Sounds like the mic is 15 feet away!

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seanppp

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When I record acoustic, I put the AKG C414 mic anywhere from 2 feet to a few inches away from where the neck meets the body.

When I listen back to my recordings it sounds like the mic is 15 feet away. Not crisp at all. I have mic on cardiod, so that's not the problem.

Why am I not getting a crisp sound? Instead it sound distant.

Thanks!
 
ARE YOU IN - WHOOPS - CAPS-LOCK IS ON...

There we go.

Are you in a bad sounding room? Are you recording into the wrong side of the mic? Is it on omni or figure-8 (especially if you're in an improperly treated space)?

(EDIT)

Sorry -- I see -- Cardioid. Back to "are you in a bad sounding room" and "is it pointed in the right direction" --
 
I'm with Massive Master. I suggest you try rotating your mic 180 degrees and try pointing the other side at your guitar. FYI, the C414 can be a bit confusing since sometimes both sides of the capsule are active but in modes like cardioid only one side of the capsule picks up properly.
 
I think Massive might have hit it on the head with the mic being the wrong way round.
Sounds like this could be the problem. :)
 
No, the mic's not facing the wrong way. I suppose it could be the room. But man, it's really bad. I'd expect to have a decent sound WITH bad room sound on top of that. But for me now it's pretty much just the room sound.

What do you suggest for making the room sound better?
 
Have you tried turning the mic around? I was once supplied a new mic with the capsule round the wrong way (name withheld to protect a good company from :o) . What pattern are you using? In a bad room I would only use cardioid.

Even in a bad room it should not sound that far away.

Alan.
 
His post says he's using cardioid.

Please do try turning the mic around. Barring a faulty mic, there's no way that even the worst room in the world could sound "15 feet away" when the actual distance is, from what the OP says, "under 2 feet and sometimes inches". With miking that close, the room should barely come into it.

If turning the mic around doesn't fix it, then we'll have to consider some really exotic faults.
 
Post a clip - what you think is "sounds like 15 feet away" these learned gentlemen might think is something else entirely...
 
100% for turning it round, if even just to see.

Compression etc is not the way if there's a problem at the source.


IIRC, the pattern select switches are on the address side for cardioid.
 
Then could it just be your gain structure? Turn it up.
 
You never mentioned the rest of the signal chain? Have you got phantom on? tried another cable? what does the mic sound like with just voice?
I know they are basic questions but sometime it's the obvious stuff that get's missed - not trying to be patronising :)
 
seanppp said:
No, the mic's not facing the wrong way. I suppose it could be the room. But man, it's really bad. I'd expect to have a decent sound WITH bad room sound on top of that. But for me now it's pretty much just the room sound.

What do you suggest for making the room sound better?
Click to expand...

You're thinking backwards. If you're getting enough "room" in the recorded audio that it sounds like the mic is 15 feet away, there is something wrong in the recording chain, not your room. More than likely, as a few people have said, either your microphone is backwards or your it is faulty. When I first started recording acoustic with my LDC, it was the exact sound I got before realizing my mic was backwards.

Just try turning it around.
 
seanppp said:
When I record acoustic, I put the AKG C414 mic anywhere from 2 feet to a few inches away from where the neck meets the body.

When I listen back to my recordings it sounds like the mic is 15 feet away. Not crisp at all. I have mic on cardiod, so that's not the problem.

Why am I not getting a crisp sound? Instead it sound distant.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Is the mic pointed in the right direction?

EDIT: Damn already answered. Just to clarify though the gold side on that mic is the side you need to point toward the source in cardiod mode (XL2 model) and silver on the XLS model (or it might still be gold can't remember, just don't point the black side on that mic).
 
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