Acoustic guitar micing- how do you guys do it?

[Exocaster]

What's your preferred method for micing an acoustic guitar? 12th fret, soundhole, multi-mic setup, close, distant, SDC, LDC, etc. I'm looking to fine-tune my acoustic micing, and I'm curious how everyone else on here does it.

 

[I-Quality]

do what sounds best for the situation ;o)
but honestly, most of the time I'm going with a 2 mics setup, one aiming at the frets and another at the sound hole or approximately. What is nice with a double mic setup is that you can enlarge the image of the guitar...
For the frets i might chose a smoother mic and a somewhat more precise mic for the soundhole.
But everything can work, a pair of sd a pair of ld or a mix. Maybe I'll go for a mix more often.
Even though a good placed mic in the room (it really depends where you record) maybe from 30cm to a few meters depending on what you want can be the ticket sometimes.

 

[botus99]

I point a condenser at the 12th fret and then a 57 or 58 on the body, under the bridge, to pick up some midrange. Blending those two and adding some Vintage Warmer... mmmmmm

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

I set up as many options as I can and run through a section of a song, keep what works ditch what doesn't. I haven't found anything that works for every guitar.

 

[colonel kurtz]

my go-to method has been to set up an At 4033 1-1.5 ft. to the right of the guitar, pointed off-axis at the soundhole, along with an SM-81 around a foot back from the neck, also off-axis. i try to get a 90 degree angle between the 2 mics, then pan L/R

 

[ExecutiveRob]

Depends if it's acoustic guitars backing up a rhythm section or if it's solo guitar (er, not "solo", I mean on your lonesome)...

If it's the former, then depending on how subtle it will finally be, I'd either use just a 414 pointing at where the neck joins the body if it needs to be a bit fatter in the mix, or just a single pencil condensor like an AKG C 451B near the nut pointing at the frets - totally zingy sound, virtually no thickness.

If the latter or if there's not a lot going on in the mix then my usual set up is SE Electronics Gemini about a foot back pointing towards the neck/body join, 414 on the frets near the nut, and a sennheiser e901 behind the guitar, quite close to the body, below the players strumming/picking elbow.

 

[AStacy2]

In a good sounding room, a SM81 three or four feet back aimed at where the neck meets the body.

 

[KeithRT99]

i usually go with a u87 or other LDC around the 12th fret.

 

[RKelly]

Schoeps are always a great bet on Acoustic in a stereo configuration, I usually use them in X-Y but ORTF can work well sometimes.

We just recorded a singer songwriter and since it was a guide vocal/guitar track I threw the mic (AK47) over his right shoulder aimed down at the guitar. One of the best guitar/vocal sounds I've gotten.

So, I guess just get someone to play and move the mics around til you find what you like.

 

[Sloan]

I usually trigger the strings and use samples. Having an sm57 about 1" from the soundhole can help fillout the samples. I don't always use the mic though.

 

[Metaltastic]

Haha, acoustigog here we come!

 

[Where She Wept]

I just got a Nady RSM-4 Ribbin mic, i put it about 10" away and pointed at the soundhole. sounds great, clearer and more natural than my condensers.

 

[Sloan]

I just got a Nady RSM-4 Ribbin mic, i put it about 10" away and pointed at the soundhole. sounds great, clearer and more natural than my condensers.

Hey, do you have any clips of that mic?
I don't have any ribbons and that looks like a nice starting point.

 

[MetalJonesy]

if h had a 414 at my disposal, that would be my first choice and have that at the sound hole, other than that id have maybe a di if it was an electro acoustic with good internal preamp, then id just mess around with two mics, both either condensers or one condenser and one dynamic have one just off the sound hole, and one on the 12th or a bit further, like 9th or summat

this track uses 2 mxl 990s, one directly on the sound hole about 20-30cms away (panned left), and the other pointed around the 9th fret (same distance, panned right), also added a blend of the acoustic di to the track in the centre, other than that ive done nothing to the track. after doin that and its starting to sound good id start messing with compression, fx etc, and maybe drop a mic track or the di track outta the mix if needed

http://www.upload.celtiaproductions.co.uk/uploads/Mixdown (2).mp3

just wish the strings on the acoustic were'nt months old!!

 

[Katau]

Each application requires a different method. But 80% of the time, I end up with 2 mics separated with a Jecklin disk. The mics are about 2 feet away from the guitar. One pointed at the 12th fret, the other at the bridge. These two tracks are then panned L/R 100% to preserve the "stereo" micing...or you can just record it to a single stereo track.

 

[Metaltastic]

What's a Jecklin disk?

 

[if6was9]

A really nice spot is under the guitar pointing up peeping out so the player can see it- more towards the right of the bridge than the middle. Saw it in a book and tried a few different positions and that was the nicest.

 

[LSD-Studio]

 

[colonel kurtz]

^my usual technique thus far has looked more or less like that...just omit the mic in the middle(is that a beyer ribbon?), and move the one on the right over 6-8"

i had to ditch that tonight, though - i was recording an instrumental segue sort of thing on a classical guitar, and found that the sound of the nylon strings was just way too wimpy when i gave some space between the guitar and mics...even with the gain cranked on the pres, it just didn't cut it

this time around, i moved each around in front of the guitar until i found the sweet spot, which happened to be just a few inches above the sound hole...for whatever reason, the body had great resonance at that particular spot, so that's where i tried to get most of the tone from. i also backed each one up just enough to cut down on the proximity effect, then situated each off-axis a little bit from the soundhole.

here's pics:

i'll post clips sometime tomorrow - i'm giving my fingers a quick break from the nylon, and will be going to bed as soon as i get these next couple takes finished

 

[LSD-Studio]

^my usual technique thus far has looked more or less like that...just omit the mic in the middle(is that a beyer ribbon?),

yeah, actually it's 2 different stereo-pairs:

the Neumann in A/B one aiming at the 12th fret, one at the bridge

and beyer m160- AKG 414 in M/S

the final sound is usually just one of the pairs then (depending on the song, player etc) rarely a blend of both.

for steelstring it's mostly AB and for nylond mostly M/S but that's no rule here