Muddy acoustic recording: technique issue

cstockdale

cstockdale

supafly killa homey
I am recording this girl right now, and have a very hard time getting a fuller acoustic sound. I use a pair of MXL 603s in XY config, and have tried various placements, have tried one of them with a SP B3 in fig-8 mode with MS technique, have . I have put mics in many places, but it is still muddy.

This girl plays strumming with her thumb, which inherently sounds dull. She loves the sound, hates using a pick (read: can't), and just has no attack on the strings. Solo, in a room, her guitar sounds decent. Recorded, however, it sounds dull and lifeless because she plays soooooo softly that I have to crank the gain on my pres to get anything out of the guitar at all.

I have tried the diplomatic approach to say that maybe she could try a pick, or play with her fingernails: anything for a better attack to give some brightness to the song. How does one do this? I have thought about playing the song myself when she is not around on my acoustic the way I think it would sound better and then show her an A/B situation so she can truly hear the difference.

I also was thinking I could run her acoustic through an acoustic amp (I have a Peavey Ecoustic 112) and tweak the EQ on that and mic up the amp instead, at least then I could get a strong signal.
 
That is a good choice of mics for the acoustic, although I like to hear a little more bass than they can provide. You may need to just move them around to find the right spot.

But that doesn't have anything to do with her playing. The best approach is to just be honest with her and ask her if she could adjust her playing for recording purposes. If she listens through headphones while playing, then make sure that the volume is not too loud. Explain why you are lowering the headphone to her though, we don't like engineers trickin' us.

The acoustic pickup to an amp with mic idea is excellent. But have her hear the MXL 603 setup in her headphone and record the amp in a different sound booth to a separate track without her hearing it.
 
I suppose, too, that I could set up like I have done with the 603s, and then also take a line-out from the guitar and record the piezo pu in addition to the mics. I usually hate the sound of piezos recorded, but it might add the desired brightness. If not, I can always try running the piezo signal after the fact to my acoustic amp and mic it up.
 
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