Mics I'm Totally Spoilt For Choice.

Vikki said:
Well i've got to admit its become a nightmare trying to decide which mic to buy for recording acoustic guitar.
I know its horses for courses and each michas its own voice.
First i thought about the c4's..then someone said they were brittle and rough.
Next i decided to go with the SE Electronics...then someone said the mic diaphram was not glued so in a few months it wouldn't sound how it sounds now.
O.K i'll pay a bit more money then Neumann TLM 103....someone said it was a very dark mic and did not bring out the high end detail.
OK Neumann KM184 no, no way too bright.
Marshall 603 o'k but harsh.
Oktava MC 012 reports favourable...can't pick em up in uk.
Help Please. ADK is next in my thoughts they seem to get good press, any experience with these anyone?
Vikki(uk)
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KM184's are an excellent choice for recording acoustic guitar. If you can't get decent results with one or two of them, it isn't the mic's fault.
 
RRuskin said:
KM184's are an excellent choice for recording acoustic guitar. If you can't get decent results with one or two of them, it isn't the mic's fault.
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Pssssst, I got a secret to tell you. She started this thread almost 3 years ago and nobody has posted in it in nearly 2 1/2 years.
 
jonnyc said:
Pssssst, I got a secret to tell you. She started this thread almost 3 years ago and nobody has posted in it in nearly 2 1/2 years.
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Jonny, I got a secret for you, too:

When Rick Ruskin speaks, most musicians, and engineers, have the good sense to shut up and listen to him.
 
Wow, this thread was sooooo hijacked! I tried to lower Vicki's anxiety and make some reasonable suggestions, and then the DJL vs. Alan Hyatt thing took over. Harvey almost rescued it with his Jimi anecdote, which rocks. And I think I spoke with Rick Ruskin a couple of times by phone, if I'm not mistaken, when I was just getting started, due to a referral from a friend in Portland. If I have the right guy, he was very helpful, and never talked down to me (which apparently would have been easy). What I want to know is- did the AKG mics work for Vicki? Did she ever get "the sound"? Did she end up with different mics? Damn, I hate it when the power goes out before the end of the movie.-Richie
 
Harvey Gerst said:
Jonny, I got a secret for you, too:

When Rick Ruskin speaks, most musicians, and engineers, have the good sense to shut up and listen to him.
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I'm so sorry Harvey, I didn't realize Mr. Ruskin's post was a groundbreaking revelation. :D On another note, welcome Rick, I honestly have no clue who you are but apprently you deserve a google search. If Harvey say's you're the shit then you must be and in that case it's fantastic having you on the board. My apologies for the rough introduction.
 
jonnyc said:
I'm so sorry Harvey, I didn't realize Mr. Ruskin's post was a groundbreaking revelation. :D If Harvey say's you're the shit then you must be and in that case it's fantastic having you on the board. My apologies for the rough introduction.
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Among fingerpickers, Rick Ruskin is easily in the world's top 5. He's way beyond "good" -he's downright "scary".
 
No apologies needed. Besides, your response to my post was nothing compared to the 1st salvo I received from Fletcher on RAP many years back.
 
Did I really start that thread 3 years ago, gee where did that time go?!?

Thanks to Richard Monroe who sent a PM to wake me up and let me know this thread was once again active.....well, in the end I purchased a single AKG C451b, it works well on my Lakewood small body M32 acoustic, if not a tad bright, but I can get great results by altering the placement of the mic. Next I purchased an ADK Vienna, that to me was the worst choice of mic I could make, it didn't work too badly on acoustic but on my voice it was well thin with no body (thats the mic, and perhaps my voice) that one went the Ebay route. I messed around with different dynamics and found my old Beyer stage mic that looks like it had been through a war suited my voice and was O.K. on acoustic for single line solos in some ballad style tracks. Next I went and purchased a Beyer M88, thats the one that suits my voice and is also great for some jazzy single acoustic lines and works well on my fender guitar amps So I'm down to a Beyer TGX 580 dynamic, Beyer M88 dynamic, AKG C451b small condensor, a new old stock Reslo Ribbon mic, bargain of the year for equiv of 5 dollars at a flee market. Thorn JVC Elextret stereo condensor (great on acoustic although not really a pro mic) and at the moment that covers my mini mic locker, I can get quite good results with these mics although not costing a fortune. Preamps are JLM Audio 99v design using a Llundahl 1538 input transformer and a Ridge Farms dual valve pre, that I sometimes feed into the input of the JLM to give a valvey sound to vocals. The JLM preamp pcb that I purchased from JLM made an amazing pre using two discreet op-amps, I'm going to add the Neve style JLM pre before long and have an La2a in the making.
Thought this was an interesting idea, how well it works i'm not sure.......
http://www.exploraudio.com/microphone-mounts_1_1.htm

Just to say without you guys and the Guys on Prodigy forum, I'd be nowhere with this lot. I'll post some sound samples as soon as the Recording Computer is rebuilt into a dual core, its stripped out at the moment.

