Geoffrey Taucer Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 I'm looking to upgrade my live recording setup. Right now, the setup consists of an SM57. Which is alright, but doesn't capture the pristine beauty of an acoustic guitar (or a low whistle) the way I've heard it captured in some recordings. So I'd like advice on what mics I should get, how they should be placed, etc. I want to be able to record in stereo. My computer is fairly loud, so I record in my closet, which cuts off most of the noise. My SM57 doesn't pick up any noticeable computer hum, but I imagine an improperly positioned condenser might. But then, I have very little experience recording with condensers, so I'll be happy to hear any advice you can give me. Main thing I'm looking for is mic reccomendations. I'd prefer not to spend more than $600. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Souliarc Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 The most common way we would mic an acoustic guitar at the studio was to have one mic (a Neumann U87 D: ) pointed at the sound hole, about 1 foot away. Another mic (a Shure SM87) would be placed directly above the fretboard, pointed downwards at around the 7th fret (which can vary). I have heard that AT4041's are a pretty popular choice. There's a bunch of acoustic guitar miking techniques and mic recommendations here. I'm at work, so that's all I got Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hale-Bopp Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 You may want to try applying a noise gate somewhere in the recording chain to help mask the computer noise, if you find that the hum is still there, or if you just need a break from performing in the closet. I think you'll find it a worthy investment if you don't already have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klm09 Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 Also, if you're recording in your closet.. what kind of closet is this, is it full of clothes? Because in any case the acoustics are bound to suck for acoustic instruments.. but if it's full of clothes or other semi-heavy non-reflective material, it might be ok, just really "dead", but probably nothing some reverb can't solve. But if it's hard surfaces, you're going to get a lot of phase cancellation making the recording sound really boxy. Unless you're closet is XBOX HOOGE, but then it'd just be a room I suppose. Anyway, my point is that beyond getting better mics, if you're really looking to improve your sound, working out something to reduce the noise your computer makes might be worthwhile, so that your recordings could come out of the closet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey Taucer Posted November 3, 2006 Author Share Posted November 3, 2006 The closet is more or less a dead room as far as reverb goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixto Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 What Souliarc said is your best bet as far as mic positioning goes. You said you wanted to record in stereo, but that doesn't seem practical or necessary to me. For a wide sound, I'd recommend either panning two tracks left and right or running a single mono track through a stereo effect like a chorus. As far as mic choice, I definitely think you should look into a Studio Projects C1 or a Rhode NT2A (voted best studio mic in the world). The C1, to my ears, sounds pretty damn close to a U87 and only costs $200. There's a new version out and I think it may be a little better, but it's around $300. I've also tried the Rhode NT2A recently and I was blown away. It's a $400 mic but it's easily worth double or tripple that any day. I also suggest a nice preamp so you don't lose any dynamics or tone during the recording process. The Studio Projects VTB1 ($100) is your best bet for anything under $800. Sounds way better than the Presonus BlueTube and other preamps costing twice as much. I have one and I think I convinced Zircon to get one. It's a tube preamp, but you can blend in a solid state signal or bypass the tube alltogether. So, with either mic and the preamp, you won't be going over $600. Try these things out and see what you think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey Taucer Posted November 3, 2006 Author Share Posted November 3, 2006 What Souliarc said is your best bet as far as mic positioning goes. You said you wanted to record in stereo, but that doesn't seem practical or necessary to me. For a wide sound, I'd recommend either panning two tracks left and right or running a single mono track through a stereo effect like a chorus.As far as mic choice, I definitely think you should look into a Studio Projects C1 or a Rhode NT2A (voted best studio mic in the world). The C1, to my ears, sounds pretty damn close to a U87 and only costs $200. There's a new version out and I think it may be a little better, but it's around $300. I've also tried the Rhode NT2A recently and I was blown away. It's a $400 mic but it's easily worth double or tripple that any day. I also suggest a nice preamp so you don't lose any dynamics or tone during the recording process. The Studio Projects VTB1 ($100) is your best bet for anything under $800. Sounds way better than the Presonus BlueTube and other preamps costing twice as much. I have one and I think I convinced Zircon to get one. It's a tube preamp, but you can blend in a solid state signal or bypass the tube alltogether. So, with either mic and the preamp, you won't be going over $600. Try these things out and see what you think. The reason I want to be able to record in stereo is for solo acoustic pieces; mono + doubling is great when the guitar is part of a larger mix, but when it's just the guitar, I find I always prefer stereo recordings. Has anybody tried these? EDIT: actually, after a bit more research, I'm looking at a matched pair of Rode NT1As and a Studio Projects VTB1 preamp. Thoughts? EDIT 2: Wait, the VTB1 only has one input/output, doesn't it? So I couldn't record in stereo with it. Is there any reason I shouldn't just plug a pair of NT1As directly into my mixer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Burns Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 Like klm09 said, reverb isn't the only problem you'll have in your recording room. The phase cancellations and amplifications are so diverse and unpredictable that it's almost a waste of time for most home studio guys to worry about the frequency response of their mics. Rooms will boost and reduce the frequencies so much, and most of the time we don't even realize it. Believe it or not we're so used to hearing these boosts and reductions that our minds ignore them. I lived with about a 10-15 db boost around 120hz for several years before I did a little sine wave test. Now it's so obvious I can't stand it. I use a parametric EQ that I enable when I'm working and I bypass when I'm using headphones or bouncing a song. Check out this extremely helpful article. I'm glad I read it before buying my mic, or else I probably would have bought something needlessly expensive or worried about getting matched pairs. Your equipment is really the least of your worries when you're doing this stuff outside of a properly treated studio. One consideration for guitar is to save up and buy a guitar with an inboard pickup and mix that with your mic. For revisiting the ruins I recorded a stereo track with the pickup in one channel and the mic in the other. Then I copied that recording into another track in which I reversed the left and right channels. Left alone, this setup would produce a mono sound, but I added some modulation (Logic's spreader plugin - similar to chorus) to only one of the tracks. If I were you, I would get one decent mic that works well for your guitar and some wind instruments. Then you could use it and your sm57 to stereo record your guitar, and the new mic would also take care of your whistle. Then you'll have some money left over to save up for anything... a guitar w/ a pickup, some acoustic treatment (if you've got the space for it), some new audio software, whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey Taucer Posted November 4, 2006 Author Share Posted November 4, 2006 Wow, thanks. Definitely gonna give this article a read through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Burns Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 it's a bit long and technical; read the intro and the section about bass traps to get a good taste of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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