Miking acoustic and practice amp

B

Baz97

New member
Hi,

I was about to buy the first mic for my new home studio - i was gonna go with the Shure 57. THing is though, im playing a lot of acoustic lately, and was wondering if I sould get a condencer of something, to cover both bases - amp and acoustic. I've read on an earlier thread that stereo micing works very well for recording acoustics. My music consists of layered guitar tracks all played by myself and therefore recorded separately. My music has no drums or bass - so I guess a mic with a wide frequency range is in order. What would you suggest I do for under $500, or is it time to save?
 
I would say get the 57 as you will always have a use for this mic, get some experience with it, then consider a SD condenser like the MXL603 which also is cheap at $80, though for this or almost any condenser you'll also need a preamp with phantom power if you don't already have one, which will be at least another $80 - $100 minimum.
 
A Studio Projects B1 might also be an option. It seems to have a flatter freq respose than most of the other LDC's and might be good for mic'ing acoustic or amped guitar to include some room ambience. At $80 you can't go wrong.
I'm going to try it on acoustic in the next day or so to see how it sounds, though my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt due to lack of experience.
 
I dont see Studio Projects for sale on any UK sites yet, its new isnt it? - anyway would you mind posting your acoustic recording(pre digi editing : )) when you get it done - that would be really helpful.

you can post it on my recording website if you like -

http://baz.perlmonk.org/main.cgi
 
Sorry, didn't realise you were across the pond. Here's the SP international sales link - don't know if it will help. Not very up to date. You could also email them for an update - the owner, Alan Hyatt, has always been quick to respond.

http://www.studioprojectsusa.com/spintdealers.html

I'll post a clip , probably on Nowhereradio, when I do it. Realise I ain't much of a guitar player. :(
 
ANy other suggestions anyonne?? - will I have to get two mics for each, of even three > one for the amp and two for acoustic recording.
 
Baz
Here's the acoustic guitar thru 4 mics - Shure SM58 (which is essentially the SM57 with a ball filter); Marshall MXL603s, a small diaphragm condenser; Studio Projects B1, a large diaphragm condenser; and Behringer ECM8000, an omni condenser measurement mic that some like on acoustic.
http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1557&alid=-1 "acoustic guitar mic test"

The mic is placed in each case behind the bridge at the tailpiece, 2 or 3 inches above the soundboard, and pointing along the longitudinal axis of the guitar toward the fretboard; the ECM8000 is omni and doesn't matter which way it's pointed.

The guitar is a Yamaha FG140 with old strings on it. :(

Signal chain is mic to audio buddy preamp (which is noted to be low noise and transparent) to Dman PCI card. No EQ, compression or effects.

Hope this is useful to you - unfortunately so much depends on mic placement and guitar technique. I'm pretty heavy on the treble strings in this (I'm not a guitar player.)

If you have any questions about it, post.
 
I thought you said you couldn't play guitar - modesty eh? - And you'd probably try and convince us you cant sing either : ).

These files are really helpful crazydoc; it was interesting to hear the individual character of each microphone also - an issue I had lost focus on. You also made your mic placement very clear. Anyway, I'll have to listen to these mp3s a number of times before I can begin to appreciate their individual nuances.

If you don’t mind, I'd like to add these to my Studio File site (with your permission of course) - its an audio forum where different recording techniques are explored, pay it a visit if you haven’t already; the links below.

Thanks again crazy doc, it been a pleasure learning from you,

Barry.

Studio File - http://baz.perlmonk.org/main.cgi
 
Barry
Glad this helped. I'm not a guitar player - just a wannabe song writer - I got into recording to try to make demos of songs, then got caught up in this whole microphone thing to try to make my voice sound better. The better the mic, though, the more it sounds like "me". :(
My dream is to modify a mic so my voice sounds really gritty and cool. :)

Feel free to upload it to your site - I haven't had a chance to download anything yet, and for some reason I can't stream off of it.

Anybody else have ideas, esp re the initial question Baz had about stereo mic'ing? I haven't tried it yet - hard enough to place one mic.

Baz - there's lots about stereo mic'ing on this site also - you might want to do a search and see what comes up. Good luck.
 
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