Micing acoustic guitars live

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MrLip

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I know that this is 'homerecording.com' and not 'liverecording.com' but this is my favorite place to ask things.

Anyway, we do a lot of shows at school where we have to mic acoustic guitars. We've got SM57's. We always have trouble getting them sounding right. It's always too boomy and full of feedback, and by the time we reduce the level enuf to get rid of the feedback, the volume is too low.

We've been sticking the mic directly at the sound hole. I've tried pointing it at the neck and vicinity but I can never get enuf volume from there.

What is the preferred way to mic an acoustic guitar on stage?
 
hmmmmmmm........ I've miked a bunch of acoustics before with 57's and had no probs with volume or feedback.

Check the positioning of your PA speakers and your stage monitors, that might be the big cause of the feedback.

As for the volume prob, I had the mic pointed at the sound hole, just below the geetar(couple inches) pointed up at about 45 degrees at it =) also it was just to the right of the geetar player, it sounded great and I had no probs with feedback/volume

and it was also shitty school PA equipment that I was using(the stuff was sooo bad, I decided to bring some of my recordin stuff in to sub in)

the biggest prob I had was with PA/monitor placment, make sure those PA's are infront of mics, and the monitors point at the ass end of a mic =)

Hope that helps,

Sabith
 
Try pointing the mic at the bridge. You will need to have it fairly close, but this should get rid of the boominess. If you want another solution, you might try getting a condenser mic. I have seen ads for the AKG 3000 that is advertised as a studio/stage mic.
 
Gear Junky: Acoustic shows. Mostly acoustic guitars and vocals.

I think one of the big problems is the venue (low ceiling cafeteria, very terrible acoustics) and like you guys said, speaker placement.

I'll try micing at the bridge as well next time.

Thanks for all the advice.
 
Well, you could consider a condenser for an acoustic show, but since you're having problems with feedback, it's unlikely to fix it. SM57 should do the job well, they're good mics. Like they said, I would try moving the mic around, bringing it closer (but beware of proximity effect, bass rolloff at the mixer might help) and moving the monitors.
 
the best mic is no mic

I'm sure that some of the advice you're getting will help (especially re monitor and speaker placement), but the best solution is to use a pickup. For a little over a hundred bucks you can get a Fishman under-the-saddle type pickup (there are various options which we can get into if you're interested) and never worry about feedback or staying rigidly still again.
 
LI Slim makes a good point. I put one of those baby's in my son's guitar and it sounded beautiful. In addition, you may want to consider a pre amp to go along with it. The pickup by itself can tend to be a little bright.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, although this post was directed more at solutions from the sound guy's (engineer's) point of view than that of the individual guitarists. Usually, out of 3-4 acoustic guitars, we'll have one that has a pick-up and those always make life easier (except that these are usually cheap, low-end models that sound like shit anyway, but hey at least no feedback!).

Thanks again.
 
This probably isn't an option, but...

...remember Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull? He was interviewed in Acoustic Guitar this month, and he said he often used a *small* acoustic guitar through a mic because there was less feedback and a brighter midrange and less bass, which he liked. Also, it made him look bigger on stage than he really was. :D

In other words, phone up Ian and ask him to do the gig for you.
 
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