Your acoustic recording setup

Mostly Oktava Mk-012s, X/Y about 14-16" out from the joint, into a DMP3 when I want a stereo track. If I'm going for a mono track I usually either change out one of the cardiod caps for an omni, or I'll try out an LDC.
 
Of course none of these are bad answers.

For bedroom recordings like this, I like simplicity. One good small condenser mic. I have an AT4041 that I really like for recording a quality steel string acoustic.

I agree that "pointing at the 12th fret" is oft-repeated and highly overrated. When I experiment with positioning I always end up somewhere near an edqe of the soundhole.

I also suggest you find a way to close off the room somehow, especially if your trying to record a couple feet away.
 
Yea, I try this as much as possible. I am in the process of converting my closet (a 6' x 6' square) into a relatively closed-off space using acoustic tile, and a lot of materials left laying around (hyper-insulating the drop-ceiling, for example), so I can get a decent space for recording where some outside noise is cutoff, and the reflections are controlled a little better (vs. completely deadened or not dampened at all).

Over the weekend the Rode K2 came in, and even with my dirt-cheap preamps, the sound improved drastically. However, the Nady PRA-8 just doesn't have the drive the K2 needs to get a good distance-level (i.e. enough gain to play very light acoustic from even just, say, 6 inches away). You can hear it, but it isn't anywhere near close to 0dB going to tape... then the fader needs to be pushed up, and that makes it noisy as Hell. I am going to be picking up a better preamp in the next couple days, so we'll see how it goes. Til then, more placement playing!
 
It does occur to me though, that the K2 is a LDC (1" diaphragm), not an SDC. Perhaps a SDC is in order, but I feel I should be able to get a decent sound out of that mic, regardless.
 
Ugg... I hate good and bad news situations... last night I decided to try out the K2 through the Behringer "Tube" Ultragain I have, and it added a load of gain over the Nady... the acoustic sounds fantastic (well, much better than my previous results) with a little bit of position fiddling. I still want to upgrade as the Behringer pre is a bit harsh in the high-end (especially noticeable on vocals), but it shows me that other pre's can add a lot more gain than what the Nady was supplying...

Now onto the bad news (for me anyway)... running through both the Nady and the Behringer pres, with different cables, the mic occasionally gets crackly and cuts out. When you tap the mic itself it kicks back in. Im not sure if it is the mic, or the valve is shot (it was shipped from Alabama to NY in a very cold streak this past week, maybe that had something to do with the damage)... the item was sold on ebay, and after contating the seller, he says he'll give me my money back and I can ship him back the item.

Hopefully this will work out smoothly. I will then be taking the 450 bucks I get back, add another 250 (which I was going to spend on the new pre), and buy a new K2... what a pain. But, it could be worse (could be getting stiffed on the ebay sale all together!)
 
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The problem I always have is recording in small square rooms. Once I get the mic far away enough to have a balanced sound, I get the bedroom boogieman in the tracks. I play mostly fingerstyle blues; if recording rhythm acoustic is hard, fingerstyle is Mount Everest. There is always something that ruins my tracks; if I get a nice think sound and not much room coloring, there is usually a frequency problem in the low end causing certain notes to "boom" or just too boomy across the entire low end. So I always have one of those three problems thin sound, bedroom boogieman, or boomy undetailed low end.

I actually like my setup SCGC OM/PW>ADK "Hamburg"> DMP3> Delta 44. I can usually get a really good sound except I always have problems in the low end due to the room.
 
royharper3220 said:
The problem I always have is recording in small square rooms. Once I get the mic far away enough to have a balanced sound, I get the bedroom boogieman in the tracks. I play mostly fingerstyle blues; if recording rhythm acoustic is hard, fingerstyle is Mount Everest. There is always something that ruins my tracks; if I get a nice think sound and not much room coloring, there is usually a frequency problem in the low end causing certain notes to "boom" or just too boomy across the entire low end. So I always have one of those three problems thin sound, bedroom boogieman, or boomy undetailed low end.

I actually like my setup SCGC OM/PW>ADK "Hamburg"> DMP3> Delta 44. I can usually get a really good sound except I always have problems in the low end due to the room.
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Record into a closet full of clothes and stay about 1' to 5" from the mic. Or closer if you want. I try to stay at around 5-8".
 
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