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Acoustic Guitar Recording

FraDonaghy	Date: July 9, 2007 @ 8:24 AM Calling all acoustic guitar players out there... How do you record your guitar? I have been using a semi acoustic plugged directly into my pre-amp, and while it gets a clean sound, I'm not entirely happy with it. You lose some of the "acoustic-ness" and end up with a somewhat plastic sound. What would you guys recommend for external miking? Cheers!
GreatGooglyM...	Date: July 9, 2007 @ 10:11 AM Yeah, I highly recommend not to do that. You get a digital tone and lose the natural and warm sound that acoustics usually have. Just get a decent condenser microphone and place it in front of the sound hole of the guitar. If you have a possibility to record with two mics, place the other a bit further away.
kingo	Date: July 9, 2007 @ 10:21 AM Yes, get some condenser mics and play with placement. Placement changes the sound a lot, so you can do different things for different songs, moods, etc. Right in front of the sound hole you'll get more of a boomy or bassy sound. Up around the 12th fret is a good place to mic, I think. I also sometimes like to use one around there and another pointed pretty much directly where the pick meets the strings, so you can mix in some pick/string noise with the sound. I definitely prefer any kind of micing to any kind of direct sound.
zedsalt	Date: July 9, 2007 @ 11:22 AM I hate to take exception with the opinion of someone as knowledgeable as Googly (and as far beyond me when it comes to playing technique), but everything I've read about miking acoustic guitars says the one place you DON'T want the mic pointing is directly at the soundhole! Most recommend pointing it at the fourteenth fret; others say the twelfth. I usually point my small diaphragm condenser at the fourteenth (the neckjoint) and for things where I want either less of the left hand noise or more of the right hand to be heard, about two thirds of the way between the soundhole and the bridge. For huge-sounding acoustic guitar...pieces where I'm really proud of the guitar melody, and it "makes" the song...I use a few different techniques. I'll record a magnetic pickup DIed to one track, the miking method I just outlined to another, and run them hard stereo split. A "zippered" EQ is another good one for acoustic guitar. An eight or ten band EQ works best. Record a guitar, bounce it through an EQ with every other band maxed and the ones between bottomed out. Reverse the EQ settings, and bounce that to another track. You can change the "wetness" of the effect by playing with both bounced track's panning knobs, or...my favorite, when I have the tracks available to do it...keep those hard stereo, center the original, and bring it's volume up to the point where it sounds the way I want. Both of those techniques make the acoustic guitar sound more "real" than anything else I have up my arsenal. For slightly-effected-but-still-basically-acoustic-sounding-acoustic guitar, I also like to play with running stereo tracks of almost "dry" tremolo or phase shifting, with the effect's speeds at complimentary settings.
DeadraveN	Date: July 9, 2007 @ 1:12 PM I don't have much experience with micing an acoustic, but I can tell you that the "zippered Eq" trick Zed mentioned (complete with a centered original track) is a great place to start. I've played around alot with that technique when it comes to acoustic guitar tones, and you can get a lot of great sounds that way..
GreatGooglyM...	Date: July 9, 2007 @ 1:57 PM On 9th Jul 2012, zedsalt said: long quote You're probably 1000 times more experienced than me when it comes to miking acoustic instruments, so no problem at all. Basically, all my knowledge on recording is based on personal experience and at least I can get the best sound when I put the microphone (large capsule) in front of the guitar's body/sound hole (not directly though). Anyhow, with quick googling I found this tutorial: http://www.humbuckermusic.com/acguitrectec.html You might wanna check it out Fra.
LiQuidMetamo...	Date: July 9, 2007 @ 10:12 PM This is a good tutorial, the XY technique is very wide spread, I've done this before and it works out quite well. The guy Michael Cooper has his own studio and a contributor for electronic musician. Country music is his niche now, previously he did pop records. Using DI guitar on panned one way and miced guitar the other way is another technique I used before. Although in fairness, I rarely record acoustic guitar, I prefer playing electric.
mudshadow	Date: July 10, 2007 @ 1:17 AM man, this has been very useful...
FraDonaghy	Date: July 10, 2007 @ 2:37 AM Thanks for all the advice guys
RichLum	Date: July 10, 2007 @ 9:36 AM I DI my acoustic plus mic it using a Rode NT1 pointed at about the 12th fret a bit below the neck and about 15-30cm in front of the guitar. I have a slight amount of compression (about 2.4:1) on the DI and the mic using a hardware comp (shitty Berry autocomp). I try not to push it too hard going in anyway so it's mainly to tame peaks. I then mix the DI and mic track to taste and pan them about 50 or 60% opposite. Also will EQ and compress using plugins to get a sound I like and then send both tracks to a short a long reverb AUX. If I had a better room to record in (rather than my bedroom) I'd probably try and mic up further away... I probably should try anyway, but nw I just record like that out of habit... One of the biggest contributor to getting a good acoustic is to make sure you have fresh strings on. If my strings are more than a week old I'll change them for a recording I intend to keep for a proper song (rather than just getting an idea down). You will notice the difference in the highs and the lack of "shimmer" if your strings are in any way dead. Of course, it depends on the type of sound you are after... Rich
gtr1960	Date: August 27, 2007 @ 6:25 AM hmm I use different techniques for different things.. If I want more highs I will find a brighter room with more hard walls and less carpet on the floor ..then I will mic with a large format condenser mic my favorites ..AT4047 or AKG C414 BXL sometimes I might use both. The closer you have the mic to the guitar the more bass you will have (bass proximity effect) I will usually set the mic about 3 to 3.5 feet away facing somewhere around the 12th fret, about even height with that area of the guitar but angled up just a little to get more of the room sound from the ceiling too. I will also use the xy approach but usually when on the nylon string guitar and finger picking. I like to run compression at the input stage (mixer insert) DBX160 at about -10 threshold and 1.8 ratio. I know I'm different but I don't like much compression at this stage. I will add more later usually -18 at 2:1 slight reverb sometimes but usually I don't need much cause I try to get that sound from the room , I might also try a slight flutter delay. I usually do not eq anywhere but at the mixer and that us usually pretty flat. I test record if I need more highs I move my playing area or mic position. more bass usually move the mic closer to the guitar. I'm not a expert but I have gotten some pretty good ac guitar sounds this way.

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