Acoustic..2 mics

[notredamer0789]

Hey guys, So I am about to record this acoustic act and i want a real big feeling on their acoustic guitars and get alot of that "strumminess" and all of the sound i can out of them without alot of the room. I have a Blue Bluebird (wish i had an SDC) that i will be using and I think maybe a dynamic mic to get close in personal to the picking. With WHAT I HAVE... where would you place the mics? I was thinking back the Bluebird up about a foot (give or take) about where the neck meets the body and then set the dynamic up on the body near the picking. I have played with this before and got "so-so" results (horrible mics). But i wanted to get everyones input thanks!

 

[danny.guitar]

Depends on a lot of variables...

What the guitar sounds like, if it's well balanced, how loud the person is playing/strumming, etc.

Is it just one guitar?

It might be hard to get a really good sound without an SDC. I think one mic in front of the neckjoint and another between the soundhole and saddle, but pointing at it (far enough away/at the right angle to not get the boomy/crappy sound) would be a good starting point.

To get that "upfront" sound without any room sound, you may have to mic closer than you normally would. Having a mic pointing at the soundhole, or where the pick is hitting the strings, will really bring out the pick sound.

Record a few scratch takes until you get the best sound possible.

 

[notredamer0789]

Well, I will try a couple of different ways and see what sounds best. So you think the dynamic should be placed farther back than the bluebird? And.. the Bluebird (LDC) works ok.. but will my recordings be limited UNTIL i get a SDC?

Thanks alot for the input man!

 

[XLR]

...I am about to record this acoustic act and i want a real big feeling on their acoustic guitars and get alot of that "strumminess"...

Dunno why but from the description I'm assuming a singer-guitarist or duo of the same. Some talent like that record much better tracking the voice and guitar in the same take, especially if they're inexperienced at recording but well rehearsed as performers. If it were me I'd be prepared to work from that angle as well as the multitrack method. You'll need an OK sounding room for that approach though.

If you end up multitracking the individual parts, for guitar I'd start with the Bluebird 2 ft from the guitar's neck/body joint and experiment from there. The Bluebird's a very detailed mic with a 5 kHz bump, so depending on the sound of the guitar, you might get the "strumminess" you want right there. Too close and you're going to get proximity boominess. And two mic's aren't necessarily going to give you a better result than one especially if one is lower quality than the other. But experiment a lot. A second mic closer, with the lows rolled off when mixing, might give you the strumming pick attack that you mentioned if you do it just right. What I've usually found though with trying to mix in a lower quality second mic is that whatever character it may give, it usually detracts more than adds due to the general quality of the tone.

But you should really give more info, as it's hazy... how many guitars, how many vocalists, what's the room like in size and ac treatment, what's the dynamic mic you have?

 

[notredamer0789]

one guitar, multitracking, the room size im not sure of yet. Prbly the bluebird and a 57. Hope that clears it up. Thank you guys again for the input!