Micing Acoustic guitar?

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ONEsnowRIDER

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I'm looking for a good clean sound. Is it better to mic the Acoustic guitar to the amp, or straight to the guitar ...or any other suggestions would help?

What is a good amp to mic up to (sounds good and not made out of gold)?

Thanks.
 
Strummed or finger picked? Steel string or nylon (classical)? On finger picked steel string I'll either put a small diaphram condensor around the twelth fret out about 8" or so and a figure 8 mic just behind it with the pickup pattern facing left and right of the guitar and doa M/S decoding thing. Or in place of the figure 8 mic, another small diaphram mic near the bridge. Where just depends. I move it around till I like the way it sounds. For strummed guitar I move the mics back about a foot.
Nylon stringed guitar, well it depends. Classical style, I'd do the M/S setup but back a little further. If it was going to be used as a lead instrument in a whole band context, I've had real good results with a small diaphram mic damn near on the face of the guitar behind the bridge about half way between the bridge and the back of the guitar.
 
ONEsnowRIDER said:
I'm looking for a good clean sound. Is it better to mic the Acoustic guitar to the amp, or straight to the guitar ...
Click to expand...

? Not sure I follow ... but: mic the guitar. Don't use an amp at all. That's usually the best course.

or any other suggestions would help?
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See Track Rat's post above. A few thoughts: using two mics can make a big difference. Classically "stereo" miced - per Track Rat above, or perhaps an X-Y - works well. Two different mics in a setup other than "standard stereo" can also work. Like one pointed at the 12th fret and one pointed at the top behind the bridge.

There are lots of possible mic positions. Pointed at the 12th fret is a popular one. Perhaps angled down, or up, or back toward the headstock; perhaps fairly close, perhaps a few feet - or more - away. Next to the player's right ear? Worth a try. It's generally a good idea not to get too close to the sound hole.

Small-diaphragm condensors are the standard choice ... but feel free to use something different if you like it better. Neumann KM184, Oktava 012, MXL 603 are three possible choices, in declining price order. There are lots of others.

What is a good amp to mic up to (sounds good and not made out of gold)?
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I wouldn't use an amp with an acoustic for recording.
 
ONEsnowRIDER said:
I'm looking for a good clean sound. Is it better to mic the Acoustic guitar to the amp, or straight to the guitar ...or any other suggestions would help?

What is a good amp to mic up to (sounds good and not made out of gold)?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

micing an amp for acoustic? I've seen a few guys do that in the studio. Monte Montgomery, Billy Mclaughlink, and Adrian Legg. Personally, I think it sounds ok with a band setting, but not on it's own. If you want warm and accurate, go for micing the guitar. It doesn't hurt to blend in some direct signal. I like to mic where the body meets the neck and half between the bridge and the body. And then I also mix in some direct sound via a Sansamp Acoustic DI with a healthy dose of "tube blend". I have samples posted, if you're interested.

What kind of guitar? mics? Style?
 
Re: Re: Micing Acoustic guitar?

JR#97 said:


micing an amp for acoustic? I've seen a few guys do that in the studio. Monte Montgomery, Billy Mclaughlink, and Adrian Legg. Personally, I think it sounds ok with a band setting, but not on it's own. If you want warm and accurate, go for micing the guitar. It doesn't hurt to blend in some direct signal. I like to mic where the body meets the neck and half between the bridge and the body. And then I also mix in some direct sound via a Sansamp Acoustic DI with a healthy dose of "tube blend". I have samples posted, if you're interested.

What kind of guitar? mics? Style?
Click to expand...

I'm recording a Tacoma Jumbo. As for the style, umm, probably close to a jazz/rock strum and picking.

You guys are great, thanks for spending the time.
 
Ive been having some good luck lately micing my acoustic.
I bought:

1 Tripod Stand ($20.00)
1 Shure PG81 Condenser Mic ($180.00)
1 PreSonus Bluetube Pre-Amp ($80.00)
1 Set Elixer Strings ($15.00)
1 Behringer AutoComp Pro Compressor ($89.00)

Total: $384.00

Ive been sitting facing a wall, holding my guitar at sort of a with the mic pointing straight down from above at about the 5th fret.
-- Using a nice thin pick for strumming and solos.

3 Tracks -- Two Identical panned 25% - 75% with the solo straight down the center.

Upon playback I noticed that the solo slit through the mix like I had applied the perfect reverb.... I had applied none.


-- Just something I noted on a recent project.

I also got a great solo sound with the guitar straight ---- and the mic about 6-8 inches at the twelth fret pointing toward the picking hand....

This didnt sound so good for rythm though.

IMHO the nicest sound on any genre of music using an acoustic guitar comes out with a thin pick, gentle strumming, and brand new strings.
 
I've had pretty good luck with a small diaphram condenser mic pointed pretty much at the sound-hole, about 2 feet away. A lot of people seem to dislike this method, but it works fairly well for my setup. If it's too boomy, I usually just back the mic off a little more. That seems to do the trick.

I almost always at least blend at least 2 acoustic takes. I'm just really fond of that sound vs. one take with stereo micing, but I like to experiment. Maybe too much, that's probably why I never get anything done :D.
 
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