A good Mic for Miking Acoustic Guitars

[doorknocker]

Originally Posted by NEWTON IN ORBIT

Gallow's Pole = incredible with plate panned to one side.

Still my favorite after so many years.

Magic if there's a such thing.
john

+1

[NEWTON IN ORBIT]

Although youtube sounds crap, still cool:

YouTube - Led Zeppelin-That's The Way

Doorknocker, you think this is the ba6a?
I think it must be. Maybe an altec?

Where is Terry Manning, he would know:0)

john

[doorknocker]

Originally Posted by NEWTON IN ORBIT

Doorknocker, you think this is the ba6a?
I think it must be. Maybe an altec?

I don't know but I sure would kill to record a sound like that!

But I think that the rooms (or outdoors!) had a lot to do with these sounds. It surely sounds like the reflections were coming from stone walls or the like...

[alohachris]

Aloha,

In a well-treated space with the right preamp combo, many, many S/D condenser mic's will work great on the acoustic guitar, mic's at all price points.

I try out about 100 mic's & many pre's every year. I really enjoy it. And my musical recording focus is entirely on Live acoustic guitar & vocals.

What I own:

Schoeps CMC641 hypers. Pristine, very detailed & so smooth & musical. My "Go-To" SDC pair for several years now. Can't beat it!

Peluso P28 Tube SDC's - I love these on flat-picking. Gutsy & accurate, ballsy & upfront. Great value for it's price (new $750)

AKG 460 SDC's - Modded by Jim Williams of Audio Upgrades, these are as good as any SDC's on the market at any price. Love 'em. So detailed & musical. Jim is an audio magician.

ADK A6's - MDC's that offer an open, light transparent musicality that you'll never find in any other mic in it's price range ($249 new). This is a real sleeper that can truly capture the sound of your acoustic guitar.

Pre's that I love with these mic's for different reasons/sounds:

Pendulum MDP-1 Tube
A Designs Pacifica
Great River MP-2NV
Pendulum SPS-1 (my live pre)

Other great brands of SDC's to look at that sound great on acoustic guitar are:

Microtech Gefell - 294, 295, 300
DPA - 4011, 4061, 499
AKG 480
Neumann KM-140, KM-56 (KM-84 if you can find)
Earthworks - QTC 30 & 40
Mojave MA-101fet
Michael Joly-modded Oktava MK-012

LDC's that I use on acoustic guitar:

Neumann U87 (great all-around mic - variable)
Mojave MA-200 (my favorite for strumming tracks & vocals)
Brauner VM-1 (I've used, but do not own this one - it's $$$$$) - truly great on acoustic guitars
AEA R-84 Ribbon Mic

For Mid-Side recording, I often combine the AEA R-84 Ribbon with the CMC641 SDC hyper - or

the CMC641, & CMC with a CK8 ribbon cap

Lot's of choices. ONLY TRUST YOUR EARS!

Good Luck!
alohachris

[ROCKER STUDIOS]

Originally Posted by contrattore

Gefells sound awesome.
however, have you considered a pair of ribbons?
like Beyer m160s, perhaps..

I have a pair of m160's Ill give that a shot I just need a lot of power for them Bad Boys

[ROCKER STUDIOS]

Lots of good stuff hear thanks Slutz
man I need to look in to them Schoeps lots of love they get

[rdc333]

Brauner VM1 into Mercury V72 (the pre by a miss patch, I might add) sounds fantastic

[ROCKER STUDIOS]

Originally Posted by NEWTON IN ORBIT

Although youtube sounds crap, still cool:

YouTube - Led Zeppelin-That's The Way

Doorknocker, you think this is the ba6a?
I think it must be. Maybe an altec?

Where is Terry Manning, he would know:0)

john

Ya that's the sound I always ran stereo this sounds like Mono
to the left Ill have to look into Mono Acoustic Recordings

[latestflavor]

manley gold is great for this. very thin capsule, great transient movement. plus, you will have a serious c12 flavor in your vocal arsenal.

[psykostx]

Earthworks QTC40 ... 3 to 6 feet away... put it up in the air pointing down if the player also sings (so it's 3 ft from his/her mouth, 6 ft from the guitar). The higher the ceiling in the room the better. Of course for different balances of singer/guitar use different positions. Roll off treble to taste ... boose low/mids for some color. Great mic. I use it through API 312 pres... seems a fitting combo. Haven't tried it with my vintage 1272's yet, not sure how that would sound. Might be able to skip the eqing. The mic is a bit noisy, but you don't really need any gain at the distances I mentioned. My noise floor is usually about -86 with this mic... not sure though, anything below -70 is acceptable to me so I really don't pay much attention. Rock music

[lamcheezy1114]

thanks for the post was wondering the same

[skybluerental]

Originally Posted by NEWTON IN ORBIT

Although youtube sounds crap, still cool:

YouTube - Led Zeppelin-That's The Way

Doorknocker, you think this is the ba6a?
I think it must be. Maybe an altec?

