A question about acoustic Guitar

  • Thread starter Thread starter lomky
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lomky

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i know this has been talked to death, however, I can't find specific answers that I want. I'm going to be recording a Martin Acoustic next week for an intro and other bits in a bluesy punk rock song. I'm going to be recording in my living room (big space w/ furniture, 12 foot ceiling and hard wood floor). I'm renting mics and what is avavailable is: Rode NT2 and NT1, C1000's, AKG 535, 414. What would be my best choice? I know it is completely subjective, but I'm looking for a pretty full bright sound.
 
Out of the mics you mention, I'd go with the 414. Martin Dreadnaughts are notoriously boomy to record. Stay well away from the soundhole. I like to mic a Martin at the 12th fret out about a foot aimed at the neck/body joint. If you can get two 414's I'd take the second one and put it in figure 8 pattern and do a mid/side mic setup for stereo.
 
Cool, thanks Rat!! Not sure what you mean by this though "mid/side mic setup for stereo" also if I can't get 2 414 what about using a 414 and the 535? or is it not a good idea to mix mics?
 
No problem mixing mics but the technique I'm refering to requires a mic that can do a figure 8 pickup pattern as the "side" mic and a cardiod as the "middle" mic. I've no experience with the Rode mics (what I've read though, I'm sure they'd be OK for acoustic) or the 535. I have a pair of C-1000's and I don't care for them at all on acoustic guitar. If you do a search on this site you can find a ton of info on M/S techniques as well as other stereo mic-ing setups.
 
i've used a c1000 on acoustic guitar, and it didn't sound too bad to me. not nearly as bad as it sounded on drums!
you can do a stereo mic'ing with the mics you've got. place the 414 near the bridge pointed at the place where the bridge meets the body. the other mic (both in cardioid pattern, btw) should be either near the bridge or near the first mic, but pointed at the bridge, to minimize phase problems.
there's a good thread about acoustic guitar miking somewhere in the microphone forum.
 
remember: you can change the tone of the recorded sound in many, many ways by means of mic placement, use of different picks, different picking positions ( near the bridge, near the neck, on the soundhole, etc. ), different string types..... It's not all about the type of mic you use. You can get 100 different sounds out of the same mic.
 
Absolutely!!! I just want a place to start, and to know what kind of mics to start w/, because I'm renting I only wanted to get a few to start w/. It looks to me like I'll go with a 414 and 535 and see how that does, my rental place only has one 414.

So here's another question along w/ that. He has one 414 but he does have two 535's. I really want to play with that 414 though. hmmmm....
 
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