micing guitar with a 57

[mtrobbin]

Ok, I'm micing my acoustic guitar with a 57 and I'm getting a bland crappy sound. Whats going on, I know a 57 is not the best mic, but you should still be able to get a good sound from it right? I just got a 4 track and a 57, so this is all I have. I ended up using a radioshack mic that was lying around and mixing the two mics together, mostly the 57 of course. I would think that I shouldn't being using the radioshack mic at all though.

 

[cominginsecond]

It could be a million things: mic placement, the pres on your four track, the sound of your guitar. I would first suggest getting a mic that's decent for acoustic. You can get a MXL 603s for $50-$80 if your four track has phantom power. It's excellent on acoustic guitar. Using better mics is the best way to improve the sound of your recordings, unless your four track is a casette four track. Then, the best way to improve your sound would be to record to your computer or to a digital four track.

 

[mixsit]

Where are you putting the mic? What do you want to change about the sound?

 

[ScienceOne]

man, it could be your lack of a mic preamp, equalization, reverb (a lot more important than you think), or your mic. you have a lot of stuff to buy before you have the right sound.

 

[mixsit]

Almost forgot. Are the strings new?
Wayne

 

[Leeking]

I remember brucebluebear did a mic shootout a while ago recording acoustic gtr. The SM57 was one of the mics and the sound was very usable.

 

[chessrock]

He's also got a nice guitar (I'm assuming), some nice toys he's recording it with, a good accoustic space to record it in, and years worth of experience knowing where to point the mic, and how to process the outcome.

 

[ChuckU]

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/7/1400/singles.shtml
Click on mictest2.mp3

The third mic is a 57. The second mic is a $35 Behringer ECM-8000.
Both 9" from the 12th fret.
The guitar is nothing special. There's no eq or compression.

 

[Aren]

While I got some nice results with a dynamic when in comes to picked guitar, I never managed to get a decent strummed sound until I got my condenser. While it is defenitly possible, it's a lot easier with a good condenser.
Erland's tunes have a really nice guitar sound and they were recorded with a Shure dynamic. No idea how he did that...

Oren

 

[laaronx]

I've done home recordings of voice and guitar with a 57 and a Tascam 424mkII 4-track for a while, and I've been able to get results that I'm very happy with, even by comparison to recordings I've done in pro studios. It took some experimentation but this has been my experience so far:
- not sure what kind of guitar you are playing, but obviously better guitars record better. ALWAYS record with new strings; I've found that the phosphor bronze variety are overly bright for recording so I use regular ol' steel strings or the gore elixir strings (my fav).
- your 57 is a fine mic for doing casette 4 track recording. Before spending your money on fancy mics, give much thought to room acoustics and mic placement-- their effect is more profound than the particular mic you're using. Ditch the radio shack 2-mic technique-- one well placed mic will sound better than 2 poorly placed mics.
- take room acoustics seriously- they contribute as much as anything to the recorded sound. Small, untreated rooms have serious problems with slap echo and bass response, and it's impossible to fix this in the mix. The $200 I spent on studio foam and bass traps have given me improvements FAR beyond any $200 mic I've bought. If you don't want to treat a room, at least find a big room with a lot of damping materials (sofa, carpets, curtains, etc.)
- find a place in the room that sounds good. Listen to your own voice; try to stay away from walls, as they may reinforce the muddiness that you're hearing.
- experiment with mic placements. Every guitar sounds different, and experimentation is the only way to get a sound you like; close miking will help with slap echoes and other nasties, but keep the mic away from the sound hole. Either mic near the neck/body joint, or put the mic over your shoulder next to your head and point the mic down at the top of the guitar. This is my favorite mic position with the 57 and my Taylor 714ce, and gives me a sound very similar to what I hear when I'm playing. I usually mix this with a bit of the signal from the bridge transducer and get a very nice sound.

 

[TexRoadkill]

I think the 57 sounds crappy on acoustic. I've heard some decent recodings in the MP3 forum with them but it didnt work for me. Since I've been using condensors I am much happier. The 57 with a ECM8000 would probably sound alright. The ECM's have a much fuller sound than the 57.