B
BrianMcNevin
New member
Most guitarist have a big beef with acoustic guitar pickup systems, because they just don't sound as good as what an acoustic guitar sounds like on a microphone in the studio. In a typical live rock band situation, the biggest problem using a mic on an acoustic guitar is since an acoustic guitar isn't all that loud to begin with, the signal requires a lot more gain from a microphone preamp than what an instrument like a saxophone does, which is where the issue of feedback comes into play. Other than offering some sort of a graphic EQ as standard equipment in the last 25 to 30 years, most stock pickup systems in acoustic guitars just consist of an under the saddle piezo (piezoelectric transducer) and haven't changed much from the 1970s. Since a piezo pickup doesn't translate many of the sonic complexities coming off the top and the body of a guitar, it's very easy to hear their shortcomings in a live amplified acoustic situation. Generally, most of the reason why piezo based systems are still incorporated so much by guitar manufacturers is that the piezo pickups themselves are extremely inexpensive and don't add much to the retail price of a guitar. Although aftermarket sound hole pickups tend to be a little warmer and more natural sounding than what stock factory installed piezo systems are, overall, they're not all that much better sounding.
In recent years, with both stock and aftermarket rigs, many manufacturers have done things like add some type of transducer inside the soundboard of a guitar to a piezo system. With aftermarket systems, using a conventional sound hole pickup with a piezo transducer isn't all that unusual either. Although these types of setups might sound a bit better in live situations verses a typical piezo based system, they still leave a lot to be desired for recording applications. Despite Taylor's marketing hype, their Expression System is just a variation on the internal soundboard transducer idea. The technology used in their system isn't anything radically new. It just takes advantage of a low impedance preamp to make things quieter and adds a third transducer to the equation. Although the best things about the Expression System are it doesn't use a piezo and isn't as prone to feedback as many systems are, since it lacks just enough high end sparkle to the point of being just a tad bit too warm, it still falls a bit short for studio use compared to a typical condenser mic.
When it comes to buying an aftermarket pickup system for an acoustic guitar, one of the easiest and best sounding ones to install is the Fishman Rare Earth Blend. It's basically just a traditional sound hole pickup with a small cardioid mic on a something similar to a coat hanger type wire, which is positioned above the strings. Since a single control knob on back of the rig itself is used to adjust the balance between the sound hole pickup and the cardioid mic, it's relatively easy to install with a typical guitar strap jack without any more modifications to the guitar itself. As it is, with some outboard EQ, the microphone portion of the Rare Earth Blend works quite nice for recording applications in a quiet environment. Of course, the main issue with using the cardioid mic portion of the Rare Earth Blend in a live setting is that it is prone to feedback, which almost always translates into relying on the output of the sound hole pickup by itself at gigs.
There are more than a handful of inexpensive Asian made phantom powered cardioid condenser microphones, which will do the job in a home studio on an acoustic guitar in the $100 to $200 price range. The thing about condenser mics is they have better frequency response than what a dynamic mic does. A big reason why many acoustic pickups systems fall short in studio applications is that typiocal guitar pickups don't offer the high end frequency response characteristics that a condenser microphone has. Although an inexpensive condenser certainly is not as pristine sounding as many of the more popular super high dollar commonly used German made condensers are, plenty of them can get the job done on an acoustic guitar in a home studio with stunning results. Although the hassle with using any kind of a microphone on a guitar is figuring out how to keep the microphone from picking up any ambient noise, since condenser mics are extremely sensitive, they can be even more difficult to use on a acoustic guitar in a home studio situation.
Line 6 has been using digital modeling in their Variax guitars in recent years. Although the technology emulates sound wave shapes and can come very close to mimicking the sounds of different acoustic guitars on a condenser microphone for direct recording, many guitarists feel that this technology doesn't really translate dynamics all that well compared to a microphone. What is beginning to be used with acoustic guitars in very recent years is something called digital imaging. It's a process somewhat similar to both digital modeling and sampling. After digital images of different acoustic guitars are developed in a studio at the factory and stored in the memory of a device, when the user plugs their piezo equipped guitar into the device and selects an image that sounds the closest to what their guitar sounds like, they combine the image with the direct signal from their guitar. With a bit of EQ and some tweaking to find the right balance between the image and the direct signal, the result can sound somewhat closer to what their acoustic guitar would sound like on a microphone. Although many players have their issues with this technology too, plenty of guitarists rave about how good it works. A company founded by well know pickup designer Seymour Duncan called D-Tar was the first to use this technology with a product called the Mama Bear. In recent years, Fishman used this same idea and came out with their Aura line of different products to get into the ballgame. Fishman's biggest innovation with digital imaging was that they implemented a way with their products for users to go on line and download different digital image files from their website verses restricting users to just relying on images permanently stored in the memory of their products. Since Fishman recently developed an Aura system, which Martin has started using in some of their guitars, it's probably only a matter of time before other manufactures start incorporating some sort of digital imaging based technology in their pickup systems too.
