AKG C541B for acoustic guitar / basic setup?

[nippoo]

Acoustic guitars will mainly be steel-stringed (but I don't want to limit myself). The artist I'm recording first is a bluegrass musician - so a combination of fingerstyle and picked, and less strumming. Next up, though, someone who's mostly strumming with a pick, so are the C451s a good choice?...

[fnninns]

451s will work.
Just point it at the point where the neck joins the body and about 10" back from the instrument.
Listen... then adjust if necessary.

BTW... my advice on mics is buy two every time you can.
Matched stereo pair.
Maybe even on one of those ACSTSC GTRs.

[cinealta]

Where to start?

1) Ditch the Behringer. Don't invest in any more Behringer.

2a) Stick to micing the acousting in mono for now until you have experience with it. You can run the risk of phase issues when stereo micing if you don't have much experience in doing it.

2b) If you are going to use two mics on the acoustic, you'd get more benefit from using two different types of mics (unless you must have a stereo recording):

2c) a small diaphragm condenser (SDC) to capture the transient response as well as a large diaphragm condenser (LDC) to capture the body of the sound. These can be mixed by mic positioning or on a console.

2d) Alternatively, you can use two LDCs: one in front of the guitar and another mic over the guitarists shoulder.

3) The AKG 451 would work nicely for the SDC. But not the currently sold one (too bright) only one of the vintage ones.

4) For an LDC, I would substitute an SM57 until you can save about $2K for a Gefell or Neumann. An SM57 could also be used for guitar, drums and even vocals.

Good luck!