I discovered this channel during lockdown as a complete newbie, and remember your "Record, Mix, Release" tutorials. It's so nice to have a reminder and update of some of the topics that were covered in that series. Always helpful, always useful and always a pleasure to watch.
As a newbie I had a hard time on some of the different samplings telling the differences. I had to listen over and over again and finally could tell some differences. Lots to learn. Thanks for the videos you do!
Hey Mike... While I agree that in your case, the mics sound better that the built-in pickup, I'm assuming you have a fairly nice acoustic space for playing. I tried for two years to get a "nice sound" with mics in my less-than-ideal recording space. No matter what I tried, despite having a couple of fairly good mics, the sound just came out "thin". I tried making my space accoustically "better" by having matresses and comforters hanging about to lessen the echo in the room. It just didn't work. Finally, just playing around one day, I plugged my guitar (using my Fishman pickup and built-in mike) directly into my audio interface and guess what? ... It sounded (relatively) great! Not only did I like the sound better but also it was soooo much easier recording "through a wire" than doing all that mic-placement and room-acoustics dance. Someday I hope to have a better "acoustic space" but until then, I'm sticking with the built-in pickup/mic setup. I only mention it because you didn't... That is, a poor acoustic environment cannot be offset with even high-quality mics. If the room acoustics are bad, chances are the built-in pickup/mic is going to sound better (and is a LOT easier to deal with.) 😇😇😇
I appreciate your effort to help folks get good recordings from acoustic guitar. I've tried it all through the years with no success. All manner of mics, room treatments, positioning, you name it. Not to mention the money I plowed into the Martin, Taylor, and Gibson companies. Plus all body sizes of guitars, down to 3/4 size. Tried it all, and never got the result I wanted. I always wound up with boomy, mushy, muddy, boxy, thumpy, honky sound. However, I'm pleased to say that I finally found the solution to my problem, anyway. I switched to a Fender Telecaster and parted company with the acoustics. Now I'm totally happy with my recordings. So here's best wishes to all those folks who yearn for those clean, crisp acoustic ones. Some people actually succeed in getting those tones.
The sound-hole position actually sounds rather nice for this finger-picking style. Where I put the guitar relative to the mic or mic's is strongly a function of what I'm playing and the point I am trying to get across. Unless it's just a support rhythm part in a bigger arrangement, I rarely use the oft-suggested 12th fret position, which can sound rather thin for soft playing. I also don't understand this unnatural notch EQ thing that so many people do. If you capture a natural-sounding recording of a fine instrument, that's what I want to hear, aside from maybe some gradual and smooth low / mid / high frequency emphasis. Only if there are glaring issues would I ever apply such a notch, but that's all just me and my approach. There is no single way to do any of this stuff, in my experience. But this is all a fine starting point and a very-well put together tutorial with excellent performances. Well done and thanks for sharing.
The sparing times I've used mics, I have a pair of sE7's, similar to the ones used in this video, but I've been too lazy to set them up, and have just DI'ed my Taylor 810ce and also my Takamine Jumbo. BUT NOW Mike's convinced me enough with his superb video, to get moving and MIC my guitars. And especially since I have a vintage Martin and also a 12-string Yamaha that I also have wanted to start using in my own recordings. Guess I'll also have to buy a Mic stand adapter so I can hook up both mics on one stand. THANK YOU. There is just NOTHING like the "real music Sound" of an acoustic guitar, something that NONE of the EDM'ers will ever get or understand. Also a piano, for which I use Toon Track's EZKeys2 s/w, and as real as any real piano, because real people record all the grooves on real keyboards for their modules. Sorry to digress but thought it parallels an Ac Gtr.
Super, another question I had but I never asked! I don't have a couple of mics like that, but I'm very happy that I learned how to place a single mic correctly, because I never record with the built-in pickup, I find that it doesn't render the sound of my old Guild D-40 C. Thanks Mike.
Nice work, Mike. I usually mix my acoustic with one unidirectional mic (all I own for uni) on fret 12 and the Fishman Aura box with the DI on another channel. I also love the sound of a good doubling if the part allows for it.
Great instructional video! I also had great success with my Lewitt 140 air stereo pair mics placed about 20 inches apart pointing at the neck and body of the guitar. This makes for a very wide stereo image. Then using an alignment plugin like MAutoAlign or Nugen Aligner I make sure the results are in phase. But I will try crossing the mics as you did next time, as that removes the need for an alignment plugin.
