Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

[ImmortalSix]

Any tips? My mic pre doesn't have phantom power, and I don't have a condenser mic right now anyways, so I am stuck with recording acoustic guitar (my 1998 Guild D30 with no electronics) with a dynamic mic (gasp! the horror!)

I also only have one input on my present mic pre, so I can't put two mics on the thing, just the one.

Anyways, any of you pros or giggers know any tricks for getting a good sound out of a dynamic mic on an acoustic guitar, or am I just straight up SOL? :laugh2:

This is the sound I got out of it last night: Realize cover, don't judge me!

Excuse the weird cutting in and out, my recording interface's buffer was experiencing problems last night, and gave me quite a few surprises while I was laying these down.

Recording is 3 tracks,
1) Guitar with EV N/D267 on axis aimed at the pickguard at a distance of 8" panned 40% left
2) Duplicate of Guitar with EV N/D267 on axis aimed at the pickguard at a distance of 8", but time shifted 1/100th of a second to the future and panned 60% right
3) Bass, center pan.

When making a real recording, I usually place a Neumann KM140 on axis at the 12th fret and another KM140 45 degrees off axis aimed at an imaginary dot 1.5" behind the bridge and mix the two signals. Regrettably, at present, I am not in a studio, but rather in my apartment without all the fancy equipment I used to have access to.

This recording has definite EQ deficiencies. I am wondering if anyone has some subtractive or additive EQ suggestions, mic placement suggestions, or anything else that can help me get a passable acoustic tone from a dynamic mic.

 

[Vetteboy]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

When making a real recording, I usually place a Neumann KM140 on axis at the 12th fret and another KM140 45 degrees off axis aimed at an imaginary dot 1.5" behind the bridge and mix the two signals.

How odd. I've done the exact opposite. :scratchch

My favorite acoustic sound I've gotten to-date was with my MXL-990 about a foot in front of the soundhole and a SM57 off-axis 45* aimed at the 12th fret, towards the bridge. Panned the two tracks about 75% left and 75% right. I love me some stereo acoustic.

I've also used just the SM57 numerous times. It sounds 'good', not 'great'. Haven't done it lately, but IIRC I had it aimed about 45* off-axis at the soundhole pointing towards the neck, to shed a little bit of low end and bring some string 'snap' back into the sound. Light compression and a low-cut to tighten up the bass and lose the boominess, a touch of reverb to open the sound slightly, and I routed it through a BBE Sonic Maximizer to enhance and add a little sparkle. Play with the mids between 400 and 1000 Hz to find the sweet spot for your instrument and season to taste.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

Thanks for the good advice, Vette. I will play around with your suggested mic placements after work.

edit: also, note the new and improved, less extreme bass tone

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

Any more input, gang?

I still have not found a tone that I like

 

[RW James]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

I don't have any good tips - I have a hard time with this as well. But I really appreciate the responses so far. I hope there are more.

 

[Vetteboy]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

Let's take a different approach.

What kind of sound are you looking for? Twinkly? Full-bodied? Something that stands alone for fingerpicking, or something to fill out the background of something fully tracked already?

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

Let's take a different approach.

What kind of sound are you looking for? Twinkly? Full-bodied? Something that stands alone for fingerpicking, or something to fill out the background of something fully tracked already?

I am going for a Realize cover :laugh2:

Basically full bottomed and bright, trying to get rid of the moaning mids.

I am actually truing to duplicate this tone best I can with a dynamic mic.

Guitar is a '98 Guild D30 with one piece arched flame maple back, and flame maple sides, pretty bright guitar by virtue of materials, but also very well broken in now. Spruce top, nitrocellulose all around.

I bought the song on Amazon MP3 so I can email it to you if you want to hear the real version with headphones or something, to really hear the (excellent) acoustic guitar tone.

 

[Vetteboy]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

Sure, go ahead and email it if you can...I want to see what I can do with my lowly SM57 and Gibson.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

Well, I'm not very familiar with that sound, but what I do is use a small condenser studio mic (I'm not fond of dynamic mics for recording), in my case, an AKG C1000-S pointed downwards at the fingerboard about 2-3 inches in front of the soundhole. I use phantom power on that mic and run through a Presonus Blue Tube mic preamp before it hits the board. That seems to work fairly well for me.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

Sure, go ahead and email it if you can...I want to see what I can do with my lowly SM57 and Gibson.

Cool --- I am interested to hear what you get.

My mic is bassier, and my guitar is brighter

Your mic has less bass, and your guitar is (assumedly) bassier

All in all, it could be a similar recording --- at any rate it will be helpful to hear what you get!

