One Mic or Two?

[Ticker]

Hi everyone, I've been gathering lots of information over the past few days on these boards and I'm almost ready to buy my first home recording setup. I will be recording mainly acoustic guitar and vocals. My question is: instead of buying 1 more expensive mic, should I buy two instead to use when recording my acoustic guitar? I've heard this gives it a much better and fuller sound.

My influences are: Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, John Mayer, Dave Matthews, Matchbox20 if that helps give you an idea of my sound. You guys know way more than I do, so if you know any mics that are known for their quality with acoustic guitars please feel free to share em with me. Thanks a bunch!

Ticker

[dangercityskyline]

this is a very general question, but to try to give you a short answer, it might. this depends on so many things though, that that's probably not a great answer. for example:
a) is the room you're recording in acoustically treated?
b) how high-quality is the acoustic guitar you're recording?
c) how good a player are you?
d) what kind of budget, if any, are you on?

i'm asking these questions because a) i'm assuming by two mics you mean one close-mic and one room mic, and this will only sound good if you have a good room, b) if your guitar isn't exactly high-end, which is perfectly understandable, then i'd definitely stick with one mic because with two mics all you're gonna be doing is more perfectly capturing not-terrific tone. admittedly this does give you more to work with, but it all depends on your guitar. c) same as b. maybe this isn't something to worry about, but i don't know. d) when you say "more expensive", how expensive are we looking at here? i can recommend you plenty of condenser mics in the $250-$500 range because that's my range, but i don't know how much money you have to spend here.

so a little more information would be good, but what you have isn't a bad start.

[Ticker]

Originally Posted by dangercityskyline

this is a very general question, but to try to give you a short answer, it might. this depends on so many things though, that that's probably not a great answer. for example:
a) is the room you're recording in acoustically treated?
b) how high-quality is the acoustic guitar you're recording?
c) how good a player are you?
d) what kind of budget, if any, are you on?

i'm asking these questions because a) i'm assuming by two mics you mean one close-mic and one room mic, and this will only sound good if you have a good room, b) if your guitar isn't exactly high-end, which is perfectly understandable, then i'd definitely stick with one mic because with two mics all you're gonna be doing is more perfectly capturing not-terrific tone. admittedly this does give you more to work with, but it all depends on your guitar. c) same as b. maybe this isn't something to worry about, but i don't know. d) when you say "more expensive", how expensive are we looking at here? i can recommend you plenty of condenser mics in the $250-$500 range because that's my range, but i don't know how much money you have to spend here.

so a little more information would be good, but what you have isn't a bad start.

Hey dangercity, thanks a lot for your response, its much appreciated.

I'll start by clarifying some of the Q's you've asked me.

a) the room I plan on recording in is just my bedroom so no it isn't treated.

b) my guitar is a Taylor Auditorium and sounds great. Not the highest quality guitar on the market I'm sure but deffinately sounds awesome and is of very good quality.

c) been playing for a long and I'm just starting to get into the whole recording thing now, so my ability to play live (without any tampering of the tracks) is fairly good as thats all I've ever done.

d) I'm on a budget of under $1000 for my whole setup (college student). When I say "whole setup" this includes: condenser mic w/ pop filter and shockmount, mic stand, mic cable, and a firewire interface.

I have another thread asking about the equipment I'm interested in, maybe you can check it out and let me know what you think. Here it is:
Good way to spend my money? You tell me!

Ticker

[brandondrury]

Start with one mic. I mic acoustic guitar with a single mic all the time. It pays the bills.

The only time I really reach for stereo micing is when I'm looking for a specific effect or if I'm recording a song with a very sparse arrangement.

There is nothing objectively better about using two mics on an acoustic. It has it's advantages in certain situations, but it's certainly not required.

Brandon

[Ticker]

Again, thanks for your response Brandon. I guess i'll stick with one mic for now which will more than likely be the Rode NT1A.

Ticker

[KillerV]

I'd rather have one decent mic than 2 crappy ones, so if your budget doesn't stretch very far at the moment go that route. Get a decent LDC.

If your arrangements are going to be based around acoustic guitar mostly (which seems to be the case, judging by the influences you mentioned) I'd say get another mic when you can. I'd make this a decent SDC if I were you. There are plenty of great options for not too much cash. This will help you to get a good stereo recording of your guitar, or you can use one of the mics as a room mic. You can then still use the LDC for vocals.

I'd spend some cash on acoustic treatment too, but untill you can there are a number of things you can do with stuff in your bedroom that will help your recordings. Maybe not as much as decent acoustic treatment, but better than none at all. They've worked wonders for me when I've had to record in less than perfect spaces. Use a couple of blankets/duvets and build a small booth around you (use mic stands, chairs, etc. to hang them over). Matresses work even better. This is great for vocals too. It will kill most of the reflections from the room, which will most likely be bad reflections and then you can add in ambiences with reverb. These tricks got me by before I could build a good iso-booth

[fmw]

I'm with Brandon. I never use more than one mic on acoustic guitar. Place it properly and it will give you what you want.

[TonyB]

I only stereo mic (i.e., SDC, X/Y pattern) when the acoustic guitar is the focus of the song.

When it's a singer and the acoustic, I usually go with one good LDC. It does a good job of capturing both the vocal and guitar.

BTW, when I do record a singer with his/her acoustic I always record with 2 mics, but only use one in the mix just as a precaution.

Last night I recorded a singer with his acoustic (an original 1947 Martin; I was envious to say the least), I used a Royer MA-200 for both vocals and guitar. Worked great; especially since the objective was to get an intimate feel from the song. I put a 4050 on him as well. Didn't use it in the mix; but felt comfortable I had it as a backup.

[Ticker]

KillerV,

Thanks a bunch man, your reply helped me out a lot. I will deffinately remember those recording tips when the time comes.. gonna build me a fort in my room!



fmw,

Thanks for the reassurance! I've heard that the twelvth freth of the guitar is like a sweet spot, is that true?


TonyB,

Thanks a lot for the input; I've got a few Q's for ya! When I get to recording, I plan on recording all my tracks seperate so as to not have some of my acoustic track getting into my vocals and my vocals into my acoustic track.. I hope that makes sense? From what I've gathered here, when recording my acoustic I should go with a SDC and when doing the vocals go with my LDC, amiright?

Ticker

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by Ticker

KillerV,


TonyB,

Thanks a lot for the input; I've got a few Q's for ya! When I get to recording, I plan on recording all my tracks seperate so as to not have some of my acoustic track getting into my vocals and my vocals into my acoustic track.. I hope that makes sense? From what I've gathered here, when recording my acoustic I should go with a SDC and when doing the vocals go with my LDC, amiright?

Ticker

Yes it does. I find that for an intimate setting where it's just the singer and guitar player (both are one in the same), I can get away with one mic for both. Fortunately my studio is built and shaped like a church hall so I capture the natural ambience of the performance. No ITB dynamics needed (for the most part).

However, most of the time I do need to track the vocalist and acoustic guitar separately, especially in a band situation. I get many country bands who's lead singer also plays the acoustic guitar, where the vocals will need some sort of processing ITB to get along with all the other freq's floating about (i.e., electric guitars, keys, cymbals, etc).

What I typically do is record a scratch of the vocals and acoustic guitar (usually along with the bass and drums while I'm laying down those tracks). Once the core of the song is tracked (i.e., drums, guitars, bass, keys, etc), the singer will lay down his/her acoustic guitar; then once that is done, he/she will lay down the good vocals.

You're right, it's good to isolate the performer's vocals and acoustic guitar when possible.