Gain help

[Freak Scene]

I use a lexicon omage with protracks and an sm57. The other day my friend, who uses sonar, was recording an acoustic from like a foot away, and he had the mic in it's second gain stage in sonar. When i record an acoustic, I need to have the mic really close and have the gain quite high. How do i get it so i can record from far away like that? I cant seem to find anything about adjusting the gain in sonar, just on the omega box that i plug into.

 

[crankz1]

Is it possible that he may have been using a condenser mic? The 57 is a dynamic mic and is not as sensitive as a condenser, thus it would require more gain to achieve a strong signal.

 

[Freak Scene]

he actually did it with a condensor and an sm57 at the same time to compare sounds. but he got the sm to work from far away, yes.

 

[Farview]

Does he play louder than you? If he is doing a loud strumming part and you are trying to do quiet finger picking, that could be the difference. Are you using the same preamp? Some acoustic guitars are naturally louder than others, it could be the guitar

 

[Freak Scene]

he wasn't playing any louder than normal, and im not either. he uses an aadvark preamp, and im using the omega box.