Acoustic Guitar Struggle

D

Devlin Malcolm

New member
I have been recording my acoustic guitar lately and it sounds alright, but i'm not really educated on mic placements for recording, I tend to use a Shure PG57 about 4 to 5 inches from the sound hole and then a Shure SM57 towards the 12th fret. I have tried so many different placements but that seems to sound better than the others I tried, but most of the ones I tried I just went with my heart and just placed them where ever, but the placement i've been using now has too much high end, but no matter what placement i use i'm not very satisfied. So I would like to know your guy's mic placement for acoustic guitar.

And yes I know those mics probably aren't the best for acoustic guitar, but that's all I got that sounds decent out of the 5 mics I have, and i am already saving up for some Oktava MK-012's and AKG C1000. But till then what should I do as far as placement with a clean and clear sound.

Thanks
Devlin
 
As unorthodox as this may seem, i set up a pencil condenser mic ( AT2021 ) and point it at the sound hole about 6 or 7 inches away, and then ill use my Shure PG57 about a foot above the neck roughly over the 7th fret pointed towards but not directly at the body of the guitar, it sounds rediculious but strangely it works
 
I wouldn't personally suggest pointing a microphone RIGHT AT the sound hole. If you're putting a mic at the sound hole, I personally find it to sound a bit "woofy," if you know what I mean. If you're putting a mic on the sound hole, I suggest angling it off from the sound hole a little bit so you aren't getting as much direct sound from it. After all, the sound hole is where the air escapes. If you're directly on the sound hole, it typically doesn't sound too good (this is from personal experience and college experience, but it's technically subjective. Maybe your guitar sounds good with a mic right at the sound hole!)

Another thing you could do is to put the PG57 towards the body instead of the sound hole. This is what I prefer to do, and I tend to prefer the sound of that than what I get from micing the sound hole.

If you haven't educated yourself on placements of recording, and you're getting a poor sound with two mics, I suggest starting with JUST the 57. Just use one mic and try to get a good sound out of that. The 12th fret is a good place to start; that's where a lot of the harmonics are coming from on a guitar. But just try and get that one microphone to sound good on a lot of recordings, THEN try to get two mics sounding good.

Educate yourself on phase relationship for stereo/dual mono micing as well if you're going to mic something with two microphones. I know a lot of people here can probably give you some articles they've bookmarked on the subject.

I also suggest reading this article we have on the site...

https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...iques/acoustic-guitar-recording-101-a-290919/

Happy recording, mate. =]
 
There's no reason you can't get a decent sound using just the SM57 (to start with) - unless the guitar itself doesn't have very good sound. A 'little high end' is easily cured with EQ in mix down. What's important is you capture the full spectral range of the guitar.
 
I've used some of the PG series mics, and they tend to be noisy and scratchy.
I would suggest trying to record with your SM57 alone. You might get better results with just one mic. As stated, the SM57 is capable of getting a decent acoustic guitar sound.
 
Get a pair of headphones on, turn them up, have someone else play the guitar, and then move the mics around.
It's AMAZING what you learn when you take a step outside of it.
 
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