Quote:
Originally Posted by Hoyt
Today’s pickups sound surprisingly good recorded direct. But I prefer having miced and direct signals to mix. A good mixed acoustic is hard to beat, but you can’t always get that GOOD miced sound.
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Not sure I agree with this first part. All you have to do is skim the amplification section to see that almost everyone struggles to find a pickup that even sounds good live (there are a few exceptions, usually someone who's discovered a new pickup they are excited about - for a while). Almost no one I know claims a pickup is even marginally acceptable for recording, tho we've had one or two threads here lately by people who are recording with pickups and are happy (but it's rare). One possible way to get an acceptable recorded sound with a pickup is ToneDexter, but other than that, most examples people post with a pickup sound so-so at best.
But I agree with the second part, the key factor for most people trying to record with mics is that the room acoustics and noise situation has to be acceptable. That can be fixed in most cases without going to extremes, but it does add to the challenge and learning curve. It all depends on how important the sound quality is to you and whether you can spend a bit of time figuring out how to mic the guitar correctly and how to deal with acoustics and noise. Usually with a bit of help and suggestions, people are able to dial in a decent mic'd sound pretty quickly.