Avenson Audio STO-2

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anton

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Does anyone have any experience with these mics? I want something that works really well on fingerstyle accoustic guitar. I play instrumental celtic arrangements. I was thinking about checking out some Earthworks mics sometime, but then read the Avenson review on Mojopie. They seem similar to Earthworks, and thats a good price for a pair.



anton
 
The stapes (avenson) omni's are really great. Super great for the price. I have a pair of the original "stapes" version, before they were making the aluminum bodies, and coming in snazzy boxes...

I have recorded a bunch of AC gtr with them. They are great!

Wide open, good pulse response, flattering "musical" freq response... really great little mics. Put them on a simple little X/Y bar and hit record!
 
mics

Have you compared these to the Earthworks SRO, formerly TC20, i think? I was thinking about getting one of those, but a bit more for a pair of the Avenson's is worth saving up for.


anton
 
Anton--

Thanks for reading Mojo Pie. You don't necessarily need a pair of mics for what you are doing. You don't necessarily need a small diaphragm condenser to record acoustic guitar. Harvey Gerst and I talked about mono versus stereo on acoustic guitar in this video.

The Avenson mics are nice. I got to visit Brad Avenson at AES a couple weeks ago. He's a decent fellow. Few things impress me anymore but his mics impress me. Just as a point of reference in the last few years I've been impressed with the AES ribbon mics, the Soundfield mics, the Great River gear... That's a pretty elite crowd. Brad has a handheld tube mic coming out as well.
 
Thanks for that link. Being that i am doing solo acoustic guitar arrangements i have focused on stereo for that big sound. My MXL 603's sound ok on acoustic, but i cant quite get the sound i want. Probably need to work more on mic placement. I was looking at the Avensons or perhaps an LDC for an additional acoustic guitar mic.



anton
 
Anton--

Personally, I've never used the 603 but I've used a couple of other mics that appear to be the exact same OEM. I've not liked this mic design at all for acoustic guitar. That I even publish an MXL 603 review is out of deference for my respect for some other opinions such as Harvey's and Chessrock's.

Anyhow if I were going to be making a recording of solo acoustic guitar then my first choice would be the Avenson pair. Placement with these is not as critical as with some other mics in part due to the omni pattern. You should be able to focus more on your performance rather than worrying about mic placement.
 
thanks

Thanks for advice on the Avensons. I am just a home recording hobbyist and have the 603's, a DMP3, an Mbox, and a pair of KRK RP5's. I basically bought the 603's because alot of people were saying that they are great on acoustic guitar, and i needed a budget pair of mics to get me started. They are the only mics i have. I am really only interested in recording good quality solo guitar so i can listen to my playing in the car or at work and see where i need to improve. With the 603's i have worked alot on mic placement and just can't get a good sound. I am no expert but i think i know the basics on micing acoustic guitar. I have heard people with similar home studio rigs and the 603's get great quality recordings. Perhaps those mics are just not suited for my guitar and style of playing. Like you said, i want something where i can worry less about placement and more about my performance. Perhaps i need to check out these Avensons.

If you are interested, here is a link to some recording that i did. Its the 603's in X-Y about two feet away.



In comparision, here is a link to a recording that a friend did with a pair of 603's. In my opinion his quality smokes mine.



Here is a link to the entire thread if anyone is interested.

http://www.acousticplayermagazine.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4194&st=0




anton
 
The difference in these clips seems to me to be about mic placement, instrument, room and guitar technique. While the Avensons certainly would be a significant step up. You've got a nice touch on the acoustic judging from the songs I heard at your website. I think I would recommend practicing with a metronome and woodshed on loudness, pitch and timbre.
 
Yea, i have putting my time in with the metronome recently. At a guitar camp one of the teachers said i am a good player, but it always sounds like i am on the edge of my ability. So i have been slowing my pieces down and playing with the metronome to hopefully gain more control.

Thanks for the advice. I will mess around some more with mic placement.
 
Last edited:
anton said:
Yea, i have putting my time in with the metronome recently. At a guitar camp one of the teachers said i am a good player, but it always sounds like i am on the edge of my ability. So i have been slowing my pieces down and playing with the metronome to hopefully gain more control.

Thanks for the advice. I will mess around some more with mic placement.
Click to expand...

I'd agree with the guy from guitar camp. One thing you might do is get the Segovia Twenty Studies book and sort of go through the first few studies and master them. I'd also suggest the Carcassi book.
 
yep, you aren't doing x/y really. x/y is when the capsules are touching. they essentially look over each other. a lot of people get good results with one mic by their head pointed towards the guitar and another out in front pointed at the 12th fret.
 
also you might want cut all frequencies below about 100 or so to get rid of some leftover lowend they might have magically picked up
 
These mics are high on my list of things to buy one day when I have the money. I've heard nothing but good things about them.
 
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