acoustic guitar in a small room
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Posted on Nov 03, 2007 08:49 am
mike willey
mwaynew
Member Since: Dec 04, 2004
Hey guys- I have a tiny (8X10) studio. Two walls and the ceiling are "sound-proofed" and two walls are bare. I'm playing a Martin D-16RGT thru two small mxl condensers, into the M-audio DMP3 (two channel pre) and straight into my Fostex 16 trk (clean). I've been moving the mics all around (x-y, spaced pair, etc., etc.,) My question(s)- which wall to face, how far away... you get the idea. Given all this, what would you suggest to make my strumming and/or picking sound like a Martin?
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pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Nov 03, 2007 09:32 am what do you mean by soundproofed? foam on the wall?
Which walls are soundproofed? two adjecent walls, or two opposite?
I've done some recording with NT5 on acoustic and mando lately, I've liked 1 pointing at the neck, around fret 7, and one pointing at the guitar front, behind the soundhole.
Course, this is all totally subjective, because I don't play a martin. So that makes all my advice kinda biased =).
I have two walls adjecent covered, and it works nicely. I had my musicians playing into the room, but when I had singers I had them sing towards my sound-deadening. Both worked out pretty well, though I didn't have much time to get real technical on what was getting recorded. Pesky musicians =/.
I guess if I were doing it again, I'd shoot for kinda towards the sound deading, somewhat in the middle of the room.
Playing around with it is really the only way to get the sound you like. Our advice is only going to get you going in a direction. Fine tuning has to be done by you, and can often be a real difference between stellar sound, and mediocre (which I think mine are).
Don't be afraid to try crazy things. Funny mic positions, playing in a corner, etc. Try a bunch of stuff, something will probably work.
Nov 03, 2007 09:54 am Thanks- Two adjascent walls and the ceiling are covered with high quality, dense carpet padding. I realize that opinions might send me off on a wild goose chase, but that's how desperate the situation has become! There may be some listening fatigue involved here. We'll see, but I've always valued the opinions here. Thanks again.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Nov 04, 2007 04:45 pm Hey Mike, pjk has it right. If you want to capture more guitar and less room then play facing towards the dead walls.
My favorite mic combination is one almost straight out from the sound hole. slightly behind it I guess pointing toward the bac edge of it. Then the second mic is about the 12th fret or so, moving it a bit untill you get the optimum sound you want. Again pointing this only slightly toward the sound hole, but not directly at it. You want to capture mostly finger and string sound off the neck.
You will want to make sure you are not getting any phase issues with the mic's as well as this can turn your sound into a dull nothing.
Optimum set up would be if you have an LDC for the sound hole mic, but and SDC will work pretty well if it is all that is available.
If the sound is thin coming from the sound hole mic move it slightly toward the guitar until you get a better bottom end on the sound. This is called proximity effect. The clsoer the mic is to the body the more bottom end it captures. And like wise if you have too much bottom end then moving the mic slightly back away will decrease the boominess.
