Micing acoustic guitar

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pappy999

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Hello,
I have to do a session with multiple acoustic guitar players(2). I usually stereo mic an acoustic with some mxl 603's that I own. I was wondering about the best way to mic 2 acoustics in the same room. Should I put one mic on each guitar or overdub the acoustics using stereo pairs?

Where does everyone place acoustic guitar mics? I usually put one at the hole and one about a meter away from the hole.
 
i would overdub, but someone else may disagree

as for micing, i use one condenser near the 12th fret and then also go line in and mix the two tracks together. I was really skeptical of this at first, but really think it sounds good
 
There are various methods. What other mics do you have? Micing method depends on the material and the sound you are trying to get.

The 603s in an XY pointing at the 12th fret is not a bad place to start.

An LDC over the sholder of the player pointing down. Have the the musician start playing while (monitoring) you move the mic forward/backward as well as rotate until you find the "sweet" spot.

These are merely 2 technigues there are many more. Bottom line is there really is no one "best" way. You should be able to do a search and find a shit load of info on this topic.
 
Simman said:
There are various methods. What other mics do you have? Micing method depends on the material and the sound you are trying to get.

The 603s in an XY pointing at the 12th fret is not a bad place to start.

An LDC over the sholder of the player pointing down. Have the the musician start playing while (monitoring) you move the mic forward/backward as well as rotate until you find the "sweet" spot.

These are merely 2 technigues there are many more. Bottom line is there really is no one "best" way. You should be able to do a search and find a shit load of info on this topic.
Click to expand...

These two methods are great, I use them lots, but the other I use often would be an SDC at the 12th and an LDC pointed at the bridge...experiment with the distance...

Jacob
 
Something I tried recently that gave me great results was using a stereo pair of SM81s in ORTF about 4 feet back from the acoustic combined with an AT4060 in between the two SM81s and about 8" back. Very realistic and natural sounding but with a great low-end body and warmth to it from the tube LDC.

In regards to your question, I would overdub unless the players have a strong preference for comitting to a "live" take of the two of them.
 
I recorded an album for an acoustic pair, both playing as they would at a gig(that's how they wanted to do it). I stuck a pair of 603's on the Martin, one at the 12th fret, one near the sound hole(play with them to get the sound the way you want). On the other guitar(switched between 12 string, and 6 string). I placed a pair of SM-81's similar to the 603's. I used a MXL 2001 on one vocal, in close. The other vocalist makes noises and switches to harmonica on a moments notice. I put a dynamic mic(Senn 835) on him about 24" away from his mouth.

The guitarists were close, 6' apart or so. It turned out great. I am scheduled to record their second album later this month plus I am recording one of the players rock bands--live recording.
 
I record multiple acoustics a lot - although not separate players, just me doing acoustic fingerpicking stuff. I got my best results using 1 SDC (603 or 451C and then using an LDC or dynamic at the bridge end of the guitar and then mixing the LDC/dynamic to hard right or left and the SDC to 50% right or left, respectively.

Works for me - you could try it with two guitarists playing at once if you liked, but presuming they're in the same room, if you have too many condensers floating around the place you'll be picking up sound images of the other guitar all over the place and it could sound muddy in the final result.

I'd do it one at a time, or put them in separate rooms, or make sure you're using a mic that has good rear rejection on it and face the two players at one another as far apart as you can get them in the same room.

Cheers
 
I'd have them play all at once and try to mic each guitar near the 12th fret. Almost everyone I've ever recorded including myself performs much better "live" than layering parts on with overdubs. If you've got some more mics try mic'ing the bridge from above each player's strumming shoulder, near the ear.
 
pappy999 said:
Where does everyone place acoustic guitar mics? I usually put one at the hole and one about a meter away from the hole.
Click to expand...

For a single mic, I usually go with 12th-14th fret, 12-18" away. For 2 mics, either XY at 12th-14th fret, or OTRF, centered roughly over the soundhole, so one is pointing at the neck and the other at the bridge.

Read more here
 
I'm a newbie.... and I recorded some acoustic guitar today for the very first time. It went like this:
Laminate top acoustic (fairly bright guitar) >
MXL 990 (w/o shockmount- It wouldnt stay positioned) >
Bellari MP105 toob preamp (gain at 3, level at 5) >
2 separate tracks on my tascam workstation

I did 4 takes, moving the microphone each time, and then listened to them to compare.

2 takes were directly in front of the guitar, level with the soundhole, from about 24" and then 18". I notice that any positioning aiming toward the soundhole resulted in harsh highs and too much pick/string noise, and still picked up too much of the room, making it sound like the guitar was 10 feet away.

My best take was using a boom micstand to position it face down 12" above my shoulder on the side of the bridge. This track sounded much more 'full' and had decent articulation.

My question is, how is a SDC superior to that of a LDC for mic'ing acoustic guitars? I notice from people's posts its quite common to use one, or a pair of them more often than an LDC. My other question is regarding room placement. Would the middle of a room (12x15, untreated) be best to minimalize sound bouncing off the walls? Should I blanket the corner the room to deaden and record facing into it?
 
If I was in the situation, I'd probably just have them face one another, and place two omni-directional condenser mics (Earthworks, Stapes, that kinda' deal) pointed at the 12th fret of each guy. You're not going to avoid bleed in that situation, so the best strategy might be to work with it, and get yourself a really nice stereo image at the same time.
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