Thank you all again....

Vikki(uk)
 
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wow, what a blast from the past. not only this thread, but on way home from work i went to a record store filled with the old grooves, tons of them, it was amazing how many were obscure
 
It's the singer not the song

Hi,

I was partying with Keith Richards one night and after a half bottle of tequila and some other substances best left unmentioned we started talking about fancy guitars and amps and stuff. Keith said, "I tried some of those fancy guitars and amps trying to sound like those other guys but after I had the guitar in my hands for five minutes I couldn't make it sound like anything but Keith Richards."

Oops ... I forgot. I don't know Keith Richards. I read that in an interview. But it has really stuck with me because no matter what equipment I try I still sound like Hairy Larry.

Sorry Harvey, I'm just glad this thread got resurrected so I could read your Jimi Hendrix story. And your Janis Joplin story. I remember the day after Butter died and I was going, "Not drugs, Paul, anything but drugs."

I'm glad Alan posts/posted here at HR in spite of the hostile environment. His affiliation is clear in his sig and I wouldn't expect him to badmouth his own products.

We lost mshilarious and his very helpful and knowledgeable posts because everyone kept using the bbs as a Naiant hotline. He decided he had to separate business and pleasure.

So here's my final comment. Homerecording BBS is a great resource. Don't feed the trolls and keep it that way.

And now my final final question. Who's old enough to get the reference in the title to this post?

Thanks,

Hairy Larry
 
Hi
No doubt there will be a few moans and groans when i bring this thread back from the dead, just a follow up, i've been really trying to get the AKG C451b to work with my steel string Lakewood M32 acoustic, thats quite a reasonable guitar but a bit bright sounding. I've experimented with mic placement using just the single AKG and results seem to still come out very bright and i can't really get a sweet recording. So last night i got to thinking this mic might work well on my old 40 dollar 30 year old nylon strung guitar, new strings on and away we go.....yes great results.....easy peasey so where am i going wrong with the steel string guitar....wrong mic or wrong guitar........is there a less bright mic out there that would balance the effect of the bright guitar? Perhaps a ribbon or large diameter condenser mic.......do i really have to buy a Neumann to get the results?
I have a couple of JLM audio preamps that pretty well seem to remain neutral, most what type of sound goes in seems to come out........
Any suggestions appreciated....
Regards
Vikki(uk)
 
You're probably not doing anything wrong. Despite the hype, the C451 isn't really that good a mic. They are typically much to shrill sounding for my sonic taste, especially on a steel string acoustic.
 
You might want to try a flatter mic. The AT4051 would probably work pretty well. I use it with my steel string guitars. They are fairly common used as well (@$250 or so used). Another consideration is the Beyer MC930. I have the 2 predecessor mics to the current MC930 model (the CV800 with a CK1 omni capsule and a CV710 with a CK701 omni capsule) and I think they sound very nice and unhyped. I have a pair of Josephson C42s as well, but I think they do run a bit on the bright side and I'd hesitate to recommend them to you if your guitar is already a bit bright. I think if I was going to buy a pair of new SDs primarily for acoustic guitar, and wasn't going to spring for a pair of Schoeps, I'd probably get a pair of MC930s. You might call Full Compass and see what kind of price they can give you. You can get a substantial discount off list on those.
 
BTW, Vikki, seeing as you're the OP of this thread I think you have every right to resurrect it whenever you see fit. It sure beats threads where the OP never returns at all. :D
 
Oops, I just remembered you are in the UK. Full Compass probably isn't the best source for you I suspect, but as a point of reference, a matched pair of Beyer MC930s would run in the mid to low $700s here. Given current currency exchange rates, I suspect you might be able to do better there.
 
Thanks all.......
Yes the AKG C451 does seem bright and a bit harsh.......
I emailed Lakewood guitars who have a few clips on their site to ask what they used for the demo recordings.....the guitar is a small body OM M32 and is pretty bright, i think its going to be a bit of a stinker to a get a nice recorded sound.
Rick i was just watching your videos on Y/Tube nice playing there, i need to come over for some lessons or look for some of your dvd's.
Rick off topic a bit here but what string gauges were you using on the u tube vids?
Tha Beyers look very interesting, i've always used Beyer dynamics TGX 580, MT88 for live vocals and they work very well, very smooth and not harsh...i'll look into the Beyers. After that there's Schoeps(very expensive) Gefell M300? have been mentioned in the past. Time to do some searching, its a shame you can't try some of these mics for the weekend.
Any more info keep it coming.....
Regards
Vikki(uk)
 
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