Will Ackerman's mic setup

[Doug Young]

This month's Acoustic Guitar has an article on Will Ackerman that's interesting. I was initially struck by the photo him surrounded by a confusing array of mics. I can't seem to locate the article online but check it out if you get or see the magazine.

It turns out to be more normal than it first appears due to the camera angle - he has a pair of LDs as spaced pairs, then a pair of SDs as wider spaced pairs, then 2 room mics, 10 feet back. Apparently the LDs do the heavy lifting, the others blended in to taste as a way to "EQ" or add ambience thru the mic mix.

[AcousticDreams]

Would love to learn more about his set up. Sounds like a fascinating set up.

I am not familiar with him. Do yo have a link to some recordings he has made using this set up?

[Doug Young]

Will was the founder of Windham Hill, and one of its main artists, along with his cousin, Alex de Grassi, and Michael Hedges. He sort of defines "new age guitar". Sort of a "soundscape" approach to composing. These days he has a nice studio in New England and produces other people. The LDS are Klaus Heinz-modded U67s, BTW, so no expense spared.

I actually was never taken with his recorded guitar sound back in the day, but then we're talking 80s and vinyl records, and solo guitar sounds were often kind of weak back then.

Here's his newest CD, which presumably was recorded this way:

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

This month's Acoustic Guitar has an article on Will Ackerman that's interesting. I was initially struck by the photo him surrounded by a confusing array of mics. I can't seem to locate the article online but check it out if you get or see the magazine.

It turns out to be more normal than it first appears due to the camera angle - he has a pair of LDs as spaced pairs, then a pair of SDs as wider spaced pairs, then 2 room mics, 10 feet back. Apparently the LDs do the heavy lifting, the others blended in to taste as a way to "EQ" or add ambience thru the mic mix.

Just got that issue a couple of days ago. That was pretty interesting.

Doug, don’t you record with 3-4 mics also?

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by SprintBob

Just got that issue a couple of days ago. That was pretty interesting.

Doug, don’t you record with 3-4 mics also?

Yeah, his setup, once I understood it, isn't that different from what I do. I normally have spaced LDs and spaced SD's further apart - but I've never found it useful to combine them, they're just there as alternatives. I've also tried room mics back a ways, and never found that useful. Probably my room isn't up to the quality of Will's. It seems to work better to use plugins to add any ambience I need. What I have done for a long time is use a ribbon mic in the middle, which adds some beef to the sound, but lately, I've been preferring just 2 condensers.

I wish they had the article online so I could share it, the photo's pretty impressive :-)

[chasapple]

Thanks, Doug. Hard enough to get a proper sound with 2 mics let alone 10. How does he manage the phase problems when mixing those far and close mics at the same time? My head hurts just thinking about it.

Like you, I tend to just use plugins to add some ambience if needed.

[Doug Young]

I use AutoAlign to deal with multiple mics, but im not sure thats the answer with room mics. They seem to be about natural ambience, so theyre going to delayed and somewhat out of phase, like reverb. Not that Ive had any success with them, so i could be wrong.

[Rudy4]

Then there's this...

[Doug Young]

Yeah, I’ve seen that one. Not too crazy, tho, seems to just be a spaced pair plus a mid mic All Brauners. There’s another one of Tony McManus recoding his Dream Guitars Cd that’s also pretty wild. I can never seem to find it.

[RRuskin]

My old producer, Dick Rosmini seemed to be married to multiple mic arrays for recording solo acoustic guitar. For my version of "Here Comes the Sun,” he went direct to 2-track with 5 of them. The placement was center, left & right in front with a left/right pair behind me for good measure. There was an oscilloscope running full time to monitor phase and to make certain the stereo perspective stayed within LP cutting parameters. It took hours to get everything just right.

I can't say I enjoyed that particular session. As an engineer, I'd never put a player through that.

[AcousticDreams]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Then there's this...

I had not seen this video before.

Actually, this is not much different than the mic set up that seems to work the best for myself. The angles and positions of my spaced pair, is very similar to his.

I spent a lot of time moving the mics around so that I could capture the entire sound from all parts of the guitar..just like him. I am also of the strict belief that sound comes from everywhere on the guitar. Not just the soundhole. But then again...I also believe it is super dependent on the players style and how hard he plucks the string. With a softer player, the other parts of the body might ring out less. But not necessarily. If the guitar is super sensitive then all parts might ring out even more.

Now I just have to complete the experimentation with that third mic. That still doesn't mean that a center channel will be right for me. I am doing it for an entirely different reason than Tommy. I wish to have great stereo separation and still capture a mono sound for....gravity? So I can have my cake and eat it too.

I will most likely have a completely different position of the center mic. I have some interesting ideas. But as we all know, what works on paper my not work in real life.

Are those Brauners he is using?

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Knives&Guitars

I had not seen this video before.

Actually, this is not much different than the mic set up that seems to work the best for myself. The angles and positions of my spaced pair, is very similar to his.

I spent a lot of time moving the mics around so that I could capture the entire sound from all parts of the guitar..just like him. I am also of the strict belief that sound comes from everywhere on the guitar. Not just the soundhole. But then again...I also believe it is super dependent on the players style and how hard he plucks the string. With a softer player, the other parts of the body might ring out less. But not necessarily. If the guitar is super sensitive then all parts might ring out even more.

Now I just have to complete the experimentation with that third mic. That still doesn't mean that a center channel will be right for me. I am doing it for an entirely different reason than Tommy. I wish to have great stereo separation and still capture a mono sound for....gravity? So I can have my cake and eat it too.

I will most likely have a completely different position of the center mic. I have some interesting ideas. But as we all know, what works on paper my not work in real life.

Are those Brauners he is using?

Yes, Brauners.

One of the problems with "idealized" recordings is that what WE hear and love about the sound is much different than a listener's perspective.

So, what perspective are we looking to reproduce?

Perhaps a better way to find the holy grail is to just do a high quality binaural recording.

[b1j]

The multi-mic setup does seem to allow for an immersive stereo image. However, no matter how many mics or preamp channels I may acquire, I could never use that many without an excellent studio space. I like reading about it, though, in the way I enjoy a good photo essay about a 120-foot yacht.

[AcousticDreams]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Yes, Brauners.

"idealized" recordings is that what WE hear and love about the sound is much different than a listener's perspective.

This is a most interesting subject matter. This issue has sometimes caused a rift between the artist and the recording engineer. As the engineer hears the guitar from a completely different position than the artist.

Since I rarely play for other people, the sound I care about the most is from my perspective. What my ears hear. This is the only way I know how to evaluate a guitars sound, from what I personally hear. Regardless of what anybody else hears, I have to be happy with the sound first.

I play with my ears approximately 8 to 10 inches away from the guitar. Often I lean over a bit. This is part of the reason why I like micing a bit closer. The dynamics close up are different, when comparing to listening at a greater distance.

I do not believe that sound dissipates at a one to one ratio. I believe it is more closely similar to the inverse square law. Twice the distance will have One quarter the output. While the inverse square law was originally applied to light sources, it is now been accepted into other categories including sound.

I am hearing from my playing perspective. Thus, I mic to give me the sound that I hear. Not from afar. Yet, the combination of both might be a ultimate solution.

https://uc.yamaha.com/insights/blog/...aw-what-is-it/

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by b1j

I like reading about it, though, in the way I enjoy a good photo essay about a 120-foot yacht.

Much like a 120 foot yacht requires a crew, I feel like I'd need a crew to get that setup right.