acoustic pick up vs mic

  • Thread starter Thread starter jollylama
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jollylama

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With limited space and no real chance of any real quit rooms, I was thinking to install a pickup in my acoustic rather than micing it. What pickup would be the best for under $200. I will be rercording into an MR-8. Thanks
 
Dude,find a quiet room to record in and spend that $200 on a Condensor mic!
 
Agreed........ the mic will capture the acoustic sound of the instrument, the PUp won't......
 
I'll third that, there is no comparison to that BEAUTIFUL mic'd acoustic sound.
 
Yep - use a condenser mic. Build a tent with packing blankets if you have to, but don't mess around with pickups (if the guitar is any good, that is).

Scott
 
(hey, my name is Scott too...awesome).

yeah...
a - condensor you can use forever on all kinds of different recording situations, and it will sound awesome.
b - pickups will sound like an electric guitar (ok, so not TOTALLY, but more or less!)... i think pickups are meant for live uses of an acoustic guitar, because it DOES have a different sound then electric clean. However, by no means was it made to record with!
 
(hey, my name is Scott too...awesome).

yeah...
a - condensor you can use forever on all kinds of different recording situations, and it will sound awesome.
b - pickups will sound like an electric guitar (ok, so not TOTALLY, but more or less!)... i think pickups are meant for live uses of an acoustic guitar, because it DOES have a different sound then electric clean. However, by no means was it made to record with!
 
It is true! I used to record my acoustic with the pickup until I tried it through a condenser. What a difference in sound.. Condenser is the only way to record an acoustic guitar!
 
Buying a pickup for my acoustic is the worst decision i've ever made when buying equipment...i even splurged for the better one. The pickup gain totally sucks...it makes it sound like an electric guitar. it sounded better when micing it though a $20 radio shack microphone. Soon i'm going to get the AKG 451B condenser for recording my acoustic.
 
I wanted to chime in again and recommend a mic for acoustic guitar - the DPA 4060. You should be able to pick one up for about $350 (or a little less). What makes it great (aside from high quality) is the fact that it is an omni (hence no proximity boominess) and its small size (about half the size of a pencil eraser). It can be mounted right on the surface of the guitar, or even inside the sound hole. By trying different placement you can get a whole variety of different sound balances (more low strings, here, more body resonance there, less string squeek over here, less pick noise there...). Another advantage is that the mic moves with the guitar - I can't count the times I set up a mic (or a pair) at just the right position & angle, only to have the guitarist move off the "sweet spot", or rock in and out of it while performing.

Scott
 
I have 5 kids at home, quite is one thing I do not have. But I'll just have to tie them up for a couple of hours. So a condenser mic is the way to go, thanks all
 
joining in the chorus here, but ya gotta mic it. I use my pickup too, but only to blend in some high end tone (the pickup is BRIGHT). Generally I stereo mic the acoustic and run a line from my pickup through a preamp, into my J-station where I can colour the tone nicely, then I mix these three signals together to get the best tone I can manage. Need better mics though, but that is money I just don't have at the moment.
 
jollylama said:
I have 5 kids at home, quite is one thing I do not have. But I'll just have to tie them up for a couple of hours. So a condenser mic is the way to go, thanks all
Click to expand...

Then just buy one $100 mic and 5 pairs of handcuffs and gags.
 
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