Mixing in a little pickup with the microphone in a recording

[lkingston]

I have been chasing sound the sound I want for guitar and vocals YouTube videos and haven’t really been that happy with what I have been able to achieve. Live I use a magnetic soundhole pickup with a mic blend and really like it, and prefer it to either a mic or pickup individually. The magnetic pickup fills out the base and really brings out the notes and the chord voicing, while the mic adds air and beauty. As much as I like my blend system live, It didn’t impress me recorded.

Today I tried an experiment. I recorded with my new stereo AT4050ST mic with a 90 degree split aimed up at my mouth and down at the guitar, but I also mixed in a bit of the magnetic pickup (with the built in mic turned completely off). To my ears, adding the pickup adds a little bottom end and clarity but it still sounds primarily like a mic. Yes, I hear the pickup, but I like the sound.

My ears are terrible though (even with my hearing aids), so I’d like to hear what you guys think:

This is the blend of vocal mic, guitar mic, and magnetic soundhole pickup:

https://youtu.be/h4xd0epGX-Y

This is the same setup, but with just the mic capsules and no pickup:

https://youtu.be/npS4GiX82zw

[Doug Young]

I don't hear a huge difference, but the pickup sounds fine. What I'd suggest is to experiment with mic placement. To me, the balance is off between voice and guitar - might just be me, but I want to hear more guitar, it doesn't seem loud enough to support your voice. The pickup could also help bring up the guitar. But perhaps just my taste.

[lkingston]

You’re probably right about the balance. I can’t really add more guitar mic because there is so much vocal in it, but I could add more pickup.

Thanks Doug.

[Doug Young]

Or just experiment with moving the mic closer to the guitar and further from your voice. I'd think just moving down a few inches might do it.

[lkingston]

I just tried that and I do prefer the balance even though the vocal sounds more distance miked. I lose the advantage of using my new AT4050ST as a stereo mic in an XY pattern directly picking up each source, but it seems to be worth it. That mic works well as a standard LDC cardioid, and I’m sure I will use the stereo pickup for other things.

Slightly below the guitar pointed up seems to work well, especially with a little pickup mixed in.

[63telemaster]

I second the imbalance between your vocal and guitar.It also seems to cause you to rein in your vocal performance so I'm sure addressing the imbalance will make a very positive difference.

Having a bad sounding, untreated room got me thinking about trying this a while ago. Plan was to get some airiness with the mic and mix in the body/fundamentals of the pickup addressing eq problems in my DAW. I have a Rode NT1A and a Sunrise in my 000 Martin.

The mic recording had all the usual reflection problems as you'd expect so I didn't get any further than strumming/picking a few samples and listening back. What got me excited was when I started dialing up the gain on the Sunrise. Not a traditional acoustic sound by any measure but definitely something I want to try properly when I get time/inspiration/motivation to do so.

[Ty Ford]

I use mic and direct pickup and pan them slightly left and right to allow a center slot for the vocal.

I have a pure western mini in the martin and use a Schoeps CMC641 for the mic.

Regards,

Ty Ford