Recommend a Mic for acoustic guitar recording

Chewie5150 said:
I guess I could have mentioned that from the start! I was thinking around $300ish but I didn't have much experience with mics since I've always gone direct with electrics and rarely record acoustic. I'm going to experiment a bit this week running my Taylor direct into the AX3. Maybe track down a good IR see how that turns out..maybe do the job well enough for my needs and down the road i can do proper mic'ing setup , by the sounds of it, for less than $1000
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Taylor ES2 system works quite nicely and you can get nice sounds using Axe FX 3 and there is presets that other made in https://axechange.fractalaudio.com/.

But real microphones are also very good and now days there is so much variety of them.

I made one quick clip about my new Taylor GS Mini-E and recorded using only one microphone AustralianAudio OC16.
(Usually I use two microphones but wanted to know what kind sound comes out using only one). I recorded using OBS
Studio https://obsproject.com/ (added that black border with Vegas Pro)

Playing is not good but maybe you get idea how it sounds ;)

 
GuitarChapPappa said:
Taylor ES2 system works quite nicely and you can get nice sounds using Axe FX 3 and there is presets that other made in https://axechange.fractalaudio.com/.

But real microphones are also very good and now days there is so much variety of them.

I made one quick clip about my new Taylor GS Mini-E and recorded using only one microphone AustralianAudio OC16.
(Usually I use two microphones but wanted to know what kind sound comes out using only one). I recorded using OBS
Studio https://obsproject.com/ (added that black border with Vegas Pro)

Playing is not good but maybe you get idea how it sounds ;)

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Dude that sounds wonderful. Very natural capture I'd say. I'd be quite happy with those results
 
If you have the III, borrow a good mic from a friend or local studio and shoot tone matches of the piezo/mic sound to make an IR.
Use the mic as reference and piezo as local source and you’ll be amazed at the results. A little smoothing and you’re golden!
 
Patzag said:
If you have the III, borrow a good mic from a friend or local studio and shoot tone matches of the piezo/mic sound to make an IR.
Use the mic as reference and piezo as local source and you’ll be amazed at the results. A little smoothing and you’re golden!
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This. You'll get pretty much the best live acoustic tone you could hope for.

Actually, you can tone match your guitar to any dry recorded guitar you like.
 
Rex said:
This. You'll get pretty much the best live acoustic tone you could hope for.

Actually, you can tone match your guitar to any dry recorded guitar you like.
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True, I’ve done that with my Parker. But there’s something special about TMing your own.
 
Those microphone don't have to be expensive ones. Already Shure 57 and 58 are enough nice to get proper sound from
recording. The only thing is that you have to place them quite near your acoustic guitar to get sound enough loud and they are
more sensitive also how you move front of them, that's one reason ei bought other condenser microphone.

One example how Taylor 814 CE sound when recorded with two dynamic mircophone (Shure 57 and 58 SM)
https://maihinnousu.net/s/32609 (pressing play button can hear that clip).

Axe FX 3 it self is enough good as other said, using those IR. But even without IR you can get nice sound out.
One example just using Axe FX 3 without any IR, just base blocks and that's it.

https://maihinnousu.net/s/33533 (this is with backing track Cavatina and guitar is nylon string Yamaha NCX900 FM)

There is also these kind equipments for acoustic guitars https://www.fishman.com/portfolio/aura-spectrum-di-preamp/
I had one before and they are also nice. Example you can load IR:s to that Aura-Spectrum-Di-preamp and they sounds
quite good. It's good we have so much choices :D

Maybe if possible it's good to test that Aura-Spectrum-DI-preamp too.
 
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GuitarChapPappa said:
Those microphone don't have to be expensive ones. Already Shure 57 and 58 are enough nice to get proper sound from
recording. The only thing is that you have to place them quite near your acoustic guitar to get sound enough loud and they are
more sensitive also how you move front of them, that's one reason ei bought other condenser microphone.

One example how Taylor 814 CE sound when recorded with two dynamic mircophone (Shure 57 and 58 SM)
https://maihinnousu.net/s/32609 (pressing play button can hear that clip).

