acoustic guitar miking

  • Thread starter Thread starter guitardude
  • Start date Start date

Acoustic guitar miking

  • Using one mic

    Votes: 19 24.7%

  • Usind two mic's

    Votes: 58 75.3%
  • Total voters
    77
The answer is, it depends on the situation. For songs featuring only a single acoustic guitar and vocal, two mics (coincident, near-coincident, or spaced pairs) will give you a big, full acoustic sound. However, for an acoustic that has to fit into a dense mix with other instruments, one mic is often better. A single mic is easier to EQ and process because you don't have to deal with phasing issues. If you're going to use a 2-mic technique in a dense mix, you should use XY, as it is less prone to serious phase issues.
 
Right now i"m recording just my solo stuff which involves one acoustic guitar, and some vocals.

Im also using the xy right now. I wish I knew if it sounded correctly or proper.

so I thought maybe the single mic eliminate that thought
 
And then there are those of us who are REALLY obsessive and use 4 or more mic's on a solo guitar.

Tim
 
guitardude said:
Right now i"m recording just my solo stuff which involves one acoustic guitar, and some vocals.

Im also using the xy right now. I wish I knew if it sounded correctly or proper.

so I thought maybe the single mic eliminate that thought
Click to expand...

If it sounds good, it is good. Who cares what is correct or proper? Mic placement is a very tricky thing and varies greatly according to the guitar, mics, room, song, etc. Check out this tutorial, with sound clips, for a few more ideas. The over-the-shoulder technique can be very useful for getting a "big" sound for solo acoustic stuff.

http://www.humbuckermusic.com/acguitrectec.html
 
Timothy Lawler said:
And then there are those of us who are REALLY obsessive and use 4 or more mic's on a solo guitar.

Tim
Click to expand...

We should specify whether we are answering for steel-string or nylon-string, because the answer is different for me. Lately I'm liking some unusual dynamics, single mic, real close on steel, but I'd use a stereo pair for classical.

I guess I don't like a big steel string sound. I just don't perceive it as a stereo instrument. I'd rather record another part with a different guitar, different chord voicings, something.
 
It all depends...

Double tracking in stereo tends to get a little tricky when it comes to mixing. I suggest recording each guitar as two mono tracks, that way you have greater control of placement in the mix. For instance:

Guitar 1: mic A panned 9 o'clock
Guitar 1: mic B panned 8 o'clock
Guitar 2: mic A panned 3 o'clock
Guitar 2: mic B panned 4 o'clock

This will have a tighter focused sound for each guitar. With the separate mono channels you could also try panning each mic hard left and hard right for a wide sound, etc. OR drop either channel down volume wise if things get too busy.

It will take some experimentation to get the mix the way you want.

The X/Y config works for acoustic, but I've achieved much better results with one mic close up (small condenser) at around the 12 or 14 fret, and the other mic (either a small or large condenser) about a foot or two away, pointed at the body just past the bridge.

The trick with close miking is that you really can't move the guitar around too much or you will lose the sweet spot.

Good luck! Rez
 
Grr, that's the worst. I get the player all set up, get things sounding pretty good, and by halfway through the song it sounds like crap because he's moved. If I had a good room I would always mic further away because that happens way too often for my liking.
 
Yeah, I was the one that was irritating me with moving the guitar. Just get it set up, reach forward to hit record and Aahhg! So I bit the bank book and bought one of those guitar stands that hold it exactly where you set it up. About $150.00 but worth it to me.
:D
Peace...........Kel
 
scrubs said:
The answer is, it depends on the situation. For songs featuring only a single acoustic guitar and vocal, two mics (coincident, near-coincident, or spaced pairs) will give you a big, full acoustic sound. However, for an acoustic that has to fit into a dense mix with other instruments, one mic is often better. A single mic is easier to EQ and process because you don't have to deal with phasing issues. If you're going to use a 2-mic technique in a dense mix, you should use XY, as it is less prone to serious phase issues.
Click to expand...

What he said. :)

If single acoustic, I take it one step further though -

X/Y SDC's at the 12th fret and a LDC about 3 feet out in front. :D
 
guitardude said:
What is better?
Click to expand...
It depends... sometimes 1 is better, other times 2 is better... it depends on the project and what I want.
 
how do you guys mix for solo acoustic when using like an over the shoulder and one out from the 12/14th fret? I mean if you have one mic picking up alot more bass and you pan that to one side,well it could be bad.So how do you deal with that, eq or what?
 
NL5 said:
What he said. :)

If single acoustic, I take it one step further though -

X/Y SDC's at the 12th fret and a LDC about 3 feet out in front. :D
Click to expand...



Hey What is SDC? and LDC?

sorry. not to sure. :confused:
 
royharper3220 said:
how do you guys mix for solo acoustic when using like an over the shoulder and one out from the 12/14th fret? I mean if you have one mic picking up alot more bass and you pan that to one side,well it could be bad.So how do you deal with that, eq or what?
Click to expand...

Usually panned wide. With proper mic positioning you won't have too much bass in one side. Really, you just need to plug the mics in and start listening and repositioning 'till you get a sound you like without having to eq anything. The same goes for panning. What sound good is good. Experimentation is really the only way to to get a solid grasp of what works with a particular guit on a particular piece.
 
Recorded classical guitar today with four mics. Two mic's together at 2 ft, combining their characteristics as though they were one mic, then a pair of spaced omni's further out for the room sound. Also used the spaced pair for the reverb send, as they "reverbize" more naturally to my ear.

Tim
 
the problem with room sound is that my room sounds like crap. i put my primacoustic panels up on the walls so it sound less like crap.
 
Here, in general:

1 mic when it's going to be a supporting strum track during a busy rock mix.

2 when it's a featured instrument.

The 1 mic might be a big LDC tube or a ribbon.

The 2 mics are 90% going to be small diaphragm X/Y configuration, 10% spaced.

It all depends being the only true answer as stated.

War
 
I've become a big fan of an at4033 about 5' high looking down toward the guitar, mixed with something like an adk sc1 about 8" off the 12th fret. Pan them however you like, and you've got a nice Tom Petty sound going.
 
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