Recording with Mic AND Direct

[M Hayden]

I usually plug in and dial in an OK sound on one track even when recording with mics. If possible, micing alone is wonderful, but a pickup signal provides a backup for things like background noise on the mic. The pickup track can be mixed in in the background dry or with effects to change the sound; a good example is Steve Khan on his magnificent “Evidence” album (mostly Monk played on miced acoustic with a lot of time-based effects on a pickup signal adding air and space behind it).

[PANDAPANDELO]

Finally made it!

I used the Audio Technica 2035 for vocals and guitar (bleed) and direct, with the Baggs M80. I used Scarlett Solo as interface, and mixed (poorly) in Pro Tools First.

I liked the results!

[Doug Young]

I liked the results I got from a pickup+mic while playing around with the Orange preamp for an AG review recently. They seem to have this type of setup in mind. The opening is with mic/pickup hard-panned, bit I also later demo'd it blended as well. This is using a Dazzo pickup in the Martin.



Another approach BTW is to treat the two sources as a mid-side pair (probably best with the pickup as the mid, mic as the "side") and feed them into an MS decoder, you'll get a more realistic, less overly dramatic stereo image, but still nice and wide, with a "solid" center from the pickup.