Recording an acoustic guitar with a condenser mic in normal room in a home

[rossnuk]

Hi there - how can I effectively record an acoustic guitar and vocals in a normal room with a window and furniture in it.

I have heard theories that you should sit facing the corner of a room with the guitar and have condenser mic as close to the wall as possible to eliminate the sound bouncing off furniture in the room.

Any truth in this or should I just sit in the middle of the room and record?

Need help please.

Ross

[Audiop]

A omni (or subcardioid) in particular will be terrible in a corner since all room modes (resonances) terminates there.

In a normal room the furniture are more of a help since they add diffusion and some absorbtion to the room. It's hard to give thumb-of-rules-advices in situations like this since there are so many variables such as the type of mic and its polar pattern.. and also the room dimensions ans so on.

Just experiment. Try a corner placement and compare to an "in the room" placement.

What mic/mic's do you have?


/Peter

[rossnuk]

Hi - I am just about to recieve the SE Electronics Gemini mic.

It is cardioid pattern. I will experiment with different positions.

Ross

[dp.movement]

I'm not sure if anyone can verify this based on their own experience.

But there's an interesting effect we achieved when you record an acoustic guitar facing closely towards a hard-brick wall.

We once attempted that technique for a well-known folk musician, with his steel acoustic guitar, and the guitar sounded more full-bodied.

Perhaps the reflection of the sound from the brick wall resulted to a natural slap delay in the guitar recording.

[bradley]

trail and error really! All rooms are different so you might have to move around to get the best sound!

I tend to hang a duvet on mic stands behind the performer (so the null of the mic faces the room) which can help to dampen reflections off the wall behind the player. Does depend on the room though. Some rooms with high ceilings and lots of furniture can be good as the reflections scatter and heavy furniture works well to absorb some of the room sound.

[acousticvillage]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help. I have tried varioius different positions, mics, but I always have problems with my D String (4th String) and its boominess compared to others. If I try to EQ it out, I muddy up or thin the other "good sounding" strings.
Does anyone have any advice on how I can have an acoustic guitar sound that has the same level for all three bottom strings? It's driving me mad.
Thanks
Jim

[7rojo7]

I think the corner theory comes from when they hunted down Robert Johnson to record him and he sang into the corner so he could hear himself, I think they thought he was shy until he started to play. You might just want to have the room nodes on your recording, and you might not.
Anyway, sit down where you hear yourself best, even if you use cans, it's a safe bet that the mic might hear you that too. If that doesn't work, turn the whole thing 180. Sit where the mic was and put the mic where you were sitting

[GZsound]

I would put the guitar in the center of the room and use two small condenser mics to record the guitar in stereo. Point them down at the guitar from about five inches above the strings.

That has given me the smoothest least boomy acoustic guitar recordings.

If there is still too much bottom end, a high pass filter set at 60hz can help.

[DCtoDaylight]

Originally Posted by acousticvillage

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help. I have tried varioius different positions, mics, but I always have problems with my D String (4th String) and its boominess compared to others. If I try to EQ it out, I muddy up or thin the other "good sounding" strings.
Does anyone have any advice on how I can have an acoustic guitar sound that has the same level for all three bottom strings? It's driving me mad.
Thanks
Jim

Does the D string only sound boomy when you play it open, or does it stand out when you're fretting it as well? If the former, there may be a room resonance at the D frequency that needs to be addressed. If the latter, it's possible that the guitar needs some setup work (maybe the action on the D is a little higher, or a different gauge string would balance better).

And just to take a step back - is this is a room that's really good-sounding when you just play your guitar normally, i.e., without a recording setup? If you don't get a sweet sound in the room, you'll have a hard time getting on your recording. If there's a room you have access to that sounds good or great to begin with, that would be the place to focus your efforts.

As far as placement - everyone's giving good advice about experiemenation. I'd just add that you should leave the mic in the box and try just playing in different spots until you find the best sound (having a friend with good ears around can help), and then start thinking about how to capture it.

Good luck!

[acousticvillage]

Just to say a big thanks to all who provided their help....really appreciated. I found the question from DCtoDaylight really useful and yes, mainly when fretting on the second fret!! I will look into that as well as the positioning tips I received.
Thanks again.
Jim