All three mics...

[Yamaha Man]

Here's a sound clip of a guitar with all three of my mics, the SM7b, and two TLM 102's.

Foam separator removed. SM7b panned to center, 102's panned left and right.

A little EQ applied.

https://soundcloud.com/djwayne2000/stairway-test-take-3

[RedJoker]

This sounds OK to me but, honestly, I don't know if it sounds like your guitar. Do you think it's an accurate recording? Since I've only rarely heard my guitar play, I seriously doubt my recordings sound like my guitar.

I've since started recording with just the pickup since I only make scratch recordings. I'm not trying to put out a CD. By doing that, I can get a decent representation without room noise, without having to play in exactly the same mic position, and I get good separation between vocal and guitar channel. I know it's not perfect but neither am I. I'm the weak link in my signal chain.

[Yamaha Man]

Ya it's pretty accurate. It shows my sloppy playing very well. Actually it's best recording I have of that guitar. It was surprising to me that the TLM 102's showed a normal output but the SM7b had a really hot signal, I had to tame it down considerably to get a balanced mix. I like it.

I burned a copy of it to cd and tried it out in my truck's sound system...I'm very happy with the tone of the guitar.

[muscmp]

actually can't tell much of anything in regards to using three mics, but, luckily it was a short clip as i burnt out on that song in 1975!

play music!

[Yamaha Man]

I chose that song because it gives everybody a reference point. Just about everybody knows it, but I wanted people to listen to the quality of guitar sound. Sounds great here in my studio and on my truck's sound system. Remember it's only a sound test.

[rick-slo]

Nice clear, clean, sound. Totally fine for something that would be part of a mix (other instruments and/or voice). For a solo instrumental something with more solid sound and soundstage depth would probably be helpful. Some of that can be done post recording of course.

[Yamaha Man]

Exactly. This setup brings out the rich sound of the D-35. All three mics blend well together, and sound much better than just one or two mics alone. There's a definite sweet spot when blending them, that's not there with just one mic.

[Yamaha Man]

Notice at about the 3-4 second mark, there's a bit of rumbling in the background, I must have been shifting around a little. The mics are very sensitive. Also notice the lack of any background or room noises. Just pure guitar, and at the 13-15 second mark there's a couple of light strums, I wanted to hear all six strings. This sound sample showed me just what my rig is capable of. I can make recordings like this all day long now. I think this is great for instrumental recordings.

[paulp1960]

You refer to your rig as 8 track but you are using Sonar so it's as many tracks as you wish or your computer can handle. True you can only record 8 inputs at once but you can play back more than 8 tracks.

[Yamaha Man]

Originally Posted by paulp1960

You refer to your rig as 8 track but you are using Sonar so it's as many tracks as you wish or your computer can handle. True you can only record 8 inputs at once but you can play back more than 8 tracks.

Yes I know. When I say 8 tracks, I mean 8 tracks of audio input at one time. I can set my Mackie to input 24 track and mix that down to either 8 or 2 tracks to go into the computer. The Focusrite will also accept inputs from a device using an optical input of upto and additional 8 tracks plus 2 SPDIF tracks as well. I don't have that kind of equipment and don't need it. I will only record myself and possible two other players, hence the need for 8 tracks. On the midi side of things, with Sonar I have unlimited amounts of tracks. In my East West Symphonic Orchestra program I have 16 midi channels to work with for each instance of EWSO I set up. I also have the Ivory II software piano sound collection,as well as all the sound samples, synths and drum kits in Sonar. So all in all, I have a very powerful studio to take care of any recording needs I may have in the future. With the addition of the new three very good quality mics, I am now very pleased with the sounds I can get.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by Martin Maniac

Notice at about the 3-4 second mark, there's a bit of rumbling in the background, I must have been shifting around a little. The mics are very sensitive. Also notice the lack of any background or room noises. Just pure guitar, and at the 13-15 second mark there's a couple of light strums, I wanted to hear all six strings. This sound sample showed me just what my rig is capable of. I can make recordings like this all day long now. I think this is great for instrumental recordings.

There actually is noticeable background noise - either mike self noise, preamp noise, or something else (computer?). You need to leave some non guitar playing time in the clip to more easily hear it. That said, the noise level is reasonably low.

[Yamaha Man]

There may be a little noise in the line due to improper settings of levels on the Focusrite or in Sonar. This was a very quick setup and recording just to hear what all three mics sounded like together. On my truck's sound system I don't hear any noise, and that's what counts to me. I'm looking for quality that I can give out to friends and family, and believe me they don't hear any noise, if fact one family member who heard the sample thought it sounded great. So it falls in the category of "good enough for Me and Bobby McGee."