Hello all Sonar brothers and sisters. I have heard many songs in this forums by users that have amazing acoustic guitar tracks. They sound like how my ears hear them. Unfortunately I am not getting the same results. I use a Martin D15 M guitar, freshly strung and tuned. I have tried single miking, stereo miking (ORTF, XY, Spaced Pair) with dynamic, small diaphragm and large diaphragm mics. All my mics that I have tried are:
-Rodes NT5 stereo pair
-Rodes M5 stereo pair
-Audio Technica 2035
-Shure SM58
-Shure SM57
 
I am aware that in my case I believe that my recording environment is a big factor that is affecting the quality of my acoustic sound.
However, I am still curious to know what mics and techniques others are using. If you are so inclined please share. I would love to read about it.
 
Cheers

i like the idea of using stereo micing techniques....
and when i DO, i take care to find the best spot in the room...
locate the best position for the two mics to NOT pickup all the boom of the soundhole....
and try to minimize the phase issues.
 
but more often than not,
i just simply use one mic.
 
 
i put on my headphones, set the mic up usually pointing at the point where the neck joins the body,
aim, and then move myself around the mic, until i hear what i like.
 
then, i freeze!
 
LOL
 
and try to minimize body movement, and really focus on how the sound is projecting into the mic, and i play to that sound.
 
it is so much easier mixing one good mono mic capture, than futzing around with a poor stereo mic capture.
 

here's an old demo i did, soon to be redone,
that has all mono guitar tracks..
 
but the KEY to a good capture, is getting your gain levels correct,
and if you listen carefully,
the gain on the 'solo' guitar part is too hot, and it distorts.
 
to my ears, it's clear as rain.
 
https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/lake-katherine
 
 
point is, this was a demo, i was writing the song in real time...
 
but when it comes to 'tracking' time, performance is everything.
make sure you get your levels right before tracking for real.
 

Batsbrew, the acoustic sounds terrific. The stereo image is real nice. I could hear what you mean by the gain being to hot on the solo guitar. Were the 2 guitars in the stereo image single mic'd? An what mic(s) did you use cuz the guitar sounds great.
 
Cheers
 

actually, it's 5 guitar parts in all, each playing a slightly different part...
the two main rhthym guitars, are simply panned hard left and right.
the chimey harmonics guitar, and solo/harmony guitars, move around a bit,
but are basically solo centered, with harmony and chime left and right about 35%
 
this mic, was a Audio Tecnica 4033, thru a A designs Audio MP-1 (solo guitar) and a ART DPS (all other guitars)
 
the a designs is a class A tube pre, and i had it too hot going in. made it sound a bit fuzzy, even tho the tone is smooth.
 
 

We're going straight in from a Takamine Cedar/Koa with a TK-40 set flat, and I'm pretty happy with it. We were gonna go thru the big mic but after hearing straight in, we were both happy. In fact, I am surprised I don't think it needs an amp sim. I even turned off the amp sim for the lead and we're just going through Boost 11 for now. It needs a tad more sustain and crunch. We were using TH2 Producer, but the tone I seek is not far off from natural. The limits are he does harmonics up past the 12th fret on the intro and we want it to sound like a bell. The rest of the lead is mild Marshall crunch. We have found a setting with the boost that is oh so close!
 
Sorry, I got to rambling...

I like an ORTF pair -SDCs- mixed with a pair of close Mics-usually LDCs.

Occasionally, I add a sideways figure eight pattern duped and phase flipped panned left and right.

My favorite part of this is that you can hear the vocalist turn her head on loud notes. It gives a nice accent as she pulls away from the Mic.

I almost always capture the pickup in the guitar and I almost never use it.

I use Melda auto align to make phase alignments. I recalculate several times while listening. I enable and disable the effect on clusters of effects to control the scope of the effect calculation.
 
Example...
http://stabilitynetwork.blob.core.windows.net/g-tunes/20150506_Susan_05.mp3
 

Thanks for sharing everyone.
 
Chad

For phase issues Bats, do you set up the mics to be equidistant from where you pluck on a string. In the sam way you'd set overheads to a snare, literally measure with string, cable, ruler the distance from you plucking fingers to each mic and set the same?

Scoot
For phase issues Bats, do you set up the mics to be equidistant from where you pluck on a string. In the sam way you'd set overheads to a snare, literally measure with string, cable, ruler the distance from you plucking fingers to each mic and set the same?

scoot,
for guitars, i do it all by ear.
 
in other words,
i have to pick the spots for the mics to sit, where they don't interact.
this is hard, when i'm recording myself, somewhat easier if i'm tracking someone else.
 
i don't measure anything,
but visually if it seems a bit phucked up, it probably is!
LOL
 
for drums,
i actually measure.
 
for this session, everything was meticulously positioned.