Recording Acoustic Guitar Advice Needed!!!

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by mkennedy5683

Hey friends,

Here is another attempt. Let me know what you think. https://youtu.be/ekTBCn3Aimc?si=FhxVUtn-A5s3SDUC

All in all, a decent sound. You may be a ble to improve it, even if only using a single mic.

I'm interested in why your mic is pointing directly at the sound hole. Even if you're not directly over it you can still get a bit of boominess.

You might find it adds clarity if you position your mic so it's pointing directly over the neck/body joint or a bit further towards the sound hole, over the 15th or 16th fret, but not pointing at the sound hole. Most home recordists are orienting mics close to perpendicular to the top surface anywhere from 6" to 12" out.

[b1j]

The close mic helps lower room noise, but you're getting proximity effect (boomy bass). Lower that, and you're onto something.

Aim the mic away from the sound hole. From where you have it mounted, point it at the 12th fret.

[Doug Young]

I think this is sounding not bad overall as a home recording. It would help to be able to see your mic placement, to make suggestions. Someone mentioned the mic being aimed into the soundhole? There is a sort of boominess to the sound, which could be due to mic placement, but it could be lots of things. I don't really think your room sound is holding you back - room treatment is always good, but that's not leaping out to me as a big problem here.

a few thoughts:

Is that drum/click thing important? It's distracting, and kind of gets in the way of focusing on the guitar sound. Unless it's a key part of the piece, I'd drop it, at least while trying to dial in your guitar sound.

I get the impression you're playing softly. That's a common thing - we think we're playing into the mic and sort of try to make the sound go those few inches to the mic. I'd try to get more sound from the guitar - play like you're playing to the back of the room and let the mic pick up the bigger sound.

What is it that you want to record? Just guitar with minimal other stuff (like your click thing)? In that case, 2 mics and stereo micing will really open up your sound. If this is going to be in a mix with lots of other stuff, then 1 mic is fine, and you'll want to evaluate the sound in the context of the other instruments.

How does what you hear on playback compare to what you hear when you just play the guitar?

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by mkennedy5683

Hey friends,

Here is another attempt. Let me know what you think. https://youtu.be/ekTBCn3Aimc?si=FhxVUtn-A5s3SDUC

Actually that sounds very good on headphones with my high end playback setup, especially for a mono (one mike recording). Glad the click thing was removed. Better that way. In long run
However I suggest recording in stereo with two mikes for a fuller richer sound.
Congrats.

[Doug Young]

Somehow when I tried to check your latest, I was watching the original, so some of my comments above may not make sense. I see the mic now, and the drum/click is gone, that's all good. It still seems a bit boomy to me, but a much better sound overall, and I don't hear any room acoustics issue. You might experiment with the mic placement a bit more. And I'd still suggest working on playing a bit louder and see how that helps - and stereo will definitely make things sound much better!

[TheGITM]

Originally Posted by mkennedy5683

Hey friends,

Here is another attempt. Let me know what you think. https://youtu.be/ekTBCn3Aimc?si=FhxVUtn-A5s3SDUC

Now you went and changed guitars on us!

Both guitars sound good. As for the recording, to me the sound is somewhat muted. I don't know if you're doing anything in the mix or if this is the raw recording. I'm curious how you are powering the mic... is it a USB interface, by chance? I don't have a lot of direct, personal experience as I've just started getting back into recording, but I've read that some power interfaces can 'underpower' a mic. I'm using a Triton Fethead inline and it makes a big difference in upping the floor of my signal which provides more gain with less 'noise'.

It might help if you shared more info about the signal path starting from the mic... whatcha runnin'?

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by mkennedy5683

Hey friends,

Here is another attempt. Let me know what you think. https://youtu.be/ekTBCn3Aimc?si=FhxVUtn-A5s3SDUC

Well you seem on the right track BUT:
As noted pointing the mic at the sound hole is not a good idea.

But back to basic recording 101

#1 microphones do not pick up sound the same way human ears do
#2 small rooms almost always create (depending on specific dimensions ) both unnatural build up in some frequency ranges and comb filtering (deadening ) of some frequencies. And often results in sound that both harsh in some frequencies and lacks presence in others.
So the while the untrained ear may like the resulting reverb-ish echo -ish effect that room noise can impart , it is almost certainly also creating unnatural buildup in some freq's and deadening others that may be less discernible than the echo effect but gives the overall recording a bit less 3D presence and depth when those room issues are better addressed.