Nice! I've enjoyed recordings made with my MK-012s. I've used the tight cardioid capsules with some success for guitar recordings while recording vocals (for better separation). The positioning gets much more critical with the tighter pattern. I had a singer/songwriter client who recorded 5 CDs worth of material here this way. I've read that some engineers hate stereo acoustic guitar recordings but IMO it's context sensitive. If it's part of a rhythm section, mono is easier to mix and probably better. The guitar pickup might even be suitable. But if the guitar is the entire instrument track for the recording, stereo is much better. This is a terrific video, Mike, very clear and de-mystifying. Nice tips on processing plugs, too. I'm inspired to check out Fab Filter.
Hi Mike, I hope you are well too :) I, like a lot of people, am a strummer. I always struggle getting a good strummed sound from my acoustic, that doesn't sound like it's taking over the mix. Could you do a video on recording strummed acoustic guitar, and more importantly mixing it on a basic guitar vocal track. Thanks, Chris
I have seen people use the plug in conjunction with a mic to great effect as it afforded them the ability to use stomp boxes on the direct signal. I don't wanna Grow up by Tom Waits and Sleepy Vampire by SUpersuckers come immediately to mind. These are, of course, exceptions and were used quite intentionally. and for a specific purpose.
pluggin in is not a "mistake". if you have an unprepared room, the sound is way much better when plug in and then use acoustic guitar IR or, for example, BIAS FX Acoustic Image, than if use mics and get a bunch of awful resonances.
There are variables. Which guitar pickup and how bad is the room? In my past experience, though, even cheap SDC mics (Radio Shack 33-1080s which were re-labeled Sony electrolet condensers) in an untreated room (all hardwood and plaster) sound more natural (better) than the guitar's built in pickup. I have a rather spendy Martin 12 string and a Hohner classical with pickups and on a good day those are unacceptable compared to micing them. Fortunately these days I'm in a better space with better mics. You might try recording the mics and pickup at the same time so you can compare. YMMV.
@@wjniemi well, i did not say "pickup itself is better", i said "pickup + IR (or Bias FX Acoustic Image)". I tried and cheked and found it is the best cheap solution for bedroom producer
I discovered this channel during lockdown as a complete newbie, and remember your "Record, Mix, Release" tutorials. It's so nice to have a reminder and update of some of the topics that were covered in that series. Always helpful, always useful and always a pleasure to watch.
As a newbie I had a hard time on some of the different samplings telling the differences. I had to listen over and over again and finally could tell some differences. Lots to learn. Thanks for the videos you do!
Hey Mike... While I agree that in your case, the mics sound better that the built-in pickup, I'm assuming you have a fairly nice acoustic space for playing. I tried for two years to get a "nice sound" with mics in my less-than-ideal recording space. No matter what I tried, despite having a couple of fairly good mics, the sound just came out "thin". I tried making my space accoustically "better" by having matresses and comforters hanging about to lessen the echo in the room. It just didn't work. Finally, just playing around one day, I plugged my guitar (using my Fishman pickup and built-in mike) directly into my audio interface and guess what? ... It sounded (relatively) great! Not only did I like the sound better but also it was soooo much easier recording "through a wire" than doing all that mic-placement and room-acoustics dance. Someday I hope to have a better "acoustic space" but until then, I'm sticking with the built-in pickup/mic setup. I only mention it because you didn't... That is, a poor acoustic environment cannot be offset with even high-quality mics. If the room acoustics are bad, chances are the built-in pickup/mic is going to sound better (and is a LOT easier to deal with.) 😇😇😇
Great video.
I appreciate your effort to help folks get good recordings from acoustic guitar. I've tried it all through the years with no success. All manner of mics, room treatments, positioning, you name it. Not to mention the money I plowed into the Martin, Taylor, and Gibson companies. Plus all body sizes of guitars, down to 3/4 size. Tried it all, and never got the result I wanted. I always wound up with boomy, mushy, muddy, boxy, thumpy, honky sound. However, I'm pleased to say that I finally found the solution to my problem, anyway. I switched to a Fender Telecaster and parted company with the acoustics. Now I'm totally happy with my recordings. So here's best wishes to all those folks who yearn for those clean, crisp acoustic ones. Some people actually succeed in getting those tones.
The sound-hole position actually sounds rather nice for this finger-picking style. Where I put the guitar relative to the mic or mic's is strongly a function of what I'm playing and the point I am trying to get across. Unless it's just a support rhythm part in a bigger arrangement, I rarely use the oft-suggested 12th fret position, which can sound rather thin for soft playing. I also don't understand this unnatural notch EQ thing that so many people do. If you capture a natural-sounding recording of a fine instrument, that's what I want to hear, aside from maybe some gradual and smooth low / mid / high frequency emphasis. Only if there are glaring issues would I ever apply such a notch, but that's all just me and my approach. There is no single way to do any of this stuff, in my experience. But this is all a fine starting point and a very-well put together tutorial with excellent performances. Well done and thanks for sharing.