In summary, although there are many more alternatives with acoustic pickup systems now than there were years ago, since the biggest problem impacting the retail price of an acoustic guitar is the escalating cost of wood, which is due mostly to environmental concerns, it's highly unlikely much research will go into improving acoustic guitar pickup systems without expanding on some sort of existing digital technology in the next few years. So, until somebody figures out a way to capture all of the sonic nuances of an acoustic guitar with a pickup system, using a condenser microphone will still be the norm in the studio.
Brian McNevin 6/30/12
In recent years, with both stock and aftermarket rigs, many manufacturers have done things like add some type of transducer inside the soundboard of a guitar to a piezo system. With aftermarket systems, using a conventional sound hole pickup with a piezo transducer isn't all that unusual either. Although these types of setups might sound a bit better in live situations verses a typical piezo based system, they still leave a lot to be desired for recording applications. Despite Taylor's marketing hype, their Expression System is just a variation on the internal soundboard transducer idea. The technology used in their system isn't anything radically new. It just takes advantage of a low impedance preamp to make things quieter and adds a third transducer to the equation. Although the best things about the Expression System are it doesn't use a piezo and isn't as prone to feedback as many systems are, since it lacks just enough high end sparkle to the point of being just a tad bit too warm, it still falls a bit short for studio use compared to a typical condenser mic.
When it comes to buying an aftermarket pickup system for an acoustic guitar, one of the easiest and best sounding ones to install is the Fishman Rare Earth Blend. It's basically just a traditional sound hole pickup with a small cardioid mic on a something similar to a coat hanger type wire, which is positioned above the strings. Since a single control knob on back of the rig itself is used to adjust the balance between the sound hole pickup and the cardioid mic, it's relatively easy to install with a typical guitar strap jack without any more modifications to the guitar itself. As it is, with some outboard EQ, the microphone portion of the Rare Earth Blend works quite nice for recording applications in a quiet environment. Of course, the main issue with using the cardioid mic portion of the Rare Earth Blend in a live setting is that it is prone to feedback, which almost always translates into relying on the output of the sound hole pickup by itself at gigs.
There are more than a handful of inexpensive Asian made phantom powered cardioid condenser microphones, which will do the job in a home studio on an acoustic guitar in the $100 to $200 price range. The thing about condenser mics is they have better frequency response than what a dynamic mic does. A big reason why many acoustic pickups systems fall short in studio applications is that typiocal guitar pickups don't offer the high end frequency response characteristics that a condenser microphone has. Although an inexpensive condenser certainly is not as pristine sounding as many of the more popular super high dollar commonly used German made condensers are, plenty of them can get the job done on an acoustic guitar in a home studio with stunning results. Although the hassle with using any kind of a microphone on a guitar is figuring out how to keep the microphone from picking up any ambient noise, since condenser mics are extremely sensitive, they can be even more difficult to use on a acoustic guitar in a home studio situation.
Line 6 has been using digital modeling in their Variax guitars in recent years. Although the technology emulates sound wave shapes and can come very close to mimicking the sounds of different acoustic guitars on a condenser microphone for direct recording, many guitarists feel that this technology doesn't really translate dynamics all that well compared to a microphone. What is beginning to be used with acoustic guitars in very recent years is something called digital imaging. It's a process somewhat similar to both digital modeling and sampling. After digital images of different acoustic guitars are developed in a studio at the factory and stored in the memory of a device, when the user plugs their piezo equipped guitar into the device and selects an image that sounds the closest to what their guitar sounds like, they combine the image with the direct signal from their guitar. With a bit of EQ and some tweaking to find the right balance between the image and the direct signal, the result can sound somewhat closer to what their acoustic guitar would sound like on a microphone. Although many players have their issues with this technology too, plenty of guitarists rave about how good it works. A company founded by well know pickup designer Seymour Duncan called D-Tar was the first to use this technology with a product called the Mama Bear. In recent years, Fishman used this same idea and came out with their Aura line of different products to get into the ballgame. Fishman's biggest innovation with digital imaging was that they implemented a way with their products for users to go on line and download different digital image files from their website verses restricting users to just relying on images permanently stored in the memory of their products. Since Fishman recently developed an Aura system, which Martin has started using in some of their guitars, it's probably only a matter of time before other manufactures start incorporating some sort of digital imaging based technology in their pickup systems too.
In summary, although there are many more alternatives with acoustic pickup systems now than there were years ago, since the biggest problem impacting the retail price of an acoustic guitar is the escalating cost of wood, which is due mostly to environmental concerns, it's highly unlikely much research will go into improving acoustic guitar pickup systems without expanding on some sort of existing digital technology in the next few years. So, until somebody figures out a way to capture all of the sonic nuances of an acoustic guitar with a pickup system, using a condenser microphone will still be the norm in the studio.
Brian McNevin 6/30/12
Good to know his humidity legacy remains as a sticky for all to see, then.