Using a Magnetic pickup to enhance recordings
 

Lately I've been spoiled a bit by adding a mag pickup to record solo fingerstyle playing along with 3 mics. So I have 4 inputs, two wide spaced pair, a center large diaphragm, and the magnetic pickup which is mixed in, added to taste.

So this is working good for me except now I don't hear as much of the unique characteristics of a particular guitar. In other words, it's making everything a little more similar sounding, homogenized. So if I'm playing the maple/sitka Beneteau CS, it can sound like my Collings OM IRW/German by just dialing in the magnetic pickup. Normally these two guitars would sound nothing alike, but now I have to listen very carefully to distinguish between the two.

I'm not sure if this is a good thing. The pickup really gives the bass a bump and I try not to let the "fakey" magnetic pickup sound win out or become dominate. I'm mixing it center as with the middle microphone, the spaced pair are mixed hard L and R.

So some of the guitars I'm recording do not have a magnetic pickup and I still play them and record them... but listening back, I'm not liking the sound as much. It's like I want to throw a mag pickup in there just to give it that bass bump. I think the trick will be to use a mag pickup and just mix enough to add the bass but not take away from the overall sound.

Comments, suggestions, welcome.

Why not try to isolate the part of the magnetic pickup you like and roll off the rest?

Your setup is way more complex than what I go for with acoustic guitar, and especially by throwing the magnetic in there.

I put this guitar together recently and I was really pleased with the resulting sound. It's technically a large chambered semi-acoustic, but it has a really nice electric tone, more acoustic than what you'd think. I think part of it is what it produces naturally. A friend was playing it unplugged and I was surprised by how loud it was, so I'm sure that's coupling back through the single magnetic pickup.

All this to say that in your case the addition of the magnetic might end up being a definite plus.

https://i.imgur.com/5h7RTHU.jpg

I tried adding the built-in piezo, and also a mag soundhole pickup to the mic recording on my acoustics but the only time I liked the mag was when I sent the signal to an amp, using my 12 string, to emulate an electric 12-string.
If you're not getting enough bass tone with your 3 mic set up, you need to start trying different mic positions. Not sure what a centered LDC does for you when you have a spaced pair of SDCs. Why not put the LDC on the lower bout?

Mike, I think that it's not that I'm not getting enough bass response, I am getting plenty of bass with just two mics or three. And I do have EQ available when mixing to add or subtract any frequency.... it's that I like the added bass the mag gives me. I recorded my OM yesterday using a really old (like from 1980s) magnetic, removeable, Bill Lawerence pickup as my 4th input. I mixed like I normally would and found the difference huge. No longer a balanced OM sound but more of a big body SJ... even more pronounced. My system can handle 8 inputs, so why not use what is at my disposal. Also, I found that using a spaced pair can sound good if I keep them 18" apart... but then I have to deal a bit with phase issues and if I don't sit in the perfect spot, there goes my recording. So now they are ~28" apart and sometime further, depending on the guitar I am recording. The middle mic, if mixed at 50-80% of the spaced pair fills in the gap in the sound.

The mag is the icing on the cake as it gives me even more options to smooth out the sound but the drawback is having every guitar sound the same or not as different as one would like.

I’ve tried recording using a variety of pick-ups as an added flavor. The only one that sounded good to me was an LR Baggs Lyric. It does not sound like a high end mic, but It took well to low end EQ enhancement and added a unique sound to the overall guitar mix when panned hard left and right with a good mic. It has a wonderful stereo effect

With that said if, you like to blend in a mag check out Peter Mulvey. He uses a Fishman rare earth blend for live and recording (plus mics in the studio)

Here he is talking about his sound
I think he has a unique playing style but were he really shines is in his song writing

Sacrilege!!!

I never head of anyone separating mics 28" for spaced pair acoustic recording. Have you tried X-Y?

I knew ...but I couldn't let an opportunity to use the word "sacrilege" slip by.

I hadn't thought of the 3:1 aspect, but was thinking more about the actual mic positions. Isn't the 3:1 really about distance from the instrument (hence phase), not mic to mic (where the phase should be the same if the mics are the same distance from the instrument)?
At 28" one is nearer the bridge, one is way up the neck. Or lower bout and 8th or 9th fret.

As I understand it , the 3 to 1 ratio concept, is actually referring more to recoding a multi source situation, like overheads or room mics for a drum kit, orchestra ,or choir with a fair amount of inherent physical separation involved.

3:1 does not apply to recording a guitar. See my link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryw8v4okgLc&t

I have used that amount of mike separation (or more) with good results. With XY on the other hand I don't care for the sound.