Recording acoustic guitar with a SM57 or using the piezo pickup?

[narcossintese]

Yesterday I recorded a Sister Hazel version using only one acoustic guitar track and vocals. I know that a condenser mic would be the best choice here, but the only mics I own are SM57 and SM58, so I just put the SM57 around the 12th fret, facing the guitar hole. Is there any good advice to improve it or it´s just a gear limitation?

The results are far from great, but the track that I got direct from the piezo pickup was much worse. Is there any technique to get a good tone from the piezo? It seems that recording an acoustic guitar without mics is a big "don´t".

 

[P-E]

You could actually try to do both :
pickup for clarity
mic for airiness.

Then mix to see how you prefer it, it might very well end 100% SM57 but it's good to try.
Seems like the piezo isn't cutting it, then I say ditch it.

 

[LydonB]

You can do an acoustic guitar with a 57, you just need to play with the placement of the microphone.

Full albums have been done with only 57's, so it is definitely not a limitation of the gear.

 

[GarethSE]

SM57 is bad enough as it is for acoustic, so don't aim it towards the sound hole. Aim it more towards the neck, because you want air and twang over chunk ideally. What fret the mic is aimed at is down to your ears.

I got interesting results double micing my acoustic with condenser on the fretboard and SM57 on the sound hole, so it may be worth double micing your acoustic and blending the 2 mics.

 

[UM1]

I've used 3 mics at once and blended them for a nice acoustic sound.

A SM57, MD421 and a E609. One at the sound hole, another one in the middle of the neck and one around the first fret. Sometimes I would put one back a few feet and blend in the room sound.

 

[ahjteam]

Yesterday I recorded a Sister Hazel version using only one acoustic guitar track and vocals. I know that a condenser mic would be the best choice here, but the only mics I own are SM57 and SM58, so I just put the SM57 around the 12th fret, facing the guitar hole. Is there any good advice to improve it or it´s just a gear limitation?

The results are far from great, but the track that I got direct from the piezo pickup was much worse. Is there any technique to get a good tone from the piezo? It seems that recording an acoustic guitar without mics is a big "don´t".

Any cheap condenser mic (large or small diaphram) will do the job most likely better than the sm57 which is a dynamic microphone. You can buy the cheap ones for 20-50 bucks, the decent ones start from 70-100 bucks a piece. But I am not saying that it couldn't be done with SM57 only.

 

[fade_2_black]

If you really have to use to 57 (which isnt ideal), try aiming it at around the 12th fret, for a bright, airy sound. Try blending in (at very low levels) the piezo for a little more fullness.

 

[GarethSE]

Any cheap condenser mic (large or small diaphram) will do the job most likely better than the sm57 which is a dynamic microphone. You can buy the cheap ones for 20-50 bucks, the decent ones start from 70-100 bucks a piece. But I am not saying that it couldn't be done with SM57 only.

+1

My AKG Perception 200, while not much more expensive than a 57 got a noticeably better sound.
The first time I recorded my acoustic with my 57 put me off recording acoustic at all for a while, then when I miced it up with my condenser I was blown away with how good it made my cheap POS guitar sound, so a cheap condenser is definately a worthy investment.

I'd heartily recommend the AKG Perception 200 to boot.

 

[HeadCrusher]

Full albums have been done with only 57's, so it is definitely not a limitation of the gear.

SM57s only? Which albums?

 

[AdamWathan]

SM57s only? Which albums?

The Black Album!

 

[narcossintese]

Thanks for all the replies. I tried mixing the piezo track but it was really useless, even after very heavy processing. I gotta try retracking it with the SM57 facing the 12th fret instead the hole. If it didn´t work too, well, who cares about "vocals and acoustic" anyway? LOL I don´t want to spend a big money on a good condenser as I will probably only use on acoustic guitars (even the cheaper AKGs here costs no less than US$400). I guess that when I need to record something like this for real I will just head to a studio with a good mic and track there with my notebook : )

 

[LydonB]

SM57s only? Which albums?

Take A Ride On My One-Wheeled Rickshaw by Mod Flanders Conspiracy.

 

[HeadCrusher]

The Black Album!

Yeah, right.

Thinking about Metallica: St. Anger might be all SM57s. Oh, wait, no, one could never make such a shitty sound with SM57s! uke:

Take A Ride On My One-Wheeled Rickshaw by Mod Flanders Conspiracy.

Thanks, I'm gonna have to check that out.

 

[The Unavoidable]

I've used a 57 on acoustic, with great success. Took a good dose of EQ to get it right, but it worked out great.

 

[if6was9]

I think the 57's not the worst on acoustics- takes some time to get a nice placement but you can get nice results.
I recorded this
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=926122&songID=7576099

Using just a 57 on the acoustic which wasn't really a nice guitar either, I was pretty happy with how it sounded,

 

[Metaltastic]

One important thing to remember is a mic is less sensitive to position the farther away from the source it is; naturally in the case of a 57 you need it pretty damn close to salvage what little sparkle/air you can get, but I still think I'd rather have it in the ballpark of the 12th fret around 2 ft. away!