12-string miking, mixing and eq'ing

A

asulger

Member
As a long-time lurker, I could use some help from the golden-ears here on recording the best sound from my old Gibson acoustic 12-string. In order to make it a critique on mike placement and mixing, and not my playing :), I've made some 15 second clips using 3 different mike positions. I've described what the positions are, but have not matched the descriptions with the clip names. I'm hoping that you can give me some advice on which clip is the best starting point, and then we can talk about eq'ing.

I'm open to any suggestions about a better way to do this. I would also be happy to add some clips using your suggestions.
The clips and info are at
Sound clips
the clips are mp3, 320kbps, about 1 meg each.
Thanks in advance,
Art
 
Ahhh, Bach. Seriously I love it when people do tests like this, I wish there were more.

A sounded too close. C started off nice, a full sound, but there is one note that resonates poorly, and this position really picked it up. So I'd start with B, which I'm guessing is the headstock (A was 12th fret, C was tailpiece).

Was I right? Shhh, don't tell, let others guess.

How about trying more distant placement, like 2' from 12th fret?
 
added clip with mike at 2 feet

I added another sample with the mike at 2 feet pointed approx at the middle of the fretboard (6/7th fret)
 
I'm leaning toward clip C however try the following:

An X/Y coincident pair of mics about 6-12" from where the neck joins the body.

Try using a matched pair of small diaphram condenser mics (Neumann KM 184s if you can buy or rent). Drop the pickup from the equation.
 
Matched Nuemans

Neumann KM 184s are not in my budget. How about a matched pair of Sound Room MC-012s?
BTW, I've added some spectrum graphs of the clips.
 
asulger said:
Neumann KM 184s are not in my budget. How about a matched pair of Sound Room MC-012s?
BTW, I've added some spectrum graphs of the clips.
Click to expand...

I haven't used those mics so I can't comment. Judging from the frequency chart, the MC-012s seem to have more bottom, but sometimes this can end up muddying an acoustic or making it sound a bit boomy.

Why not give it a shot and post some audio clips?
 
"A" was too close in..."B" turned out to be my favorite..."C" and "D" seemed too wide for my taste.
 
Now that I've heard D, it's my runaway favorite. Course I guess I'm a little biased . . . there is an instance of clipping on that track, it's really obvious on the wave charts. But ignoring that, that track sounds nice.
 
too wide?

punkin said:
"A" was too close in..."B" turned out to be my favorite..."C" and "D" seemed too wide for my taste.
Click to expand...

I just want to be sure what you meant: Do you mean the stereo image is spread too wide?
 
It just sounded artificially wide to me...not knowing the placement you used, but it sounded to me like you had the mics farther apart or panned differently. Am I off base here?
 
punkin said:
It just sounded artificially wide to me...not knowing the placement you used, but it sounded to me like you had the mics farther apart or panned differently. Am I off base here?
Click to expand...
Ok, that's what I thought you meant. This can be fixed by mixing the tracks more, I think. I'm working with a pickup and a mike, so there is no real stereo. I am sacrificing true stereo so I can get more of the 'thrumming' of the guitar, which partly is the feel of the back of the guitar against my chest. I think the Sunrise pickup gets this part of the sound. But then, maybe I'm off base. That's why I need other opinions, and this helps.
Thanks,
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top