Recording Acoustic guitar?

[mike53]

Lately I have been playing more acoustic guitar than electric. I want to record some tracks with my acoustic. But it is just an acoustic not an electric-acoustic, I tried putting a microphone up to it and playing, it doesn't sound terrible....but it definitely doesn't have a crisp sound. I was thinking about getting a pickup for the acoustic but I don't know if that would make it sound better or not.

Any suggestions??

[brandondrury]

I HATE HATE HATE the sound of DIs for acoustic guitar. They are fake and plastic sounding. Of course, that fake, plastic tone is quicker and easier than getting a great guitar sound with a mic.

It takes a lot of work to find the right mic placement with an acoustic guitar. You are also at the mercy of the acoustic guitar's tone, which may not be what you want.

My advice is to put some real work into trying to make your acoustic guitar sound good if you have any interest in audio engineering.

Brandon

[kyle barton]

have you tried the old "point it at the 12th fret aimed slightly at the soundhole" trick? that is usually a good starting point for a good balance of treble and bass.

when i was first learning this, my recordings sounded bad because of my bad sounding room. make sure the mic isn't picking up a lot of reflected sound from a nearby wall, there might be phase cancellations that are messing up your sound. that was my biggest problem early on, but i'm still learning.

[mike53]

thanks man i'll try it out.. i tried getting the microphone as close to the hole but maybe it's getting too distorted

[kyle barton]

first get a buddy who can at least strum a decent chord, and then you goof with the mics while he plinks away. try everything. i got a really great tone once by putting a mic over my right shoulder, and a second one on the fretboard. the over-the-shoulder mic had more body, and the close mic picked up the attack. pointing a mic at the bridge is good for getting the bite too. just make sure your mics don't have any phase cancellation problems. it helps to have a buddy working with you while you try out different ideas.

[johnnymegabyte]

I have had good results with my Dimarzio Quickmount Pickup that fits in the soundhole. I got it in 1984, and I don't know if they make it anymore.

[brandondrury]

have you tried the old "point it at the 12th fret aimed slightly at the soundhole" trick? that is usually a good starting point for a good balance of treble and bass.

Not once have I ever been happy with this positioning.

tried getting the microphone as close to the hole

That's usually the opposite to the approach I take.

Brandon

[wilsonNC]

I've found that there is no one set way/position for mic'n acoustic guitar. I use trial and error method using good headphones. Putting mic on boom, I sit and play listening to output signal from mixer. After a few bars, I move mic. First I make extreme moves - then finer ajustments. I found that there are usually 1 or 2 spots I like. Then I test record a few bars with each likely position. I also will try playing in different areas of the room until I find a 'perceived' happy spot. It takes some time but at my level (starting out) it's working.

My attempts to record with D/I are 'gritty' and lack color. Maybe OK on lead guitar tracks but I won't use for rhythm or fingerstyle playing. I would love to hear a convincing clip of un-treated D/I signal for acoustic guitar. I am lazy by nature and would love to cheat the process if it was as good as a well mic'd guitar.

[Dann 1 Burk]

Hey man

you dont have an acoustic electric so try this

1. try the 3 to 1 rule, take 2 condenser micorphones and point one at the 12th fret and another at the sound hole right around the bottom of it. the 3 to one rule means that from the 12th fret the mic should be 3 times the distance away from the second mic as it is from the guitar itsself. meaning that if you have the 12th fret mic 3 inches away from the neck the next mic should be the same from the body but 9 inches down the guitar.
2. try different mics. most likely you are using a dynamic vocal microphone which is not really optimum for getting that crisp acoustic sound. condenser mics allow for a much wider audio range as well as a more accurate sound. (better technology=much more expensive)

this is what i do. i have an acoustelectric so i use three different kinds of mics. i use the internal one on one track for the internal tone and sound and then 2 different condenser mics the way i mentioned above, also think about the quality of cables, and recording interfaces you use.

Dan

[mike53]

thanks for the advice, i'll try it out... and how much does a condenser microphone run for?