just be sure your acoustic guitar mics arent phase cancelling - check them in mono before simply panning them hard left and right.

i've always struggled with recording acoustic guitars. mics too close and bass strings overload my signal, making things too muddy; too far away and the instrument loses its depth of character, if you will.

my newest method involves placing the mic right near where the player's right ear would be, looking down at the guitar. the idea here being that it will capture what the player is hearing. the thing about acoustic guitars is that they sound WAY different from even the slightest changes in listening position. so, when the player is happy with his tone, and finds a good spot in the room, slap the mic close to his head. so far so good for me...

Has anyone ever recorded acoustic bass?

I could use some advice on recording solo acoustic guitar.

I like a lot of low end on my acoustic recordings, so I typically place either an SM7 or an NT1A 6-8" from the soundhole. While this captures the low end to my liking, it doesn't really grab many overtones or those lovely pick-clicking-and-string-squeaking noises. I have an SM81 for that purpose, but I'm having the damnedest time placing it in relation to the soundhole mic. I can get good solo tones from each mic, but they always go to mush when combined in mono.

Assuming that the soundhole mic's placement is fixed, do I have any decent options for the SM81?

garble wrote:Has anyone ever recorded acoustic bass?

I recorded one with a PCC taped to the Guitar and pointed at the strings.
It was weird and very Subfreqy. We didn't end up using it in the mix.

I like an 81 at the neck joint about 4" away for mono A. guitar. It just sounds like a guitar and usually need little Eq if any at all. I also take this approach live If I can convince the player to stop trying to shove the mic in the hole.

garble wrote:Has anyone ever recorded acoustic bass?

I've recorded double bass a bunch of times. Ribbons are good for it, and I've used an RE20 or a figure of 8 LDC down by the bridge/f holes and an SDC or ribbon up above the finger board to good effect.

If you mean those ones that are like oversized acoustic guitars, I've never done it, but I'd probably try something fairly similar to start off with...

One of the best double bass sounds I ever got was a M88 with some foam around it shoved in the space between the bridge and the body and a 414 about 1' away from the players plucking hand. Very natural.

What pattern on the 414, and what kind of space were you in?

What I do which is proably the most common way is........ One mic just above the hole on the fret board and another down by the tailsection to pick up the lows. If you think about it its kinda where his ears will be. Then use a DI out if possible, this is good for putting effects on. The two mics you can slightly pan to your desire. And remember phase!

tarandfeathers wrote:What pattern on the 414, and what kind of space were you in?

Cardioid. It was in a very shitty sounding room made of cinder block. Kind of "L" shaped. Bad preamps too. Mackey 24/8. It just sounded very natural. The 88 had plenty of boom and blending it with the 414 gave it a nice open sound. We didn't use much of the 414 in the mix. Just enough to get some hand sound. The mic wrapped in foam stuck in th bridge was almost perfect on its own. I think I did have to flip the polarity on the 414 but cannot remember.

Here is my one mic formula:

Operate with two extremes, try a spot and adjust.

Dark and bassy extreme: Just outside of the soundhole, pointed at the rim about nine inches out.

Thin and picky extreme: Near the twelfth fret pointed more towards the soundhole.

Based on the mic, the guitar and the player I have gone to each extreme and everywhere in between. I often use two mics, but there is no substitute for getting just one mic exactly right.

Try things in the vein of:

Beyer M180
Shure Ksm141
Beyer M201
AT 4033


The dynamics seem to need a bit of a louder player without getting too close and enhancing prox. effect. The M180 is a gem of a ribbon for acoustic but I don't own one so a small condenser is usually my first bet.