The sparing times I've used mics, I have a pair of sE7's, similar to the ones used in this video, but I've been too lazy to set them up, and have just DI'ed my Taylor 810ce and also my Takamine Jumbo. BUT NOW Mike's convinced me enough with his superb video, to get moving and MIC my guitars. And especially since I have a vintage Martin and also a 12-string Yamaha that I also have wanted to start using in my own recordings. Guess I'll also have to buy a Mic stand adapter so I can hook up both mics on one stand. THANK YOU. There is just NOTHING like the "real music Sound" of an acoustic guitar, something that NONE of the EDM'ers will ever get or understand. Also a piano, for which I use Toon Track's EZKeys2 s/w, and as real as any real piano, because real people record all the grooves on real keyboards for their modules. Sorry to digress but thought it parallels an Ac Gtr.
I like to track using a mic and the built in pickup at the same time on different channels and then blend the two through a separate stereo bus.
Super, another question I had but I never asked! I don't have a couple of mics like that, but I'm very happy that I learned how to place a single mic correctly, because I never record with the built-in pickup, I find that it doesn't render the sound of my old Guild D-40 C. Thanks Mike.
Nice work, Mike. I usually mix my acoustic with one unidirectional mic (all I own for uni) on fret 12 and the Fishman Aura box with the DI on another channel. I also love the sound of a good doubling if the part allows for it.
Great instructional video! I also had great success with my Lewitt 140 air stereo pair mics placed about 20 inches apart pointing at the neck and body of the guitar. This makes for a very wide stereo image. Then using an alignment plugin like MAutoAlign or Nugen Aligner I make sure the results are in phase. But I will try crossing the mics as you did next time, as that removes the need for an alignment plugin.
Nice! I've enjoyed recordings made with my MK-012s. I've used the tight cardioid capsules with some success for guitar recordings while recording vocals (for better separation). The positioning gets much more critical with the tighter pattern. I had a singer/songwriter client who recorded 5 CDs worth of material here this way. I've read that some engineers hate stereo acoustic guitar recordings but IMO it's context sensitive. If it's part of a rhythm section, mono is easier to mix and probably better. The guitar pickup might even be suitable. But if the guitar is the entire instrument track for the recording, stereo is much better. This is a terrific video, Mike, very clear and de-mystifying. Nice tips on processing plugs, too. I'm inspired to check out Fab Filter.
Hi Mike, I hope you are well too :)
I, like a lot of people, am a strummer. I always struggle getting a good strummed sound from my acoustic, that doesn't sound like it's taking over the mix. Could you do a video on recording strummed acoustic guitar, and more importantly mixing it on a basic guitar vocal track.
Thanks, Chris
Very useful video. Thank you.
Thanks
Does anyone know what he's using to raise one of the mic on that XY config? Is there an adaptor of some sort that attaches to the left clip? 4:17
Do the comments in this video apply equally to a Classical Nylon Strung guitar also anyone?
I have seen people use the plug in conjunction with a mic to great effect as it afforded them the ability to use stomp boxes on the direct signal. I don't wanna Grow up by Tom Waits and Sleepy Vampire by SUpersuckers come immediately to mind. These are, of course, exceptions and were used quite intentionally. and for a specific purpose.
pluggin in is not a "mistake". if you have an unprepared room, the sound is way much better when plug in and then use acoustic guitar IR or, for example, BIAS FX Acoustic Image, than if use mics and get a bunch of awful resonances.
There are variables. Which guitar pickup and how bad is the room? In my past experience, though, even cheap SDC mics (Radio Shack 33-1080s which were re-labeled Sony electrolet condensers) in an untreated room (all hardwood and plaster) sound more natural (better) than the guitar's built in pickup. I have a rather spendy Martin 12 string and a Hohner classical with pickups and on a good day those are unacceptable compared to micing them. Fortunately these days I'm in a better space with better mics. You might try recording the mics and pickup at the same time so you can compare. YMMV.
@@wjniemi well, i did not say "pickup itself is better", i said "pickup + IR (or Bias FX Acoustic Image)". I tried and cheked and found it is the best cheap solution for bedroom producer
@@mngatoffband You've made some nice recordings, well done. Your acoustic guitar recording works for the rhythm part in the song I heard.
@@wjniemi thanks :)
Hello ^^
LOL "honky." I believe that the proper term is Caucasian. Anyway, another great video, Mike!
Beginner? Really? Beginners like me are not experienced using a workstation.