Why Mic an accoustic-electric guitar?

J

jmagaro

New member
Hi, Just reading around here, and I notice some people Mic there guitars to record them, instead of plugging them in directly....Is there a reason for this? The only thing I can think of is to get the harmonics of the room recorded as well...
 
jmagaro said:
Hi, Just reading around here, and I notice some people Mic there guitars to record them, instead of plugging them in directly....Is there a reason for this? The only thing I can think of is to get the harmonics of the room recorded as well...
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I take it you don't own an acoustic/electric.
 
Answer- no pickup on earth sounds like a good wooden guitar mic'd up. Some pickups are better than others, but they are all inferior to good microphones.-Richie
 
I think a mic sounds better on any acoustic/electric or acoustic guitar. Perhaps the pickups suffice for something in the background or buried in the mix but they never seem to cut it for a really great, full natural acoustic sound. Pickups on acoustics(at least on the ones I have) always seem to produce a thin, brittle artificial sound which, to my ears, I find very objectionable.
 
Yeah, what they said. Pickups are great for live playing, but they just don't sound that good recorded. Use mics whenever possible, unless you really want that thin, brittle, Melissa Etheridge kind of sound.
 
You can also plug it in and lay it on a track while recording the mic'd parts. Then you have another layer to mess around with. Help the sound? Keep it. Sound like arse? No prob - mic'd tracks only.
 
There's two possible reasons for going with it plugged in; Isolation of vocal and rhythem guitar tracks when the singer wants to play and sing at the same time (later overdub the guitar), or 2, used in the mix with micing for a desired effect or clarity.

By itself though the pickups sound awful, even if they're great on stage.
 
My Johnson acoustic/electric bass sounds like an electric bass, when plugged in. Maybe it's 'cause I'm typically plugging into my Vox T-25 bass combo, as opposed to one specifically designed for acoustic (acoustic/electric bass), but I doubt it. I like the idea of recording mic'd acoustic, and electric parts at the same time, though. :)

Matt
 
I REALLY dislike the sound of onboard acoustic type pickups. That "plinky" rubber band sound makes me cringe. A mic out performs them everytime for me.
 
All you'd need to do was record direct and then try micing one time to answer this question. I tried recording direct one time....hated it. Went out and bought a pair of MXL 603's and haven't looked back since.
 
Thanks...

Hmm, I have always recorded direct. Of course, I am new at this. I'll give the mic a try and see what it sounds like.
 
If you ever listen to a commercially produced CD and you hear an acoustic guitar, I can almost guarantee that it was miced up. You can get good sounds, but compare them to tracks done well with a mic and there's no comparison...

You can do a scratch or blend track, but you won't get that earhty tone from a piezo pickup, just a nice mic, maybe a nice small diaphragm condenser. :D
 
The only thing a piezo is good for is adding back some definition, but if your mics are setup to begin with you shouldn't ever have to add in a piezo track. If you need to use a pickup live I recommend a Fishman RareEarth Humbucker over most piezo's, they aren't quite as shrill sounding.
 
How about some of the Baggs pickups or the higher end Fishman systems? Have any of you tried the Sennheiser electret dropped into the soundhole trick?
 
I've had good luck with the Fishman stereo blender. Yeah, it's become possible to go direct with an acoustic. Not desireable, not ideal, but possible.-Richie
 
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