1 mike vs. 2

[onulel]

I have a small bodied solid spruce and maple acoustic guitar. Would one mike be alright to record me playing and singing or would 2 be better? For one mike I don't know what I might use. For 2 mikes I'm thinking Audix OM-2 for vocal and Audix F15 for guitar.

 

[hairylarry]

2 for stereo

Hi,

One mic will work fine. If your guitar and voice sound good in the room record far field with the mic 4-6 feet away.

It takes two for stereo and I always go for stereo. To record stereo in the room two similar mics are good and two matched mics better. msh or EV omnis get my pick.

Your suggestion of one mic for guitar and one for vocal is also a good configuation. This will not get you stereo but it might get you the more exact guitar and vocal sound you're looking for.

Or it might not. If you can try the mics before you buy you will know how they sound with your voice and your guitar. If you can't then I recommend buying good quality mics used and cheap. If they don't work for your sound you can resell them.

To get quality clean sound from an acoustic guitar a quality preamp is essential. M-Audio DMP3 or DMP2 are good. Try to work the preamp into your budget. You can spend less for mics and still get a great sound.

Thanks,

Hairy Larry

 

[onulel]

Thanks Larry. Are those ART mic pre's decent?

 

[Innovations]

The vast majority of professional and even home recording is done with two microphones. It can be for one of several reasons.

The room isn't all tha good, or large, for far field recording.

They want different qualities for each mic. For example a Large diameter condenser for the vocal and a small diameter condenser for the guitar.

They want to get proximity effect on the vocal track or an otherwise 'up close' feel to it.

They want two separate tracks to work with, for example to put a little more reverb on the vocal, or a different eq on the vocal or to be able to adjust the comparable levels in the mix.

 

[mrface2112]

it depends on what the arrangement and production of the song call for.

if it's a solo acoustic singer/songwriter type, i'll almost always use 2 mics and quite often 3. two will be a spaced pair of MXL603's, one on the neck around 12/14th fret, and the other by the player's ear, over their strumming shoulder, pointing down and back towards the guitar. i'll then put my dragonfly or V77 about 4ft out from the guitarist in a place that sounds good and mix that in. the goal here is to make the guitar take up a lot of sonic realestate. i can "get by" fine with only one mic, but IMO it's a lot like listening with only 1 ear.

mic placement of that "over the shoulder" mic will usually change dramatically if the person's singing while they're playing.

if i'm just adding an acoustic track to a song with drums, bass, other guitars, etc, i don't want it to take up as much space. i'll typically mic this with 1 mic and not as closely. usually in this scenario i'm looking more for the percussive aspect of the guitar--pick on strings and such, than a full spectrum acoustic recording.

in the case of an acoustic duo, i'll close mic the guitars and make them a little "smaller" sounding than i would for a soloist, pan one person hard L and the other hard R and throw in a couple room mics to glue it together.

good luck!


cheers,
wade

 

[Nameless]

For a singer/songwriter acoustic song I like to use 3 mics as well. Usually this is 2 mics on the guitar and 1 on the vocals. Monitor through headphones while setting up the mics so you naturally get an upfront vocal and wider guitar sound. Whatever seems right for the song.

If it's dead-mono it will sound lacking and any stereo-widening effects you add to the guitar track will likely introduce shittyness to the vocals as well due to bleed.

Hit the mono switch on your headphones to make sure everything sounds good.

The goal should be to get a good sound recorded so you don't have to rely on effects afterwards (aside from reverb, etc.). In my recordings like this there is almost always LOTS of bleed. Nothing wrong with that if you get it right the first time. Bleed is a good thing and is what makes it sound like a single performance and not like a song where the guitar was recorded separately.

 

[mrface2112]

Bleed is a good thing and is what makes it sound like a single performance

+1 to all of what you said......but i'd qualify this with "good sounding bleed is a good thing". some bleed, like that in a bad sounding, untreated room, could be a very BAD thing.

but in general (and talking in terms of a good room), i'm 100% on board with just about everything you've said. especially the points about maintaining mono compatibility.


cheers,
wade

 

[Robert D]

I agree, a pair of SDC's and one LDC or ribbon is the way to go if you're doing the one-take guitar/vocal thing. The very inexpensive DMP3 mentiond above will sound great on the two small condensors in a stereo pattern for the guitar.
If you need to ease into this, you could start off with one SDC and one LDC, and a stereo pre like the DMP3, and then add the second SDC and another pre for the vocal mic later. In that case, I would encourage rather than try to eliminate guitar bleed into the vocal mic, until the 2nd SDC is added. Pan the one guitar mic a little to one side, and the vocal mic with guitar bleed a little to the other side. Experiment with this to find what gives the best image. Once the other SDC is added, pan them wide and put the vocal in the center.