recording acousitic guitar...help!

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wjgypsy

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what the best way to record a natural, hiss free acoustic guitar without the bass-freq going crazy?

here's what i got to work with....

fostex vf-16 recorded
behringer composer pro(comp/limit/gate)
v-tech condinser mic
nady scm900 mic
sm57


can anybody help?
 
Zeke, there's lots of ways to do this but here's a good place to start. Use your condensor and point it at the 12th fret about 12" or so from the guitar. Start there and listen to what you have and play around with the positioning until you like it. Stay away from the sound hole, especially on dreadnaught type guitars as that'll woof out a mic for sure. If your mic or preamp has a low cut switch, use it. The 57 may or may not be a sound you'll like on acoustic guitar. It'll be a darker sound with not as much detail as the condensor and not as much gain from the mic either but sometimes it's just the sound.
 
thanks! but, what can i do about the noise? i've tryed useing a gate but whenever it opens i can here the hiss really well. cutting the hi's helps but it takes away the sound.
 
Getting a better mic-preamp should take care of the noise.
 
Yo Zekeman:

Go for the gold. Grace Design mic pre/or/ one of the MartinSound mic pres.

But, I think there is a creative/PRACTICE/TRY SOME MIC POSITIONS angle here.

Things like: Stick a stick on mic on the back of your guitar and try it out.

Or, have another mic hanging from the ceiling.

Or, set up three mics and record on three different tracks and use the pan in various settings.

I like creative stuff and if it takes you a few tries to get a really good sound, hey, that's where it is.

Green Hornet:D :D :p :p :p :p
 
Does the Fostex have built-in pre-'s?

Take the Behringer out of the loop and see what happens.

Don't record with EQ.
 
Most recorders dont have good pres and they have to be cranked most of the time to be useable. from there its a matter of taste of what you want in a mic pre.
 
ZEKE SAYER said:
is the blue tube or audio buddy good?
Click to expand...

They are both pretty good. I'd go with the audio buddy. Very good value, and not much coloring.

But I don't really know how good the Fostex preamps are, so maybe they aren't the problem. Use a condenser, and make sure you have the phanton power on, and you shouldn't get noise that is significant in a mix even with the Fostex preamps. With the audio buddys you shouldn't be able to hear the noise at all.
 
Hi
Start to listen without limiting, then you should get a decent noicelevel, if not there is probably another problem.
As the hard attac of the strings will duck your limiter, it's easy to get too much low's from the guitar, you could try a slower realease, or cut some bass, it might not be needed in the final mix anyway......
 
To record a acoustic guitar, you need a preamp with lots of noise free gain, using a compressor will increase the noise, so you should consider a outboard preamp of decent quality.....


Amund
 
I second what neve said.

i recently recorded a bunch of acoustic tracks and running the signals through compressors significantly increased the background noise. Most of my noise was coming from the power supply from my computer, but it without the compressor inline, it was usable. A better preamp will always help. The new VTB-1 seems to have alot less noise than most of the other inexpensive pres on the market right now.

Brandon
 
hey regebro,

do you mean that the audio buddy will take care of the noise "BEFORE" it gets into my recorder?

and one more thing, so your saying basicly that the audio buddy is better the the bule tube? the only thing that i think that i would not like about the audio buddys, is that, they only have 1/4" outputs. (does this really matter?)
 
There are a few sources of noise so it helps to d.

Ambient sounds - Computer fans, lawn mowers, AC, etc.

Mic noise- All mics have some type of self noise. Cheap mics have more.

Preamp Noise - All preamps have some type of noise when they are cranked up. Cheap pres have more.

Some tips - Put the mic very close to the guitar to eliminate ambient noise and give you a hot signal. Around the 10th or 12th fret a few inches away is a good starting point. Use a bass cut if you have it on the mic or mixer.

Most prosumer pre's have 1/4" outputs.
 
yeah, but the audio buddy ONLY has 1/4 outputs (does this really matter?)
 
ZEKE SAYER said:
yeah, but the audio buddy ONLY has 1/4 outputs (does this really matter?)
Click to expand...

As I said. Most have 'em. So the answer is no. Of more concern is whether the output is balanced or not. Not what cable it uses.
 
i think that it said that it was bal. but now i think i'm just gann'a buy 2 dmp3s and call it a day.
 
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