Upgrading Acoustic Recording

O

opdev

New member
I am thinking of upgrading my acoustic recording capabilites.

I currently use

1) MXL 603? Small Condensor for the guitar
2) SP B1 or MXL Condensor for vocals. (even an SM57 sometimes)

I record into

M-Audio Firewire 410
or
Line 6 Toneport

Into
Guitar Tracks Pro (and maybe Sonar 6 if I buy it)


Can you give me some examples of where I should concentrate 1st? Mics, DW, Preamps? I don't want to buy a $1200 mic and not really hear a difference through my $300 DAW :)

I just got this fairly cheap Toneport and I actually like alot of the vocal presets.

I record alot of slide guitar, dobro and acoustic blues.

I am not looking for "what's the best". I am looking for some examples of folks using combinations of stuff I have not tried, don't know about or works for them.

I am not unhappy with what I get now. It's just that you always think it could be better.

I have kicked around the idea of recoding both guitar and voice into a nice ribbon since I do dislike setting up the 2 mics.

For some reason I mess up less when using one.
 
Get a 2nd MXL 603 for the guitar and record in X/Y stereo. That is a good mic. I borrowed one and it worked very well. I ended up buying an SM81 which is nice, but in retrospect, I should have bought a matched pair of the MXL 603s. Stereo acoustic guitar is awesome.

bilco
 
i think it depends on the sound you're shooting for. i definately think the 603 is a cool mic, especially for the price, but i do prefer an ldc for some stuff and i'm anxious to try a good ribbon on acoustic.
 
opdev said:
I am thinking of upgrading my acoustic recording capabilites.
Click to expand...

I wrote a little about this yesterday.

I think the biggest bang for your buck, once you have at least one pair of decent mikes for stereo (just get another MXL 603, perhaps?) is to improve the sound at the mike. I'm guessing that you have some room to improve that. I have no affiliation whatsoever, but I personally think ASC is the way to go, though their stuff is expensive. At this stage, this will probably make a bigger difference than an equivalent expense on more mikes or better mike preamps, though those may be worthwhile later on. Check out:

http://www.asc-studio-acoustics.com/rs-products.htm

Once there, I'd suggest reading up on the Studio Traps and the Quick Sound Field, at a minimum. Of course, I'd really also suggest reading F. Alton Everest's "Master Handbook of Acoustics" but that's another level of undertaking entirely.

Art Noxon (principal at ASC) really knows the physics and his stuff works, which is why he has so many heavyweight endorsements.

His Studio Traps are really the thing to have around the mike when you're recording. I have some of his Tube Traps that I got cheap and then managed to figure out a way to mount them on mike stands, which might be the way to go on a tight budget. Art got a kick out of that and is still amazed that they haven't fallen over. I never got around to sending him pictures, but now I have a digital camera, soooo...

OTOH, if you're talking about a $1200 mike, for a little more you could have 4 new Studio Traps and be able to get a decent sound with every mike you ever own. Six would be a little better, but four gets the job done.

With your cardioid mikes you can do a great, clean and accurate dead sound with the Studio Traps. Once you get an omni or figure-8 mike, you can also do the live sounding Quick Sound Field.

BTW, I agree with Big Ray that the AT 4050 is a very useful mike. David Josephson recommended it to me as the most accurate and natural sounding of the under $1000 LDC multi-pattern mikes.

That's just my two cents,

Otto
 
If you're wanting to go a different route (I for one very much like the 603), your thought to try a ribbon will be some nice variety. Some entry level mics out there that sound nice too. Consider the Shinybox ribbons with the upgraded transformers. They're nicely priced.
 
punkin said:
If you're wanting to go a different route (I for one very much like the 603), your thought to try a ribbon will be some nice variety. Some entry level mics out there that sound nice too. Consider the Shinybox ribbons with the upgraded transformers. They're nicely priced.
Click to expand...

Specifically, the Lundahl transformer. The Cinemag didn't sound all that different from the stock one to my ear, but the Lundahl does.

Oddly enough in my switched Lundahl test, one of my Nady mics sounded a lot better in the Lundahl position, and the other one sounded only subtly better. So apparently it's not so much that the Lundahl transformers are orders of magnitude better---the difference is subtle for the most part---as that the cheap Chinese transformer in the Nady mics has no real quality control, so it could be nearly as good as the Lundahl or it could be a total POS.
 
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