I just got a call from a friend that wants me to man the digital 4 track he's renting for recording his guitar works. Alas I've never had to record an acoustic guitar before sooooo any help would be appreciated. He's renting a couple akg condenser mic's too but not sure wich model.

I'm thinking close mic'd but no more than 10 inches , and probably well north of the soundhole to avoid over bassyness.

Avoiding the sound-hole, or at least pointing the mic away from it, is often a good idea if you are micing within close proximity of the guitar.

First, the instrument: the guitar should be properly strung with a set of fresh stings. Have your friend make sure the intonation is properly set, etc.

Make sure you find a decent sounding space to make the recording in. Actually, so much depends on the space that you are recording in; it would be helpful to know what you've got to work with in this regard.

Also, how many mics? Large or small diaphragm? Can you use all 4 track for the guitar? Is this solo guitar, or will there be a need to track other instruments?

I like to mic acoustic guitars with two mics.... one at the 12th fret about 3 or 4 inches from the neck but facing toward the hole. This can get the picky, stringy stuff so small diaphragm condenser or good dynamic or ribbon. I then often mic the butt of the guitar (front side but down near the end almost to where the strap button is ... use your ear to find a sweet spot) to get the bigger tone and bottom of the sound without the picky, stringiness. Phase is a big issue so be mindful of that.

Make sure your friend is good and that he's got a guitar with a nice tone.
I recorded an acoustic guitar with one AT3031 one toy mic inside the body and a tascam 788 . The two last one are audio piece of shit !!
it ended up sounding good somehow. Try stuff and choose what you like most

Tronixmagnet wrote:Make sure your friend is good

That's a weird thing to say. If the friend wants recording, and you want to record it, what the hell does it matter how 'good' he is?


I, not being very 'good' but very much enjoying recording acoustic (and I do have a guitar with beautiful tone), have recorded with a mic about a foot from the sound hole, pointing directly at it. The recording sounded like there was a cathedral in the guitar. Worked for me!



Disclaimer: I know diddly squat about recording and am a great reader of but poor contributor to the Tech Room.

I'd say put a contact mic on the body and one for the ambience. Never tried one at the 12th fret. what kind of harmonic contribution does this give?

thanks guys, great tips.
I'm not sure what kind of mics hes renting. I myself dont have any .I'm not and engineer but im kind of the defacto guy my friends turn to. thanks again.

Bartok wrote:I'd say put a contact mic on the body and one for the ambience. Never tried one at the 12th fret. what kind of harmonic contribution does this give?

I don't think it has anything to do with the octive harmonics.... more to do with the distance to the hole.

Mayfair wrote:I don't think it has anything to do with the octive harmonics.... more to do with the distance to the hole.

And relative string length... the 12th fret is the center of the unfretted strings. Also, you'll see a lot of tips pointing you toward the neck/body joint, usually in the 12 to 14 fret area.

I recently tried a different approach... a friend of mine had got a pair of MXL condensers for his project studio, and wanted to try them out. I don't know which models, but one was a large-diaphram and one was a small. I put the large diaphram at the butt of the guitar, right by the strap button, pointed up towards the soundhole and neck beyond it. I put the small diaphram above my left shoulder, pointed straight down at the neck/body joint. Tracked a tune, panned the tracks apart, and played it back... sounded really nice, wide and full. The large diaphram picked up the body and some healthy midrange, while the small diaphram picked up the string sound, transients, pick noise, etc. without being overly bright or harsh. Needed a little EQ to keep the large diaphram from being too boomy, but it was easy to find and notch.

This approach probably won't work for you if you're mixing the acoustic into drums, bass, and electric guitar, but for solo acoustic, or acoustic with voice, it'll work out fine.

Mayfair wrote:

Bartok wrote:I'd say put a contact mic on the body and one for the ambience. Never tried one at the 12th fret. what kind of harmonic contribution does this give?

I don't think it has anything to do with the octive harmonics.... more to do with the distance to the hole.

I see. I'm going to look into this and report back.