Taylor needs new ears!

P

Paco

pH meter
I'm trying to record a few songs that are just my Taylor, mix of fingerpick/slap/funkystrum, and it sounds horrible through my NT1, Art tube mp, Behringer MX802A mixer --> RNC --> Echo Mia. Playing the high e string solo really shows the low quality of the sound. I have gotten great results with recording the Taylor in full band situations w/ drums/vocals/bass/electric guitars, but this setup just doesn't work for solo Taylor 410 (at bridge or neck).

Would a RNP fix my problem? Or would I be better off getting a *real* mixer and retiring the Behringer for live use only? If so, what's good? Nady? Alesis? I heard the Mackie and wasn't impressed.

Thanks homies!

BTW - I have a Marshall 603s, and behringer ecm8000 - used to use them for stereo acoustic guitar that was just okay... both mics now sound like they're in a wind tunnel or something - busted. So I got no small diaphragm condensers left.
 
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Just a dumb guess on my part, but since everything sounds like shit through your signal chain, I'd look to one of its components for the problem - that is, pre, mixer or soundcard. It's unlikely all your mics have gone bad.
Take the mixer out - if still bad, take the pre out (does the mixer have phantom power? - if not you need to try a different preamp.) If still bad, a different sound card.
Can you test your mics on someone else's system?
 
Good suggestions... I tried both the Art and the Behringer mixer with the mics (both have phantom), and both sounded the same.
 
Have you played with all of the settings on your cuurent gear?

I used to have a hard time getting a good sound on single string solos...then I used my MXl V67 LDC with the gain cranked, some noise reduction afterwards for the signal path noise, then some light compression and reverb and it turned out great.

Now mind you, I tried to play "fatter" strings when possible rather than the high 'e', but the few notes that were in there were 'okay'.

So my suggestion make sure you've exhausted every combo of mic'ing, gain, string choice, etc. before you start buying more gear. You should be able to get a relatively decent sound with what you have, as long as none of your parts are actually defective.
 
Paco said:
I'm trying to record a few songs that are just my Taylor, mix of fingerpick/slap/funkystrum, and it sounds horrible through my NT1, Art tube mp, Behringer MX802A mixer --> RNC --> Echo Mia. Playing the high e string solo really shows the low quality of the sound. I have gotten great results with recording the Taylor in full band situations w/ drums/vocals/bass/electric guitars, but this setup just doesn't work for solo Taylor 410 (at bridge or neck).
Click to expand...

When I Got my DMP3 I compared it to my Behringer MX802 on acoustic guitar (Webber OM). The DMP3 sounds much warmer (and better) and the stereo imaging was vastly improved. The Behringer high end is brittle and strident. Combine that with the NT1 (which is reported to have the same problem) and the result might be a high end similar to the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard--especially with a Taylor which are known for their shimmery high end. Running the signal through the RNC may not help any either.
 
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