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Old 05-28-2017, 04:50 PM
rschultz rschultz is offline
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Default First mic for recording?!?

OK, I want to record acoustic guitar with a mic. A condenser mic. If I can only afford one, should I get a large or small diaphragm?

Large: AKG C214? Used maybe for $250.
Small: AKG P170 for like $70 new.
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Old 05-28-2017, 05:09 PM
Sage97 Sage97 is offline
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What's the rest of the chain?
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Old 05-28-2017, 05:13 PM
DanR DanR is offline
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I would vote for a small diaphragm condenser microphone for recording acoustic guitar. On a budget, the Audio Technica AT2021 at $80 new has worked well for me.
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Old 05-28-2017, 05:23 PM
rschultz rschultz is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sage97 View Post
What's the rest of the chain?
Presonus Audiobox, Mac using Studio One Artist or Garageband.
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Old 05-28-2017, 06:25 PM
sdelsolray sdelsolray is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rschultz View Post
OK, I want to record acoustic guitar with a mic. A condenser mic. If I can only afford one, should I get a large or small diaphragm?

Large: AKG C214? Used maybe for $250.
Small: AKG P170 for like $70 new.
For $250, you can score a pair of decent SD or LD mics. It's quite some time since I spent time with budget mics, but I know there are plenty of them around both new and used. Here are some ideas:

Small diaphragm Pairs:

Studio Projects C4
MXL 604
Rode NT5
Oktava Mc012
Avantone CK1

Large diaphragm Pairs:

CAD M179 (nice mic)
Various MXL solid state
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Old 05-28-2017, 06:39 PM
runamuck runamuck is offline
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2 - CAD M179 As sdelsoray says, nice mics (especially for the price) Plus they're multi-pattern.
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Old 05-28-2017, 06:57 PM
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Recording solo acoustic guitar? If so get a pair of mikes (there are decent ones that will fit your budget.).
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Old 05-28-2017, 08:02 PM
Sage97 Sage97 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rschultz View Post
Presonus Audiobox, Mac using Studio One Artist or Garageband.
I'd start with the mics sdelsolray listed. Have you considered the Apogee Duet?
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Old 05-30-2017, 09:23 AM
MikeBmusic MikeBmusic is offline
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Only guitar - never going to be recording vocals or anything else? IF your recordings are only going to be a single guitar, then 2 mics to record in stereo is your best bet.
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Old 05-30-2017, 11:02 AM
rschultz rschultz is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeBmusic View Post
Only guitar - never going to be recording vocals or anything else? IF your recordings are only going to be a single guitar, then 2 mics to record in stereo is your best bet.
Well that is a good question. Actually this week I plan to record guitar and a vocal line for a draft of a song, but for that I'll just use the guitar pickup. I only have a 2 channel interface at this point.

I've read about the stereo mic thing and there are mixed thoughts on it. Some people say that phase issues can be difficult with 2 mics, so just record 1 and then make it stereo in the DAW software. I messed around with this last night and doesn't seem that hard. Seems like a good first step to just record in mono. If I end up doing a lot of this then I could expand to a stereo mic setup.

Thanks for the help!
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