Recording Ovation Acoustic-Electric

Personally, I hate the sound of those peizo electric pickups. They're horrible. I don't care how much processing you add to them. Even some of the pro recordings I've heard sound horrible to me.

I have a garbage steel string. (litterally. a friend was throwing it out) I tried using a transducer with it and no matter what I did, it sounds horrible. What I ended up doing is micing it with a cheap mic (a drum mic at that. Shure PG57 designed for sharp transients so it's not all that sensitive.) and it sounded way more live. Way more full and just generally real.

You can't avoid the quack from a plugged in acoustic. If you want it to sound real, mic it. The mic doesn't have to be expensive. It's all in placement and careful eq(for the record I rarely use eq). Try micing near the neck joint facing toward the body of the guitar. If you have a condensor kicking around, try using a second mic at a distance of around 3' or more from the sound board or the sound hole. play with the distance and the axis of the mic. Watch out for phase issues.

This is of course all just personal opinion. Take it or leave it.

hue

I have an Ovation CS257 and I have recorded with it some. I think it sound best if you mic'd your acoustic amp. I dont know if your model has the eq/preamp thing or not but it seems to make quite a bit of difference how that is set.

I use the Behringer Ultracoustic 1000 (I think). It is within your budget and sounds really good. The biggest problem with it is the weight. Its a heavy sucker.

Jim

If the guitar has built-in pre-Amp with tone controls , use them.
I have an Ibanez TA 35 acoustic amplifier (35 watt 10"speaker) that has a good sound and is not that heavy ( 14 kg). It also has good equalizing system.
And I also has the Behringer ADI 21 Acoustic Modeler Pre-Amp/DI box.
It has EQ system and tube amp emulation for a warmer sound.

Kalle

I plug into a direct box then that goes into my audio interface. things sound nice.

the direct box helps the signal.

I did extensive research on this topic, and I also expericmeted using both microphone and direct in techniques. By far, the best sound I ever got from an acoustic guitar was by using a Shure SM 57 mic placed about 12 inches directly in front of the 12th fret of the instrument. This technique captures the natural "woodiness" of the guitar and just enough of the room ambience to give a natural sound. If you move the mic toward the soundhole, you'll get more bass and boominess. If you move the mic up the neck, you'll get more treble.

You can use all kinds of devices to plug the guitar directly to your mixer, but I doubt you'll be happy with the sound. In many cases, however, you can get interesting sounds by using both techniques. Record the guitar with a mic on one channel and plug directly into the board on a different channel. Then you can EQ and mix both channels together to suit your sonic tastes.

Just my 2 cents.

I did extensive research on this topic, and I also expericmeted using both microphone and direct in techniques. By far, the best sound I ever got from an acoustic guitar was by using a Shure SM 57 mic placed about 12 inches directly in front of the 12th fret of the instrument. This technique captures the natural "woodiness" of the guitar and just enough of the room ambience to give a natural sound. If you move the mic toward the soundhole, you'll get more bass and boominess. If you move the mic up the neck, you'll get more treble.

You can use all kinds of devices to plug the guitar directly to your mixer, but I doubt you'll be happy with the sound. In many cases, however, you can get interesting sounds by using both techniques. Record the guitar with a mic on one channel and plug directly into the board on a different channel. Then you can EQ and mix both channels together to suit your sonic tastes.

Just my 2 cents.

Cool. Nice to have an opinion that is based on some research. There is actually a website out there(though I can't remember for the life of me.) that has comparisons between several different peizo transducers, mics and combinations. Not just cheap ones but some of the nicer fishmans, soundhole mics et al. Again by far, the mics sounded more natural.

By far, the best sound I ever got from an acoustic guitar was by using a Shure SM 57 mic placed about 12 inches directly in front of the 12th fret of the instrument.

Just my 2 cents.

Austinman, is you experience based on a regular guitar or an Ovation Acoustic/electric? Just curious because in my opinion my CS257 doesnt sound nearly as good if it is not plugged in. In that case, would you suggest placing the mic a few inches from the amp?

Thanks
jim

... I hate that answer, but it fits.

I play a Guild F4-CE, which, like yours, is an electric/acoustic with a thinner body than standard acoustic guitars. And like your guitar, mine sounds "thinner" when not plugged in.

Strangely, when I mic the guitar, especially in a room with good natural reverb, the mic brings out "fullness" in my guitar. Aso, if you move the mic toward the soundhole, you'll get more "bassiness" or "fullness."

Remember, however, that I did a lot of experimenting with mics, rooms, and technique--and in my limited experience, no two guitars will sound the same, just as no two rooms or mics or mixing boards will sound the same.

I still suggest you try using the two-channel tecnique: Record using a mic on one channel while at the same time plugging your guitar into a second channel to get the sound of the pickup. Blend the mix to taste.

And one last thing, going straight from the output of the guitar to the input of the mixing board will not give you the best sound. I use an acoustic guitar amplifier (crate CA 6110) with a line out.
I can also mic the front of the cab.

As always, experiment. Your best solution and mine may be totally different. In fact, they almost certainly will be.

I learned recently, with experimenting, that the SM57 is an excellent for miking an amp.