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  #16  
Old 02-17-2021, 12:00 PM
FrankHudson FrankHudson is offline
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Originally Posted by IndianaGeo View Post
My set up has got to be pretty bad as I'm merely laying the TLM 102 near the edge of a glass table (no mic stand, shock absorption stand). The mic is about 12-14 inches away from the 12th fret or so on this recording.
IG
The soundcloud sample is far from the worst recording I've ever heard, but yes there's a little more room reflections than I'd like and a little more low and low mids. Bare concrete blocks are going to give you a good deal of reflection and one way or another you'll want to tame those.

But your description gives us another huge factor. Your bare microphone is sitting on a hard surface (glass table) likely acting as it's own diaphragm. Microphones, particularly sensitive condenser microphones want to pickup vibrations, and that glass table is will transmit that to your microphone's housing and into your recording. You don't want that. You should have it in a shock mount on a stand, but literally anything will be better that what you have your mic sitting on.
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  #17  
Old 02-17-2021, 12:14 PM
LakewoodM32Fan LakewoodM32Fan is offline
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Originally Posted by FrankHudson View Post
The soundcloud sample is far from the worst recording I've ever heard, but yes there's a little more room reflections than I'd like and a little more low and low mids. Bare concrete blocks are going to give you a good deal of reflection and one way or another you'll want to tame those.

But your description gives us another huge factor. Your bare microphone is sitting on a hard surface (glass table) likely acting as it's own diaphragm. Microphones, particularly sensitive condenser microphones want to pickup vibrations, and that glass table is will transmit that to your microphone's housing and into your recording. You don't want that. You should have it in a shock mount on a stand, but literally anything will be better that what you have your mic sitting on.
Great point I missed that. Does the 102 not come with a shock mount? It might not (I recall when doing mic research I was surprised at the various upper tier price points Neumanns tended not to come with cases or shock mounts). My c214 came with a shock mount and I have it mounted on a pretty solid On Stage stand (around $50 new, I returned the cheap $25 Musicians Friend stand). I will be ordering a KM stand shortly (the $90 one) because 1) I need a second stand, and 2) it's clear more than ever that quality stands more than pay for themselves after the experience I had with the Musicians Friend stand.
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  #18  
Old 02-17-2021, 12:28 PM
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Mainly get a second mike and record in stereo.
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Old 02-17-2021, 12:49 PM
Brent Hahn Brent Hahn is offline
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Mainly get a second mike and record in stereo.
Stereo can make a difference, for sure. Here's a D-28 (not me) fingerstyle, bare fingers.

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  #20  
Old 02-17-2021, 01:04 PM
nightchef nightchef is offline
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Originally Posted by IndianaGeo View Post
My set up has got to be pretty bad as I'm merely laying the TLM 102 near the edge of a glass table (no mic stand, shock absorption stand).
As FrankHudson points out, this is probably the most crucial issue that you need to fix. Not only is there some likelihood, as he mentioned, of the glass tabletop vibrating sympathetically and transmitting those vibrations to the mic, but if the mic is situated "near the edge" of the table, that means it's also picking up reflections from the glass in front of it, which are arriving at the mic just a tiny fraction of a second after the direct signal from your guitar. This is bound to muddy up your signal.

So yeah, you need to pick up a mic stand ASAP. In the meantime, I would try putting something thick and soft, like a folded towel, under the mic to decouple it from the tabletop. That won't entirely solve the problem, but it may mitigate it somewhat.
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  #21  
Old 02-17-2021, 01:16 PM
LakewoodM32Fan LakewoodM32Fan is offline
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As I mentioned in my previous post, but to reinforce: do not cheap out on a mic stand. You don't need to spend a fortune, but don't make the mistake I did and try to take advantage of GC's Musicians Friend Stand 2 for $30 offer. I had an older On Stage which was probably in the area of $50 when I bought it 5 or so years ago and it's *light years* better than the GC MF stands, which both had boom mic knobs that failed to stay in their holes correctly and often wouldn't tighten properly.

KM mic stands get pretty good reviews and are a little more expensive (between $60-100 for their mid- to upper-mid level offerings) but those will likely give you great performance for many years. I know Neumann shock mounts can be expensive (I think around $140) but you have a $700 mic, I'd personally want to use a shock mount from the same manufacturer, but others may feel differently.
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Old 02-17-2021, 02:33 PM
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Originally Posted by rick-slo View Post
Mainly get a second mike and record in stereo.
This. Perhaps purchase a nice SDC to compliment your Neumann LDC and use the SDC on the neck junction and the LDC on the lower bout side in a spaced pair. You could than add another SDC down the road to compliment this pair and have lots of possibilities.
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  #23  
Old 02-17-2021, 03:57 PM
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Originally Posted by rick-slo View Post
Mainly get a second mike and record in stereo.
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Originally Posted by SprintBob View Post
This. Perhaps purchase a nice SDC to compliment your Neumann LDC and use the SDC on the neck junction and the LDC on the lower bout side in a spaced pair. You could than add another SDC down the road to compliment this pair and have lots of possibilities.
This is exactly what I'd do.
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  #24  
Old 02-17-2021, 05:32 PM
IndianaGeo IndianaGeo is offline
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Hey Everyone,
Thanks again very much for all the fine suggestions. I don't have time to mention every name who has responded to my question, but know I appreciate you all. I'm sincerely grateful for not only that you replied.. but how extensive and thoughtful your replies have been. I've been coming to this forum for probably well over a decade now but haven't been here much in the past few years due to a lot of things.. a move to a new country, a thumb injury a while back that I thought was going to be the end of my playing but has fortunately improved FINALLY through a cortisone shot. I'm just getting back to playing after nearly a year of misery and withdrawal. Your responses give me a lot of things to try and I plan to take this and experiment with not only a good string change (by the way someone had asked how old my strings are and I think they're likely well over 2 years old) but sound insulation, mic placement and indeed a proper mic stand. And yes.. maybe a small diaphragm condenser mic too. Seems to be the theme that, at a minimum, this is where I should start as a baseline. Thank you again.

IG
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