mic-ing guitars?

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sirslurpee

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So, I was wondering a couple of things.... first off, when mic-ing an acoustic, what kind of mic/placement is best? Do you mic near the guitar, or far? Using a condenser of dynamic?
Also, when mic-ing an electric guitar via speaker cabinet, what kind of mic/placement is best? Dynamic or condenser? Where do you place the mic, directly at the speaker cone or are there different tonal qualities with where you exactly point/place the mic? Any tips? Thanks!
 
sirslurpee said:
So, I was wondering a couple of things.... first off, when mic-ing an acoustic, what kind of mic/placement is best? Do you mic near the guitar, or far? Using a condenser of dynamic?
usually a small diaphram condenser, pointed at about the 14'th fret maby 6" away. thare are about a thousand other options too, try them all. some dynamics work well too but are used less often.
Also, when mic-ing an electric guitar via speaker cabinet, what kind of mic/placement is best? Dynamic or condenser? Where do you place the mic, directly at the speaker cone or are there different tonal qualities with where you exactly point/place the mic? Any tips? Thanks!
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i like a dynamic straight at the cone and a condenser more twards the side.

often people put a dynamic close and a condenser about 3 feet away.

these are only guide lines, try everything you can think of, and do what sounds best.
never settle on the first thing you try, you can always go back to it.
 
Thanks.. I tried the dynamic close and the condenser further away once... it was okay but for some reason blending the mics was kind of a pain in the ass.... I think I want to use only 1 channel when I record my band mates.

I think I'm going to use a condenser further away from the amp for one of my guitarists, and then a dynamic close for the other. The condenser is for guitarist #1, who's tone is a little more trebly and I am going to try to pick that up from it, and guitarist #2 is more mid-bass tone. Although I might try a few things like you said.... Thanks again!
 
if you have an extra 30 bucks throw a pickup in there, with the proper amp it sound great. pm me for mo info
i did this to my washburn 12 sting
and the best part is it requires no drilling and no cables can be seen
 
Oh... my acoustic is a fender dg22ce. It's got a peizio (sp?) pickup in it. I don't like the tone of it from the pickup at all ugh!
 
what pickup did you put in? i have a humbucking picup with its own ousing in mine? i took it off an epiphone i found on cleanup day on my street
 
I really like acoustics mic'ed in stereo. I X/Y mic them with small diaphram condensors (MXL 603's in my case)... uh, where ever they sound good. I usually start with them even with the neck/body joint, angled slightly back towards the sound hole, maybe 2' away from the guitar. Hardly ever stay right there, though, unless I'm just doing something really quick.

When panned hard left and right this usually produces a very realistic image of the guitar. So much so that people in the next room can't tell I'm not actually playing the thing anymore. That doesn't happen as much when I mono mic it- or use 2 mics in mono.

Its not always the right sound to go for and I like it most when the guitar I'm micing is the primary force in the song. If you have an acoustic in a busy mix you're going to lose that nuance anyway- better to mix in mono (and use the other techniques mentioned above) and place it where it fit/cut through/support the mix as it needs to.

Take care,
Chris
 
Oh, and if you do use a line output or a pickup in conjunction with mics... go into your DAW, zoom WAY in and take a look at the difference between the 2 tracks.

The pickup signal, being electricity, travels way faster than sound- so it hits your DAW *slightly* faster than the mic signals. Yes even that 2' space of air between the guitar and the mic is enough to make a difference. Not enough to hear any delay, but more than enough to knock your signals out of phase and cause weird things to happen. Just slide the direct track forward until it matches the mic tracks. You really do have to zoom WAY in.

Take care,
Chris
 
I'm still getting used to my new cabinet which has a mix of speakers in it. Too many options to screw with but anyways,...I like the E609 or SM57 right in the grill angled to be perpendicular with the speaker cone material centered between the center dust dome and the outer edge. Then in addition, an LDC out 3 to 5 feet away...watch the phase here...I'll play and record single notes then look at the phasing and adjust spacing as needed. Sometimes, the cabinet sound fine the way it is and I won't put anything on the grill...just depends. I can tell you that I've never found just a single mic close to the speaker has ever done it for me. One mic up close to the cab just doesn't sound full to me.

As for acoustic, I think you'll find a lot of folks do the X/Y up close. For one, it's pretty easy to set up and work especially if you're by yourself and, being up close helps if you don't have a super nice/quiet room to work in. An LDC in a less than optimal setting is going to bring more trouble than it's worth...that's my opinion...others might disagree.
 
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