the right preamp right?
 
Acoustic guitar mic' ing

onemanband said:
I have a TLM 103 for my voice and that is fine. It also sounds pretty good with fingerpicking - but strumming is a different story.I need a good mic with clear articulation on a strummed acoustic steel string. Any suggestions?????

Thanks

Bob
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[Bob!

You can try an AT4050 (Audio Technica) near the sound hole, offset to the right to hinder bass boom. Place a Shure SM94 on the neck about half way up. This is a good way of getting all required frequencies from the instrument. Other mics will do, just use a large diaphragm on the body, and "pencil" mic on the neck. Condensors are the best, bur hey - experiment!
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I use a Gibson Cl-30 delux with factory fishman pre-amped under saddle pick-up. Most of the time that's it. I do run though a direct box to go to low z into a mackie 1604 vlz pro. Great mic pre amps. When I do use a mic, it's either a 57 or akg 3000. Both work well, just different sounds.
 
Hi c7sus,

BTW, when did you hear the news/rumor that Arnie had passed on? FRAP was definitely THE premier acoustic transducer company. I worked for them many eons ago. One year, all of the FRAP employees received a Model T piezo pickup/preamp as their Christmas gift [whether they played guitar or not]. I wish to hell that I had kept my old Model T right now! Unfortunately I didn't own an acoustic guitar until many years later so it was really of no use to me at that time you know? I sure could use one myself for a few things [other than guitar mic'ing]. For that purpose though, they sounded incredible--we used to sell the F-350 model preamps to virtually every major studio in the country and more- Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas comes to mind as one example; they bought some preamps for their EMT Echo-Plates. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the majority of folks who bought these units held on to them for their sound quality too :(
 
I just signed up for this website after reading this post, only now have I noticed how old this post is.

Anyway, I signed up just so I can respond to the quote about Arnie's passing. Because, you see, even as I write this, 13 years later Arnie is alive and well. In fact I am meeting him for drinks and to ring in the new year.
 
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Mariah Simpson said:
I just signed up for this website after reading this post, only now have I noticed how old this post is.

Anyway, I signed up just so I can respond to the quote about Arnie's passing. Because, you see, even as I write this, 13 years later Arnie is alive and well. In fact I am meeting him for drinks and to ring in the new year.
Click to expand...

For 13 years, I've been wondering if that rumor was true. Thank you!! Thank you!!
:facepalm:
 
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