Micing acoustic guitar

[hummcat]

Okay, I'm having difficulties getting a good sound of my acoustic guitar. Here's my set up:

AT 4033 > Focusrite Penta Compressor > Motu 828 > Logic 6.3.

I ran a frequency analyzer on it, and I am not picking up enough high frequencies...there's too much muddy "booming". Almost "buzzy".... I don't want to EQ unless I am totally f**ked. The guitar sounds nice to my ears, but recording sounds terrible.

I am pointing the mic where I have always pointed it in the past, with good results previously....at the 12th fret only slightly tilted towards the body of the guitar, 6" out or so.

I am using D'addario XL's...maybe I should have strung it up with L's.

Help. thanks

[mikeh]

I would think that your gear and signal path should give you a good sound. Certaintly your mic position is what 90% of people would start at.

When you say you've always gotten a good sound before - was it using the same gear in the same room??

I do find that when I record accoustic instruments in my studio (not an ideal accoustic space) I often have to find a different "sweet spot" where I get a good capture of all frequencies for different instruments.

I have actually found that two different accoustic guitars sounded better in different parts of the room.

Not to state the obvious, but if you are not getting the high end - you need to look at the age and type of strings (which you have already questioned).

[grinder]

Originally posted by mikeh
I would think that your gear and signal path should give you a good sound. Certaintly your mic position is what 90% of people would start at.

When you say you've always gotten a good sound before - was it using the same gear in the same room??

I do find that when I record accoustic instruments in my studio (not an ideal accoustic space) I often have to find a different "sweet spot" where I get a good capture of all frequencies for different instruments.

I have actually found that two different accoustic guitars sounded better in different parts of the room.

Not to state the obvious, but if you are not getting the high end - you need to look at the age and type of strings (which you have already questioned).

Good suggestions, If you normally string up with lights and you put on extra lights, without adjusting the guitar, the buzzing is probably the strings buzzing on the frets. I had a similar problem with a 12 string. It sounded good from the playing position, but had a terrible buzz when I listened back. Also, with my limited mic selection, I usually have to roll off a ton of low end on acoustic guitars.

[hummcat]

These are excellent suggestions...thanks.

Working in my living room, which has nice wood floors and great ambience.

I will try miccing with a Rode NT4 I have first; if that doesn't work, I'll change strings to lite. I'll also try changing locations in the room...

[vestast]

Have you tried bypassing the compressor to see if it makes a difference in the frequency's being picked up ?

What I mean is what if the compressor is compressing the higher frequencies ? Is that even possible ?

[hummcat]

All:

Thanks for all the advice. The problem turned out to be two-fold.

The problem was my guitar strings. I changed to Light (starting at .11) and this made all the difference. Also, I shouldn't have been monitoring on headphones and I couldn't get a good reference to what was actually being recorded. The AT 4033 worked just fine.

This helped too.

Thanks again.