Where is Terry Manning, he would know:0)

john

this is still THE BEST acoustic guitar sound i have ever heard and i would love to know how they got it.
i think "That's the Way" may have been recorded in Memphis..........
i have no idea what the signal chain was, but i am guessing the mic was a U67, which is still my favorite mic for acoustic guitar (and MANY MANY other things.)
RCA BA 6A is also likely as legend has it that Page almost always recorded guitars with one of those things..........

it would be great if terry manning could chime in with some first hand accounts.

[chevega]

lately my triple threat for anything acoustic (guitar, mandolin, banjo, piano, cello) has been:

beyer mc930
akg 414 uls
pearlman tm1

one of each, in various positions, but for guitar usually the 930 aimed at the neck, 414 aimed at the body, and tm1 ambient in the room or on the body again.

then i pick and choose in the mix. great options.

[hernanperez2000]

- Schoeps cmc6 with mk41 or mk21 caps. Beautiful and natural sound!!!

- Neumann U67. Amazing!!!

- Sony C800G. Modern and detailed..

- Beyer MC930 is very good too.

Desperality i want a Neumann KM54. Hahaha!!!


Best regards.

Hernan.

[CAGuy]

I have tried a lot of mics from Earthworks QTC40's (Great if you're in a GREAT sounding room), AKG C451s, Sm81s, etc. And I HIGHLY recommend the BEYERDYNAMIC MC930!!

Sm81's do sound great but I have heard nothing that sounds like the MC930's. I just got two and use them in xy at the 12th fret and it sounds awesome. My room is a typical home studio so the room is only 10x12 and has a lot of good bass trapping but still sounds bad. THE BEYERDYNAMIC MC930's capture the sound of the guitar itself which gives me the sound I have been trying to get for years.

If you got straight for the MC930 you will save yourself a lot of time searching for good mics to get a great, professional sound. I can't recommend them enough.

[Unclenny]

Originally Posted by NathanEldred

Large diaphragms can help the guitar sound really big, but I usually find it necessary to combine with the SDC.

I have gone round and round with this one.......

I keep coming back to my Peluso 22 251 () out in front for big, and my trusty KSM32 (MDC .75 dia. capsule) right over my shoulder for detail.

I am most often fingerpicking on a 1933 Kalamazoo.

[Greg B]

My current favorites on acoustic guitar are the 3 Zigma CHI mics in various combinations (usually one small cap and one large). We used them for 90% of the guitar tracks on the acoustic album we're finishing up right now

[psykostx]

Everyone I've ever know has a vintage Martin dreadnought ... and what I've gotten great results with is an AT 4041 on the sound hole, and an Earthworks QTC40 3ft to 6ft away, either level with the guitar, or as an overhead, depending on the amount of room desired. The guitarist sits on a stool on a nice thick persian style area rug. For more room sound, I put the Earthworks at guitar level, facing the guitarist, at the edge of the carpet, facing slightly upward. For a tighter sound, the Earthworks goes overhead, slightly in front of the guitarist, facing straight down. Sometimes the AT 4041 gets the bass roll-off engaged, depending on the the type of playing... hard strumming: roll-off .. fingerpicking: flat.

That's how I do it, and it works. I've experimented with LDC's, but I prefer the sound from the smaller mics. If I had a U47 or U67 maybe I'd prefer that But this setup works real well with the pres I have... API 312, or Neve 1272 reracks. The AT 4041 sounds suprisingly tight through the Neve. The API and the Earthworks go really nice together. I'd like to get a GML or an Earthworks pre for that mic, it sounds really sweet, tad noisy, but it's an omni and doesn't really need much gain... I've actually heard a Sebatron with a QTC40 somewhere online, I really liked that too, was considering it... not a fan of tubes though...only because of heat.

EDIT: Hahah just realized I already posted on this thread... however, this post is more detailed so it's all good!

[RCM - Ronan]

I rarely use more than one mic on an acoustic. These days the first thing I usually try is my Pearlman TM1.

[heysimo]

Last year I recorded a Taylor (don't remember the model, though it was something like 800€ worth so nothing extremely special) with just a single AKG 451 going through an Avalon 737.
Microphone 30 centemeters away from the guitar, pointing 15th freth.
I've been just totally amazed by the result.
Wonderful attack and brightness and huge low end.
unbelievable.
if you have the chance, try it out!

[Unclenny]

Originally Posted by RCM - Ronan

I rarely use more than one mic on an acoustic. These days the first thing I usually try is my Pearlman TM1.

You do some pretty serious mixes.........

Most times I'm relying on that acoustic to carry the tune so I'm looking for a stereo field. Just this morning, however, I threw up a single KSM32 to catch my 1933 Kalamazoo in a pretty dense arrangement.