And as for the difference in human hearing and what the mic hears for example think of how people like to hear themselves sing in the shower BUT it is an atrocious recording environment.

#3 Attempting to lessen room issues with a wind cover will likely only detract from overall presence and detail, any room issues will still be reflected in the recording just very slightly less noticeable because all the sound good and bad will be slightly less noticeable..

[mkennedy5683]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

I think this is sounding not bad overall as a home recording. It would help to be able to see your mic placement, to make suggestions. Someone mentioned the mic being aimed into the soundhole? There is a sort of boominess to the sound, which could be due to mic placement, but it could be lots of things. I don't really think your room sound is holding you back - room treatment is always good, but that's not leaping out to me as a big problem here.

a few thoughts:

Is that drum/click thing important? It's distracting, and kind of gets in the way of focusing on the guitar sound. Unless it's a key part of the piece, I'd drop it, at least while trying to dial in your guitar sound.

I get the impression you're playing softly. That's a common thing - we think we're playing into the mic and sort of try to make the sound go those few inches to the mic. I'd try to get more sound from the guitar - play like you're playing to the back of the room and let the mic pick up the bigger sound.

What is it that you want to record? Just guitar with minimal other stuff (like your click thing)? In that case, 2 mics and stereo micing will really open up your sound. If this is going to be in a mix with lots of other stuff, then 1 mic is fine, and you'll want to evaluate the sound in the context of the other instruments.

How does what you hear on playback compare to what you hear when you just play the guitar?

Hey Doug,

I want to record finger-style guitars with no background. Just recording for myself to track my progress, as I continue my finger-style journey. I was using the drum track as a metronome. Would you get matching mics if you were using two mics to record?

[mkennedy5683]

Originally Posted by TheGITM

Now you went and changed guitars on us!

Both guitars sound good. As for the recording, to me the sound is somewhat muted. I don't know if you're doing anything in the mix or if this is the raw recording. I'm curious how you are powering the mic... is it a USB interface, by chance? I don't have a lot of direct, personal experience as I've just started getting back into recording, but I've read that some power interfaces can 'underpower' a mic. I'm using a Triton Fethead inline and it makes a big difference in upping the floor of my signal which provides more gain with less 'noise'.

It might help if you shared more info about the signal path starting from the mic... whatcha runnin'?

I am using a Focusrite scarlet 3rd generation.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by mkennedy5683

Hey Doug,

I want to record finger-style guitars with no background. Just recording for myself to track my progress, as I continue my finger-style journey. I was using the drum track as a metronome. Would you get matching mics if you were using two mics to record?

Don't necessarily need two of the same specific mikes with spaced pair mike locations (though that is what I do) however for more coincident mike locations it would be a good idea.

BTW the term "matched pair" has a different meaning than using the same model of mikes R and L .
For example this blurb: https://www.lewitt-audio.com/blog/ma...ncy%20response

Personally I record with space pair mike locations and have been sometimes using a matched pair of mikes and sometimes not (both cases the same brand and model of mikes)

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by mkennedy5683

Hey Doug,

I want to record finger-style guitars with no background. Just recording for myself to track my progress, as I continue my finger-style journey. I was using the drum track as a metronome. Would you get matching mics if you were using two mics to record?

2 mics of the same make and model are the easiest and simplest to use, especially when starting out. They make some of the standard setups (XY, ORTF) work best. Different mic models and brands may not only sound a bit different, but may have different output levels, making setup just a tad more complex.

With spaced pairs, a common setup for fingerstyle guitar, having similar mics remains useful, but some people mix and match - you can get into all kinds of fine-tuning, where you think one mic sounds best on the neck side and a different one sounds best on the saddle side. That's best left for when you get more experience, unless that's just what you have, in which case, don't let the "mismatch" stop you from trying it.

As Rick points out, "matched" in the world of mics often means something more esoteric, where a pair of mics are hand-selected to be identical in all respects - like going to a big Taylor dealer and playing all the guitars, trying to find the 2 that sound most identical. This is something that is expensive, and in practice rarely actually exists today. In the old days, when manufacturing tolerances where less exacting, it was considered important. Today, what's usually marketed as a "matched pair" is usually just 2 mics pulled out of the same batch, with the idea that they're likely to be close since they were built on the same day, or whatever.

So, summarizing, if you already have a pair of mics, no matter what they are, given them a try in stereo. If you're looking to buy something, I'd suggest starting with a pair of the same make/model.