Mic'ing an Acoustic Guitar

inlet13

Where do you like to place the mic?

How many mics do you use?

What make and model mic and mic-stand do you use?

gimmesometruth27

mine has a fishman pickup so i plug that into a DI into the pa. i have never had to mike a standard acoustic. sorry, but that is one of the things i can not help you with. i would imagine one of the shure 57s would be ok, that is what our sound engineer uses to mic our cabinets.. we have a gig tonight so if i remember i will ask him tonight. do you need it for recording or live performance?

exhausted

this might help. there are a number of other tutorials as well.

http://homerecording.about.com/od/recor ... ic_gtr.htm

i'm currently trying to recording in stereo with one channel from a condenser mic and one channel from my guitar's pickup and blending those to get something ok.

RedMosquito22

If you are mic'ng live a 57 around the hole should be fine. Recording wise I like a condensor mic at the hole and one around the middle of the fretboard(a 57 would be good here).

inlet13

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

mine has a fishman pickup so i plug that into a DI into the pa. i have never had to mike a standard acoustic. sorry, but that is one of the things i can not help you with. i would imagine one of the shure 57s would be ok, that is what our sound engineer uses to mic our cabinets.. we have a gig tonight so if i remember i will ask him tonight. do you need it for recording or live performance?

I was just curious. I've read a lot on the subject, but I'm not very techy.

I am curious about your answers for both live and recording, so either. Thank you!

inlet13

RedMosquito22 wrote:

If you are mic'ng live a 57 around the hole should be fine. Recording wise I like a condensor mic at the hole and one around the middle of the fretboard(a 57 would be good here).

For recording, I've used the condensor mic at the 12th fret (close to the hole). That's it, and it turned out OK. But, I think I may use your technique in the future. What kind of sound does the 57 in the middle add?

RedMosquito22

inlet13 wrote:

RedMosquito22 wrote:

If you are mic'ng live a 57 around the hole should be fine. Recording wise I like a condensor mic at the hole and one around the middle of the fretboard(a 57 would be good here).

For recording, I've used the condensor mic at the 12th fret (close to the hole). That's it, and it turned out OK. But, I think I may use your technique in the future. What kind of sound does the 57 in the middle add?

Trust me I'm not a recording genius, but I like the fingers sliding on an acoustic to be present in the mix and putting it in the middle of the length of the neck you get the whole fretboard covered.

Really though just experiment with positions and distances until you find something that sounds good to you. All Mics are different too.

mccreadyisgod

This is a question with a million "right" answers, especially with recording.

For live sound, you usually want to get the mic as close to the guitar as possible, especially if you are playing with a band. If you are playing with a rock band, it will be almost impossible to use a mic on acoustic guitar with any usable results, since the guitar will be drowned out by the drums, bass, other guitars, etc. You can pull it off in a quieter setting, like with other acoustic instruments. You can use a dynamic mic (like a Shure SM57, which has been mentioned already) or condenser, with different results. A condenser will give the best full-range sound, most natural and most like the acoustic sounds to your ears. However, the extra sensitivity of a condenser means it will pick up more extra noise, and makes it more prone to feedback. A dynamic mic will make feedback less of a problem, and they tend to focus on the midrange frequencies of guitar that will blend in better with a band. It makes the guitar sound kinda boxy by itself, but it makes for good presence when mixed with other instruments. If you need to hear the guitar in monitors, using any mic is tricky; you'll have better luck with a dynamic, but ultimately if you want to perform guitar live, a pickup into a DI is the best solution (unless you play solo classical guitar, or something super-fancy like that). FWIW, I really like the Shure SM81 condenser for acoustics live, or if I use a dynamic, I like the Shure Beta 57, which is a bit brighter and with more presence than a regular 57 (although the regular 57 is a bit "warmer" sounding).

The same tonal considerations come into play when you talk about recording. A condenser will have more full-range pickup, where the dynamic mic will be focused on midrange. A large-diaphram condenser will have more of the full, rich undertones; a small-diaphram will have more of the light, airy highs. An omni-directional condenser is also a popular choice, for the most natural sound; omni's are also great for capturing the sound of the room you are in. A lot of people prefer the "color" provided by a directional mic, so there's no wrong way here, just preferences.

The biggest mistake with mic placement most amateurs make is pointing the mic into the soundhole, since (they figure) that's where the sound comes out of the guitar. Totally not true. The soundhole is there for the body to "breathe", but the entire guitar generates sound. The low frequencies and undertones tend to come from the lower bout (the fattest section of the body), whereas the highs tend to come more from the neck. For a single mic, the most popular spot to focus on is the joint of the body and neck, which gives the best balance between body and neck tonally. Again, in live sound, get it as close as possible/comfortable; in recording, see the following:

With acoustic guitar, there is a common wisdom that there are certain "sweet spots" around the guitar, where the tones are sweetest, most balanced, or most focused for the part. The typical recommendation is to have the guitarist play the part being recorded, and have the engineer move his head/ears around the guitar to find those sweet spots. You can also do this with the mic itself, although you need 3 people to pull this off right (one to play the guitar, one to move the mic to different positions, and one to listen to the mic). If you need to, put the mic in one spot, record a short section, then move the mic to a new position, record a short section, repeat as necessary and then compare them all (remembering what recording is what position). So try moving the mic closer or further away, up or down, pointed more toward the body or more up the neck, etc. With directional mics (unidirectional, cardioid, super- or hyper-cardioid, figure-8), the closer the mic is to the body, the more low-end you will get; distance makes less impact on overall tone with omni's.

When recording, a lot of engineers will use two or more mics on acoustic guitar, especially if it's a main or focal instrument. You can do this to capture more of the range of the guitar, for stereo effect, or to capture direct and room sound. One option is to use two matched mics in a wide-Y or X-Y pattern around the neck/body joint, and then pan them stereo; just be sure to keep the heads of the mics as close together as possible, and just point them in different directions (one up the neck and one toward the body). There are even stereo mics designed exactly for things like this. Another option is to use one mic on the neck for the highs, and one mic down by the body for the lows. With this method, you can use matched mics OR different mics. You can pan them apart, or have them panned together. The biggest problem with this method is what's called "phase coherence", making sure that the sound waves hit each mic in-sync. You can get this fine-tuned by panning both mics together, and then moving one back and forth in millimeters to see if the sound gets thinner or fuller. You can also do this with computer recording programs by aligning the soundwaves. The last popular method is to record with one or more mics around the guitar body, and then another mic further away to get the natural sound of the guitar in the room. This requires a room with a sound that fits the recording, so if you want big, reverb-and-echo tone, you could use a stairwell or big hall with high ceilings; if you want a closer, more intimate feel, a small room with sound dampening or soft wooden walls will work (the small-ish room with wood walls is a popular room for acoustic guitar recording). For that room mic, use an omni or figure-8 to capture as many different directions of sound as possible. Sometimes, the room mic by itself is the sound you want.

The last word is to use the method and mic that works best for you. I've recorded a fair amount of acoustic guitar, and I've never seen another engineer use the same method that I use. I've also used variations on pretty much all these methods, including recording acoustics with a single Beta 57. So, besides not mic'ing the soundhole, there really aren't many rules for recording acoustic guitar.

acutejam

Awesome answer above, and my answer as well, and I quote:

For a single mic, the most popular spot to focus on is the joint of the body and neck, which gives the best balance between body and neck tonally.

I use a Sennheiser dynamic about 10-14 inches back from the joint. If I'm noodling with a field recorder (Zoom H2), I cram it right next to the fretboard, 4-5 inches away, same spot -- joint of the body and the neck.