Thanks

 

[Vetteboy]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

OK - this isn't "Realize", but it's a few different styles to illustrate what I was able to get.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7322812

Setup is the following:

- Gibson B25 acoustic
- SM57, about 6" away from soundhole, 45* towards fretboard, aimed at about the 15th fret
- 57 -> 451 Mic Simulator patch
- Parametric EQ (Stereo Piano preset)
- Limiter, medium-high threshold, 7:1 ratio, medium-fast release, -1.5 dB bass, +2.5 dB treble
- Room reverb, 0.48s decay time
- BBE 462 Sonic Maximizer

Not perfect, but a fair stopping point after about half an hour of tweaking.

edit: if you read what I put in my first post, it's basically that with a few more details

 

[Vetteboy]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

I listened to this again today and didn't hate it. That's a good sign.

Any thoughts?

 

[ginormous]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

A 57? Tough call...

I'd mike about 6" back, halfway between the soundhole and the bridge, at about a 30-degree angle from the guitar front (leaving enough room for the hand/arm). Perhaps a bit of low-mid scoop to even out the boominess.

If no limiter, back off the fader slightly from zero level (about -3 to -5, depending on the dynamics). Otherwise, get a clean sound with no breakup, and limit for peak levels only (5:1). Too much squash will make it sound like it's gasping for air.

BION, I got a killer acoustic sound from a $25 Sony tie-clip condenser mic. I bent a piece of cardboard around the edge of the soundhole near the high E, and worked the tie-clip over it until the clip slid into place. Powered by a button battery, and it was a good Plan B for a demo. I didn't have to strum too hard, because the tone had enough brightness and bite (an old Guild dreadnaught).

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

OK - this isn't "Realize", but it's a few different styles to illustrate what I was able to get.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7322812

Setup is the following:

- Gibson B25 acoustic
- SM57, about 6" away from soundhole, 45* towards fretboard, aimed at about the 15th fret
- 57 -> 451 Mic Simulator patch
- Parametric EQ (Stereo Piano preset)
- Limiter, medium-high threshold, 7:1 ratio, medium-fast release, -1.5 dB bass, +2.5 dB treble
- Room reverb, 0.48s decay time
- BBE 462 Sonic Maximizer

Not perfect, but a fair stopping point after about half an hour of tweaking.

edit: if you read what I put in my first post, it's basically that with a few more details

Well I certainly like the sound you were able to get --- pretty impressive for using a dynamic!

And of course, thank you.

I am interested, are you able to extract the frequencies and gain values from your parametric EQ preset? I liked the EQ as you had it, very "unremarkable," in the good way. I don't have a limiter or a sonic maximizer, but I can try, right?

Thanks again, Vettester

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

A 57? Tough call...

I'd mike about 6" back, halfway between the soundhole and the bridge, at about a 30-degree angle from the guitar front (leaving enough room for the hand/arm). Perhaps a bit of low-mid scoop to even out the boominess.

If no limiter, back off the fader slightly from zero level (about -3 to -5, depending on the dynamics). Otherwise, get a clean sound with no breakup, and limit for peak levels only (5:1). Too much squash will make it sound like it's gasping for air.

BION, I got a killer acoustic sound from a $25 Sony tie-clip condenser mic. I bent a piece of cardboard around the edge of the soundhole near the high E, and worked the tie-clip over it until the clip slid into place. Powered by a button battery, and it was a good Plan B for a demo. I didn't have to strum too hard, because the tone had enough brightness and bite (an old Guild dreadnaught).

Thanks, Reg, I will try that out too. My mic is actually not an SM57, it's an ElectroVoice N/D267, which is a vocal mic that is supposedly set up for optimizing vocal bass frequencies, even when further away from the sound source, so basically engineered to combat the proximity effect. You can hear it's tone color in the SL-20 Slicer video in my signature --- kind of low-mid heavy in a "vocal EQ hump" way.

See here for the real details

 

[soultostrings]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

I have tried this in the past, it's pretty difficult but easier than spending a lot on condensor mics etc. Plus the whole phantom power thing...

I haven't had the best luck with it either, maybe i should try placing the mic closer to the 12 fret. I normally mic right in front of the soundhole & eq to taste on the mixer.

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

well if you wanted to look into mics..the AKG C1000S that was mentioned earlier uses a battery for built in phantom power so you don't have to have it on your EQ and you can find them used for a decent price

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Recording Acoustic Guitar with a Dynamic Mic

well if you wanted to look into mics..the AKG C1000S that was mentioned earlier uses a battery for built in phantom power so you don't have to have it on your EQ and you can find them used for a decent price

I have thought about electret condensers, but I'll keep that out of this thread since we are getting such good input about recording with dynamics here ---