Acoustic Recording Methods?

Hi
It can be a bit tricky to record an acoustic guitar with a mic.
Here are some articles about recording acoustic guitars :
http://www.harmony-central.com/Features/FRecAcousticGtr/
http://www.dougyoungguitar.com/recording.htm
http://www.guitarists.net/lessons/view.php?id=170

"Start by pointing the mic right at the 12th fret (or where the body meets the neck), spot-on and straight up, perpendicular to the fretboard. Keep the mic as close to the strings as you can and still play comfortably (3"-10" away). Don't point the mic directly at the soundhole, you'll boom the mids and lows badly. There will be some play; to experiment with different positions, imagine a 10" string attaching the capsule of the mic to the twelfth fret. You can move the mic around most of this range of motion quite a bit (keeping it pointed at the twelfth fret) and get different results. Remember, pointing it more towards the body gives a bassier, warmer sound and pointing it more toward the neck gives a brighter, janglier sound. Depending on your strings, playing style, how your guitar projects, and your personal taste, the sweet spot will be in a different place unique to each guitar and player."

Sofar I have recorded my acoustic guitar with its built-in bridge piezo pickup/pre-amp connected to a Line in port of the UB802.

I have both a mic and a Dean Markley Pro Mag soundhole pickup and I like the mic method better. It sounds so much more natural than the pickup and when you add a little reverb it sounds awesome! Now I use a Shure condenser mic but I believe Kalle will agree that a dynamic mic would work just fine and might be prefered for acoustic recording?

Here is what I recorded about 1 week ago: Night Moves

EDIT

I too am using a UB802 mixer with my mic connected to that.

A "cardoic" dynamic mic will work fine to take the acoustic guitar.
But I think a more sensitive "cardoic" condenser mic is the best for classic fingerpicking playing.

Here's a few things I've done from time to time. We've taken Mic's and put them right inside the guitar sound hole, clipped on a contact mic, had an acoustic pick across the sound hole, a couple mics at different angles to the guitar and in diferent positions in relation the the guitar itself. Then we would mix all the different sounds coming from all the different inputs to create one oveallr sound. Using a Compressor, Equalizer, an Enhancer can really create some interesting acoustic guitar sounds. Using the Side chain on the Compressor can even expand things beyond. To listen to some great sounding acoustic recordings listen to the album "BOSTON" by boston.

Joe

Great thread!
Mikespe, do i remember you having trouble with the strumming on "night moves" not too long ago? sounds great now.
I'm trying to get set up to start recording a lot of acoustic stuff as well.

How about mixing from an acoustic amp such as my new Fishman loudbox performer?
It has pre EQ DI outs (XLR) that i can send straight to the mixer. Of course this means that the piezo and onboard preamp are involved, but what if i bypass the onboard EQ? Would i be able to get a more transparent sound or would it just be better to skip it all and just mic the guitar?
I know it's up to the individual to try stuff and see, but i would like to hear of others experiance in going this route.

These are all good suggestions. I remember seeing a website once that had diagrams of mic placings. Does anyone here use two mics to record one guitar? I think I remember seeing that picture but I can't be sure, something like a mic at the 12th or 14th fret, and one towards the area behind the bridge.

Kalle mentioned using a "more sensitive "cardoic" condenser mic" for finger-picking. Now I do a lot of finger-picking and would like to record some songs like that. Songs such as "Doesn't Matter Anymore" really light picking that is meant to accompany the voice, not overpower it. What kind of mic would work for this?

Mikespe, Night Moves souns greats, the quality is good, as is the strumming and changes.

Kalle mentioned using a "more sensitive "cardoic" condenser mic" for finger-picking. Now I do a lot of finger-picking and would like to record some songs like that. Songs such as "Doesn't Matter Anymore" really light picking that is meant to accompany the voice, not overpower it. What kind of mic would work for this?

Mikespe, Night Moves souns greats, the quality is good, as is the strumming and changes.

Thanks for the compliment...

What you are looking for is a condenser microphone. It requires phantom power to work but if you look on your Behringer UB802 mixer you'll see that it has phantom power on it. A dynamic mic does not need any extra power to run. Condenser mics can be very sensative to sound so you will need a VERY quiet place to record. One time when I was recording it picked up my TV and the TV's volume was only on ONE!

There are lots of ways to record an acoustic (I had pages of links at one time), but I find I do it one of a couple ways depending on context. If the acoustic is in a band context, I usually go mono...solo guitar, or very prominent in mix, then I go stereo. And if you've heard any of my lesson mp3s, you'll know that often I record in mono, but double track to get a stereo effect (for my guitarnoise lessons I normally just use the pickup). 99% of the time I'll use a large diaphragm condendser. At studios I've used Studio Projects and Neumans...at home I use a cheapie MXL 990. I normally point the capsule where the neck joins the body, a foot and half to two feet away (I don't measure this, so I'm guessing) - and it's imperative to move the mic around to find the sweet spot (or move yourself around in relation to the mic). Stereo pair, I'd normally go with small diaphragm condensers. The fun part though is trying different things, using different mics, or even multiple mics. Yeah, try a SM57, or put a ribbon mic up 10 feet away. On a few tunes I have blended in a track using the pickup, but other than recording my lessons (it's quick and easy to record direct, and usually the audio is the last thing I need to do to complete my GN lessons), I don't use a pickup unless it's blended, and even then, very rarely. Google "recording acoustic guitar" and you'll find multiple suggestions (check out http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug01/articles/recacgtr0801.asp - it's hard to beat Sound on Sound magazine). I like to keep it simple, and for the most part, a single LD condenser works great, or a balanced pair, depending on the situation...

^ Thanks for the ideas, and the link!

Here's one more for ya. Includes pic's and sound clips.

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/humbucker/acguitrectec.html

Mike

Thanks Mike, that is the site I was talking about. I saw it before, but couldn't remember where!

Paul