Condensers picking up too much base

Posted on

Member Since: Oct 29, 2009

Hey everyone, thank you for taking the time to read this. I just recently bought a couple condenser mics, and while playing acoustic guitar the mics are picking up too much of the base and maxing out/distorting. I know I can change mic placement but I'd like to not pick up so much of the room by putting them really far away, are there any other options I might explore? I recently got a mixer but I'm not sure I should turn down the base on that too low, for fear of compromising the audio quality. What should I do?

Thanks!

Gerald :)

[ Back to Top ]


http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Oct 29, 2009 08:09 pm

roll of the low end for sure, nothing wrong with that.

you can also buy those hole plugs for the acoustic which might help.

The Czar of BS
Member
Since: Dec 31, 2007


Oct 29, 2009 09:21 pm

It also maybe that the gain is to high on your input. If your distorting, turn it down some.

And as Deon said, nothing wrong with high passing the mic.

I am not a crook's head
Member
Since: Mar 14, 2003


Oct 29, 2009 10:03 pm

How close are you putting the mic to your guitar? And where are you pointing the mic?

Two things to avoid:
- Don't put the mic too close to whatever you're micing. A phenomenon called "proximity effect" will cause it to emphasize the bass frequencies. Sometimes this is desirable, but for the most part it just results in boominess.

- Don't point the mic towards the sound hole on an acoustic guitar. It's going to pick up way too much bass and sound boomy. The starting point for a single mic on an acoustic guitar is pointing towards where the neck meets the body, which is usually around the 12th or 14th fret. Put the mic about 12" to 18" away for starters. That's a good general starting position for micing an acoustic guitar. If you want more bass, angle the mic towards the body of the guitar. If you want less bass, angle the mic towards the headstock. If you want less room ambience, move the mic closer to the instrument. If you want more room ambience, move the mic farther away from the instrument. But 12" - 18" is pretty standard and should give a good balance between room and guitar.

As for the distortion, check your gain staging and make sure that every step of the way where there's a gain adjustment in your signal chain that it's getting a strong signal but not clipping/distorting. There's no need to track really hot.

If you simply can't keep from clipping, then you might check into getting an inline pad for your mic. Or maybe your mic has a -10dB pad switch on it. Maybe it doesn't. You haven't filled out your gear bio so we have no way of knowing what gear you're using and what potential there is for adjustment.

www.TheLondonProject.ca
Member
Since: Feb 07, 2005


Oct 29, 2009 10:36 pm

What kind of mics? A lot has already been said... distortion on an acoustic would suggest to be that you are using too much gain on your pre-amp... like Tad mentioned point at the 12th fret and not the hole. Actually Tad has a lot of great info ^^^ not much to add... still curious what mics though??

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Oct 29, 2009 11:05 pm

yeah the -10 pad should be on our interface some where actually.

Hold 'Em Czar
Member
Since: Dec 30, 2004


Oct 29, 2009 11:37 pm

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ what they said

definitely move the mic back some, and if yer gettin' too much room, try quieting the room...pillows, blankets, cushions.., bookshelves, all work well if you place everything well...

Member
Since: Jan 07, 2010


Jan 07, 2010 11:53 am

everyone gave you good tips but they all failed to mention if you have a mixer turn down your lows. padding will most likely produce unwanted noise taking away from your quality so focus on mixing and compression as well as what the others mentioned.

Member
Since: Jan 07, 2010


Jan 07, 2010 11:54 am

everyone gave you good tips but they all failed to mention if you have a mixer turn down your lows. padding will most likely produce unwanted noise taking away from your quality so focus on mixing and compression as well as what the others mentioned.

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Jan 07, 2010 12:39 pm

Rolling of the lows was indeed mentioned but; I agree with mic placement more than anything. Padding does not create noise either, it's simply a way of reducing the signal on mics that are way too hot (my nt5's for OH's are each reduced by a -20 pad).

Member
Since: Jan 07, 2010


Jan 07, 2010 05:45 pm

cpt tripps im sorry to tell you but padding can easily produce noise. you said it yourself, its simply a way of REDUCING the signal which is how noise occurs, (by use of a week signal) if your mic's amp or pre-amp doesn't make up for the reduction caused by padding, the signal is too week and unwanted noise will happen.

Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004


Jan 07, 2010 05:57 pm

Seems to me that a pad would reduce the signal as well as the noise. But if you have to bring up the level later, then the SNR can go up. But that's if you don't gainstage correctly, which will always introduce problems, I'd think.

I'm with Tad & Cpt, adjust the mic placement, then gain-stage correctly. I just tracked an acoustic with a pair of NT5. One pointing at neck, one pointing below the hole. Nice. And this was a 60$ acoustic. Tracked later with my J45, and that was nice too. same placement. Both mics were approx 18" away from the git. (that's 45.72 centimeters for our non-US members)

So getting away from the bassy part of the guitar, maybe using the high-pass, and maybe dropping the lows on the mixer EQ. these all should get you where you want.

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Jan 08, 2010 02:01 pm

When I turn up my OH's without a pad they are way too hot and I get some pre-amp noise. Now when I pad them both the signal and noise are reduced or else I would end up with the same amount of noise and a quieter overhead yes? It pads the entire pre-amp, not just the instrument.

The headroom I have after tracking (thanks bigtime to MM's "tracking too hot" article) has improved my mixes by at least 100% and allows the dynamics of my music to come through much better.

Last but not least, I still say mic placement.

Eat Spam before it eats YOU!!!
Member
Since: May 11, 2002


Jan 08, 2010 11:43 pm

bear in mind I'm quirte intoxicated ....... vbut ...


on acoustic I prefer t0 mic the corner of the guitar below the strumming elbow... if that is too much bass rtgwb I mic the corner below the strumming hand... never ...ever the nsound hole...

I am not a crook's head
Member
Since: Mar 14, 2003


Jan 09, 2010 12:41 am

While S/N ratio is certainly very important, with a preamp that's being overloaded by a mic, S/N ratio is a bit lower on the ladder of importance than usual. This is because the preamp is the first gain stage in your signal chain. If you have your desired mix of room ambience vs. direct signal of the instrument and you're still overloading your preamp, you don't have any other gain stages before this to turn down. Moving the mic will affect the room vs. guitar balance. You can convince the guitarist to play more softly, but he might be playing at his preferred volume for his style, and changes in volume will also affect the ambience of the track. An inline pad is the only choice that I know of here that won't affect the tone or ambience of the track. It reduces the input signal strength enough to give you some headroom on a particularly hot preamp. Then you can stage your gains for the rest of your signal chain to minimize noise from there on out.

And as Tripps alluded to above, MassiveMaster's documents about reducing tracking levels into your A/D converters will definitely give you something to think about when it comes to adjusting levels on your DAW. While it's my belief that you're still free to use the "turn it up until the clip indicator only comes on intermittently" on the analog front end of your signal chain, leaving lots of headroom from the point you first convert from analog->digital until the end of your signal chain will yield much more punchy, lively mixes that stand up to the rigors of the mastering process much better. Digital equipment today has such a low noise floor that the difference in S/N ratio is negligible between tracking in the yellow versus tracking at -18dB.

Noise is a terrible thing for sure (although Noize2U is a terrific guy). But an overloaded preamp is definitely worse since it causes outright distortion instead of a relatively imperceptible amount of noise. Now if you're using a Nady or Behringer preamp, forget ambience because noise is definitely the #1 enemy :)

Related Forum Topics:



If you would like to participate in the forum discussions, feel free to register for your free membership.