Recording acoustic guitar

[RustyMetal]

Which way would be the best to record a clean acoustic guitar with little to no bleed over from the singer or other stuff? The acoustic pickup method, or does a mic pointed down give a better sound with more of a live feel - more body and width to the acoustic track? Without spending much and doing it ghetto style, would a 57/58 be ok?

[guidedbyechoes]

A regular 57 will work ok as for the bleeding just record the guitar alone and then the vocals.

[Cirrus]

That's quite a big question!

Generally speaking, the most important thing is to put the performers in a situation where they perform to their best. A very high quality recording of an awkward performance is much worse than a slightly dodgy recording of a spellbinding performance. So within reason that's priority 1.

I find acoustic pickups sound much worse than a miked up acoustic, so I'd always try to mic the instrument first. Generally having a cardioid mic about 30 cm in front of the 12th fret, pointing at where the neck joins the body, is a very good starting point. If that's too bright/thin, you can turn the mic further towards the body or move it in that direction. You can also move it up or down and you'll find that the tone changes. While the above is a good place to start, it's worth experimenting. There's some gorgeous midrange that comes off the body of an acoustic if you put the mic in other places - pointing over the player's shoulder, pointing upwards from underneath the guitar etc. Generally it's good to avoid putting the mic in line with the sound hole because even at a distance the sound coming from there can be quite woofy and boomy.

As for the mic used, a '57 or '58 works for acoustic if you're happy with a relatively mellow, earthy sound. You'll miss out a lot of the clarity and liveliness that a good acoustic has, which may or may not be a problem for you. Also you'll want a quiet mic pre, as unless it's an unusually loud acoustic you'll have to crank the preamp gain quite high to get a decent signal recorded from 30cm away. My temptation there would be to move the mic closer, but then you start to focus in on a smaller part of the guitar. Alternatively there are quite a few low cost condensor mics, I've only had experience with some, but the AT2020 is one I tried that's cheap and surprisingly good, also the Sontronics STC-1.

If you're wanting to capture the sound of someone singing and playing guitar at the same time, then mic positioning becomes very important. Ideally you'd have two mics with figure of 8 pickup patterns and set them up in a kind of "X" shape so that the vocal mic had the acoustic at right angles to it and the acoustic mic likewise was side on to the singer's mouth. The really limits where you can actually place the mics but if spill is a problem it's your best bet. Personally I'd record the acoustic and vocals seperately unless it ruins the performance!

If I had to record someone singing and playing acoustic and only had a '57 and '58, I'd set up the '58 pointing upwards as much as possible so the guy was singing downwards at it, and I'd put the '57 as close to where the neck meets the body as I could get it without it sounding too boomy (the closer you get the more bass the mic will pick up, thanks to the proximity effect) pointing as far from the guy's head as I could get it while still pointing at the guitar.

If any of that is poorly explained or confusing let me know!

[RustyMetal]

Thanks for both the responses so far.

That's very well explained, and I understand exactly what you're talking about. I've done some research and, yes, this can get real deep real fast. I fingered a mic is better than a sound hole pickup, but I didn't want to put any restrictions on possible responses. Thanks for the help. More is welcome.

Here are some good links I've read that others may find helpful as well -

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug01/a ... tr0801.asp
http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/kb/read ... 2007013311
http://www.uaudio.com/blog/stereo-mikin ... ic-guitar/
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/indepth/aud ... uitar-home
http://www.wikihow.com/Record-Acoustic-Guitar
http://www.musicradar.com/us/tuition/gu ... und-555854

[RustyMetal]

All this theory and high dollar equipment is great for learning the optimum way to do it, but in reality, me and most newbs will try to ghetto-it with a sub $50 mic(s). Any suggestions?

[SenatorClayDavis]

I don't know about sub-$50, but lots of decent options around $100 (condensers like aforementioned AT2020, Studio Projects B1, or for a warmer sound chinese ribbon mics like Apex 205, etc.) I might be inclined to look for a used condenser if I wanted to record acoustic on a budget. Or if you've got a SM57/58 onhand, go for that and make it work.

[Cirrus]

All this theory and high dollar equipment is great for learning the optimum way to do it, but in reality, me and most newbs will try to ghetto-it with a sub $50 mic(s). Any suggestions?

If you care about quality you need to spend money on the tools to get there. If you don't have the money to spend, just make do with what you've got and hone your no-budget guerrilla recording techniques - there's no shame in it and it'll make you appreciate good mics all the more when you do decide to invest in one. As i've said, the main thing is that you record a song worth listening to. You might well find that a couple of shure mics are all you need to capture that!

I guess what I'm trying to say is that no one's going to post on here a magic bullet for getting the "best" (no such thing!) sounding recording of an acoustic guitar with an SM57.

[RustyMetal]

Thanks. That's what I was thinking. Right now I have zero mics, and it seems like a waste buying more expensive mics for pro quality when I don't have the other equipment to do it justice. Much less the skills to justify it. In case others are wondering about this too, here's a link I found that addresses this very question:
http://homerecording.com/bbs/equipment- ... cs-273636/