I'm trying to get a "great" acoustic sound, which in my ears I'm not quite getting. 
(this is my first actual recording of a acoustic guitar mic'ed up - so please bear over with me...)

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=54535DFADF5E09B9!2079


(this all started with me trying to find out which mic sounded the best...)

I have done the following:
recording 1: 2 mics - AKG D880 and a Sennheiser(dont remember the model number just now) panned one left and one right
recording 2: Røde NTK

Ideally I wanted to record all 3 at once, but I did not have 3 XLR cables at the moment (I don't know where all those cables disappear...?)

Well, I decided to send all 3 guitars to the same stereo bus - which has compressor, then a BBE sonic and a harmonic maximizer.
So a tad of reverb (a reverb bus)

The tracks are untouched besides that. 


I think it gets a bit "phaser" / 12 string sound, which is not the actual sound I'm after. 
I want more of a fat acoustic sound. 

Anyone have any suggestion? 

And - please notice this is my first acoustic mic'ing. 
I'm used to just tweaking my POD 

A couple of tips:

1     Get the Acoustic sounding as good at it can ie new strings
2     Use a decent microphone about 12 or 18" away from roughly the 12th fret position.
3     Loose the silly BBE and harmonic maximiser plugins. Unnecessary.
4     Play Well!

classic phase issues.
tricky indeed.

study up on micing techniques, start there.

gear choice comes after.

Jeff Evans


A couple of tips:

1     Get the Acoustic sounding as good at it can ie new strings
2     Use a decent microphone about 12 or 18" away from roughly the 12th fret position.
3     Loose the silly BBE and harmonic maximiser plugins. Unnecessary.
4     Play Well!

1. Done
2. Ah - just there I've learned something. I had the mic's as close as I could to the soundhole. 
3. Will try without. So you recommend a sound completely without any processing?
4. To play or not to play, thats the question ;-)

batsbrew


classic phase issues.
tricky indeed.

study up on micing techniques, start there.

gear choice comes after.

Ohhh.. But thats so much to read? 


You agree it sounds more like a 12string, yes? 

The sound hole often produces a boomy sound. I think some processing is quite OK but not stupid things like the BBE and the harmonic maximiser. They won't do anything for your sound other than ruin it.
I would use some EQ perhaps (subtly) and perhaps a compressor to tame levels a little. 

I get the best acoustic guitar sound using a Zoom H2 unit (matched pair stereo mics in a single capsule; great sound) sitting on a stool about 2 feet away from my guitar, in a quiet medium damped room.

(I mean, the best acoustic guitar sound that I've been able to achieve so far.)

I often add additional reverb to the track once recorded, to taste. The un-effected track sounds quite nice on its own.

I posted a message in a similar thread in this section.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2812083


There's a chapter in Craig Anderton's Advanced Workshop video that really provides excellent info on this.

Perfect, thanks :) 

Will check immediately!

lawajava


I posted a message in a similar thread in this section.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2812083


There's a chapter in Craig Anderton's Advanced Workshop video that really provides excellent info on this.

Craig offers an Electronic Musicians' perspective on how to electronically manipulate a signal so as to mimic acoustic phenomena.


Unfortunately, advice of this sort is often leveraged and re-presented as a suggestion that recording acoustic instruments AS acoustic instruments is somehow complicated and requires special instruction, tutorials etc.


Those of us who work with acoustic instruments frequently can often get results that satisfy the musicians they are working for by avoiding as many electronic manipulation techniques as possible. 

Once you are accustomed to straight forward acoustic music the electronic techniques leave all sorts of tell tale characteristics. Acoustic music enthusiasts often consider the results of techniques like "virtual mic'ing" to seem cheezy sounding. 

Electronic musician enthusiasts consider the same quirks to seem interesting and inventive. It's a stylistic choice.


Craig is really good at Electronic Music and he presents ideas that appeal to people who enjoy electronic music.

Those of us who work with and for acoustic performers more so than electronic enthusiasts have been offering very practical advice in the the recent threads.


The best advice for recording acoustic guitar is to make sure that the person playing the guitar is competent and confident. The mics give best results when they are hearing something that sounds good.

The better the player... the less work you will do placing the mic.

It's easy and once you get a taste for straight up acoustic guitar you may end up feeling like all the post process manipulation techniques are really only suitable for polishing turds.

The good acoustic stuff just doesn't seem to get better when you "polish" it, so some of us think the very best advice is to encourage people to learn how to hunt for and harvest the good acoustic stuff and leave all the fancy post process techniques to folks who don't have a chance to record good acoustic stuff.




all the best,
mike 




 

I generally record 2 tracks of the same acoustic strumming part and pan them pretty hard opposite. 

I send the 2 tracks to a bus and do a low cut on the EQ to lose the boomy bottom that is that sound hole thing mentioned. 

I'm still learning how to do acoustic guitar right.  Listen to footsteps in the hall on my web site. That acoustic guitar was done as described above. (use headphones or good studio monitors to hear the details in it) 

I place the mic as described.... generally 12 to 18 inches out in front.... one Rode NT-2A and listen to see where it sounds good in the cans. 

New strings .... yup... I need to change mine....