Recording acoustic guitar with a piezo pickup

[Eric V]

My friend and I are planning on recording an acoustic guitar that has a piezo pickup.

Hardware details:

• Guitar with piezo p/u
• Mackie MDB-1A active direct box
• Behringer X1204USB mixer
• Miktek condenser mic, and a Shure SM-57 dynamic mic

If we record the guitar with both the direct input using the direct box and the condenser, or the dynamic, will there be phasing issues? Other issues?
Can the mixer provide phantom to both the direct box (it requires phantom power) and also to the Miktek, if we chose to use that mic instead?

​

 

[TalismanRich]

As long as the direct and Miktek are on different channels, there should be no issue with the phantom power. It would be no different than using two condenser microphones.

As for a phase issue, if you find it to be a problem, you could easily nudge a track by a millisecond or so and get them exactly in phase. But if you are sending the signals to different areas of the pan, you should have no problem with cancellation as the signals won't be overlapping directly.

 

[Eric V]

As long as the direct and Miktek are on different channels, there should be no issue with the phantom power. It would be no different than using two condenser microphones.

As for a phase issue, if you find it to be a problem, you could easily nudge a track by a millisecond or so and get them exactly in phase. But if you are sending the signals to different areas of the pan, you should have no problem with cancellation as the signals won't be overlapping directly.

Thank you, Rich!

 

[Papanate]

My friend and I are planning on recording an acoustic guitar that has a piezo pickup.

Hardware details:

• Guitar with piezo p/u
• Mackie MDB-1A active direct box
• Behringer X1204USB mixer
• Miktek condenser mic, and a Shure SM-57 dynamic mic

If we record the guitar with both the direct input using the direct box and the condenser, or the dynamic, will there be phasing issues? Other issues?
Can the mixer provide phantom to both the direct box (it requires phantom power) and also to the Miktek, if we chose to use that mic instead?

​

I’ve never heard of Phase Issues wtih a Condenser and Piezo P/U - I can’t imagine you would because they are different things at the base of it.

 

[Eric V]

I’ve never heard of Phase Issues wtih a Condenser and Piezo P/U - I can’t imagine you would because they are different things at the base of it.

Thanks Papanate!

 

[DrewPeterson7]

I’ve never heard of Phase Issues wtih a Condenser and Piezo P/U - I can’t imagine you would because they are different things at the base of it.

Yeah, I haven't either. This shouldn't be an issue.

The bigger issue is piezos almost never sound any good - it's a very specific sound, and sometimes while it sounds 'fake' it can still make for an interesting part, but if you want a traditional "good" acoustic sounds, the piezo is probably not going to get you there on its own. It might be worth poking around on the internet for IRs captured with both a mic'd acoustic and a piezo, to process the piezo into something that sounds a lot more natural.

Other than that though, if you need two tracks of acoustic, I'd probably just perform the part twice and record both with the condenser, rather than try to use a piezo as part of a stereo recording.

 

[Eric V]

Yeah, I haven't either. This shouldn't be an issue.

The bigger issue is piezos almost never sound any good - it's a very specific sound, and sometimes while it sounds 'fake' it can still make for an interesting part, but if you want a traditional "good" acoustic sounds, the piezo is probably not going to get you there on its own. It might be worth poking around on the internet for IRs captured with both a mic'd acoustic and a piezo, to process the piezo into something that sounds a lot more natural.

Other than that though, if you need two tracks of acoustic, I'd probably just perform the part twice and record both with the condenser, rather than try to use a piezo as part of a stereo recording.

Thank you Drew.

 

[Papanate]

Other than that though, if you need two tracks of acoustic, I'd probably just perform the part twice and record both with the condenser, rather than try to use a piezo as part of a stereo recording.

IME I haven’t had any issues with Piezo pickups - but I also don’t mix them in as a main part of the acoustic sound - I bring them in to add definition to the gutiar - I get a
whole britemess that is not available from the Condensers - of course recording duplicate tracks is good too.

 

[Eric V]

IME I haven’t had any issues with Piezo pickups - but I also don’t mix them in as a main part of the acoustic sound - I bring them in to add definition to the gutiar - I get a
whole britemess that is not available from the Condensers - of course recording duplicate tracks is good too.

Thanks for the tips Papanate.