Axe FX 3 it self is enough good as other said, using those IR. But even without IR you can get nice sound out.
One example just using Axe FX 3 without any IR, just base blocks and that's it.

https://maihinnousu.net/s/33533 (this is with backing track Cavatina and guitar is nylon string Yamaha NCX900 FM)

There is also these kind equipments for acoustic guitars https://www.fishman.com/portfolio/aura-spectrum-di-preamp/
I had one before and they are also nice. Example you can load IR:s to that Aura-Spectrum-Di-preamp and they sounds
quite good. It's good we have so much choices :D

Maybe if possible it's good to test that Aura-Spectrum-DI-preamp too.
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Beautiful recording. And great playing.
 
I purchased a used Shure SM81 small diaphragm condenser microphone based on recommendations I read on the acoustic guitar forum. It was $220 shipped. New ones cost about $399. I used it to make tone match IRs for my two acoustic guitars and the results sound very good IMO.

From what I have read (total newb for microphone shopping), large diaphragm condensers impart more coloration on the tone compared to small diaphragm condenser microphones. This coloration can sound quite good, but small diaphragm condensers are more accurate / true to the natural signal.
 
Rex said:
This. You'll get pretty much the best live acoustic tone you could hope for.

Actually, you can tone match your guitar to any dry recorded guitar you like.
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I have not had good luck doing this.
Have you successfully done this recently yourself?
I even went through it with @chris on one of his great youtube get togethers and he could not help me get it to work.
It just seemed the tone match works for amps but creating an IR for an acoustic? I dunno. :)
 
200man said:
I have not had good luck doing this.
Have you successfully done this recently yourself?
I even went through it with @chris on one of his great youtube get togethers and he could not help me get it to work.
It just seemed the tone match works for amps but creating an IR for an acoustic? I dunno. :)
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i did? i don't own an acoustic guitar to try that :D
 
chris said:
i did? i don't own an acoustic guitar to try that :D
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You don’t remember the session where I demonstrated?

Edited: I have tried so many times to use the Tone Match feature unsuccessfully for both acoustic and hollow body jazz guitars. What I finally ended up doing worked great, was cheap and the results were excellent.
 
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thanks for all the great suggestions here. I've been doing some direct recordings both with the AXE3 and also via my Apollo and plugins. Some okay results actually but again ...its just 'direct'. So i think soon i'll invest in decent mic. One of the ones mentioned in this thread for sure.
 
just now I've been working on an Acoustic preset based off @Cooper Carter G66 vid on direct acoustic. I have a TC body rez pedal in the OUT 3 - In 3 loop. I was wondering why I was only getting mono (left) signal unless i had a pitch or delay block later in the signal path to make it more stereo then figured it must be due to the body rez pedal. the loop i have placed after the amp block so I'm guessing this takes it back to mono yes? i tried placing the FX loop before the amp block in the grid which leaves things stereo but sacrifices the tone a lot. the body rez sounds best placed IMO after the amp block but then it affects the stereo signal. thoughts?

I'm not sure if this is related or plays a part in this signal path. I'm running spdif into the Axe from my Apollo. In the Axe i have the I/O settings correct.
Digital input source: spdif
spdif/aes out source: output 1
input 1 source: digital
 
200man said:
I have not had good luck doing this.
Have you successfully done this recently yourself?
I even went through it with @chris on one of his great youtube get togethers and he could not help me get it to work.
It just seemed the tone match works for amps but creating an IR for an acoustic? I dunno. :)
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Not recently. I tone-matched my electric acoustic with a miked Gibson nine or ten years ago. It's important to use a dry recording. No reverb or anything.
 
I like Rode mics because they are reasonably priced and built well, even though they are made by Aussies. ;)

For acoustic guitar you could go with the NT1 or M3. NT1 will give you more room in the pattern and the M3 is an end address so closer to a shotgun style capture. The nice part with the M3 is it can run off a 9V instead of phantom power. I haven't tried with my M3 so I can't confirm, but I suspect it will work on one of the balanced inputs on the III without requiring a DI or mixer.
 
Rex said:
Not recently. I tone-matched my electric acoustic with a miked Gibson nine or ten years ago. It's important to use a dry recording. No reverb or anything.
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No reverb on signals. Mic and acoustic’s piezo, electric guitar and dry guitar recording…can’t get it to work.
I have commented on this for several yesrs…as it is obviously the straightforward way to do it.
 
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