Not 100% happy with my sound when recording...

[FusionZ06]

Here are a few recordings I've done that I'm not thrilled about the sound quality.

http://www.jasontripp.com/mp3/lighthouse.mp3
http://www.jasontripp.com/mp3/hittheroad.mp3

This sounds much better and it was done with my Takamine classical plugged in with same setup...
http://www.jasontripp.com/mp3/mytime.mp3

I'm really not opposed to spending or investing money if it's worth it. Let's say I wanted to spend $300-$500 on a good mic setup?

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by FusionZ06

Here are a few recordings I've done that I'm not thrilled about the sound quality.

http://www.jasontripp.com/mp3/lighthouse.mp3
http://www.jasontripp.com/mp3/hittheroad.mp3

This sounds much better and it was done with my Takamine classical plugged in with same setup...
http://www.jasontripp.com/mp3/mytime.mp3

I'm really not opposed to spending or investing money if it's worth it. Let's say I wanted to spend $300-$500 on a good mic setup?

In that price range You can get a fairly decent SDC or LDC .. In the LDC catagory the Shure KSM 32 comes to mind , I have the 44 which I like . But I am certain there are others that are quite good as well.

I have a question for you . How do you get the Q time player tool bar to pop up from you link you supplied , as opposed to an MP3 file that has to be downloaded then played. Does one have to have a web sight to launch that from or can you do it from your desktop and post it to a forum?

[ScottAllyn]

I'd personally go with stand-alone microphones, but one option that you might also consider is the Miniflex Microphones:

http://miniflexmic.com/shop/

You can hear some samples here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J86h5m_5lx8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjc8q8OCGG4

[220volt]

Originally Posted by FusionZ06

Here is what I have...

Fast machine running Windows 7 x64
M-Audio ProFire 610 - hooked up via FireWire
A few Taylor guitars running ES - hooked up via standard 1/4" guitar cable
Reaper + Audacity

I just haven't been able to quite get the sound I'm looking for. I'm actually thinking I might need to move to a microphone because I do a lot of palm taps on strings and such.

Ideas?

I have exact setup like yours except mics.

Profire 610 via firewire to my PC
Reaper as DAW
Taylor guitars
I use Shure SM81 (small condenser) for acoustic guitar recording. One of the best mics under $400 you can buy for acoustic guitar. Lots of pro studios are using it. Tommy Emmanuel is using it to mic his small Gibson during live shows.
You can watch some of my YouTube videos (see my sig) and see if you like the sound of it. It could be better but I haven't experimented a lot with it. I just point mic to 12 fret and record. Add little reverb and EQ but that's about it.
I can tell you this: I have some really nice wave plugins that I use with Reaper, but when recording with ES, nothing cames close to a real mic. No plugin or EQ will help you much with ES. It will sound like plastic or fake, piezo-like. Even my Acoustic Para DI doesn't come close to my SM81.
My advice, save some money and get yourself good condenser mic. You will not regret it. Once you get good mic you can experiment with mic+plus ES and then use different panning to achieve some interesting sounds. Maybe pan ES 100% left and right and have mic dead center. Or vica-versa. Possibilities are endless, but you NEED good mic first. No getting around that.
Especially for percussive stuff since ES will not pick up air movements outside of your guitar, which is really important to give it a rich, bodied sound.
By the way: How did you get Win 7 64bit drivers to work with Profire 610? I had nothing but trouble so I reverted back to XP pro.

Great playing and melodies by the way.

[Ryan Alexander]

Originally Posted by FusionZ06

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAfCcyWUIwI
I like this recording sound and it appears he is plugged in and is also recording with a mic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBwM9VqmxQE

This has two mics.

I don't know your budget, but definitely look into one or more condenser mics. I have had success with both large and small condensers.

FYI here's a comment from Don on that Klimbim recording:

I recorded the guitar with two AKG mics (that's a 414 on the right and a C1000 on the left) and also went direct with my K&K pickup/mic combo. I recorded onto my Pro Tools and then mixed it all and then added some "mastering" compression so that it would jump out of the speakers a bit better. The Beneteau axe helps too!

[jpq]

Just an idea, and possibly a stupid one, but maybe try a balanced (TRS) cable instead of the normal, it might help a little also.

[jpq]

Sorry, double post

[FusionZ06]

I'm going to start off with these http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHC2 and go from there!

Thanks for the recommendations.

[RRuskin]

double post ignore.

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by FusionZ06

Why don't you offer some advice rather than being condescending. Thanks...

I wasn't answering you but the one asking where you placed your non-existent microphones.

[Pokiehat]

Its a shame I don't have speakers at work since I can't hear your soundclips until I get home. But theres no reason why you can't get a decent sound out of an ES, straight into a soundcard.

You just have to realise that when you direct line a guitar you get absolutely no influence from the room you are in so you need to reconstruct this post recording with some type of convolution reverb to simulate a real room, hall, whatever. Or you need to setup an ambient mic and set it reasonably far away so it picks up your guitar but the due to the distance from the source also picks up alot of the room reverberation. Ideal if you have a great sounding room, not so much if you dont. Mix both sources to get more of the dry pickup sound or more of the room sound. If you have another mic you can close mic the fretboard to pick up fretting noise and then mix all 3 sources together.

But overall ES seems pretty good at picking up fret noise because of the sensors under the fretboard. Its very good at picking up percussion if you are into using your guitar like a bongo. Its much easier to get a nice booming 'pop' when you drum on the body. I don't think Amrit Sond's percussive style is possible without a body pickup of some kind because you just can't get the huge 'drum' sound he gets out of a guitar by close micing the exterior of the gutiar.

Also the output from the ES is pretty flexible in the sense that you have whats basically a 3 band EQ and the range of soundshaping you have with that is big enough that you can make a guitar sound quite unnatural (dial up the bass band all the way and you get huge bass response thats way out of proportion with everything else and completely unlike a real guitar).

So before you go spending a tonne of money, first make a list of the things you want in a guitar recording. Do you want it to sound close to what it sounds in your room? Do you want to play percussively? Do you want to shoot for an otherworldly, Aerial Boundaries type sound? Once you know what you want, then people are in a better position to advise on what you need to do.

These types of things don't need to involve spending alot of money.

[FusionZ06]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foJ-F...eature=channel

I also think this sounds good. I would maybe add a little more bass.

[Pokiehat]

Vevo is blocked in my country for reasons of copyrighht violation apparently. I can't watch that video.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by FusionZ06

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAfCcyWUIwI
I like this recording sound and it appears he is plugged in and is also recording with a mic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBwM9VqmxQE

This has two mics.

Actually he's also plugged in, and there may be an internal mic as well, so there may be 3 altogether.

It's pretty obvious from the sound that there's a direct feed aside from the mics. If that's the sound you're looking for you'll need multiple sources.

HE

[FusionZ06]

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=180906

Check it!