Turtlerock Forum

hey there
im doing a live recording for a band this saturday, and the thing that im having trouble figuring out is how to mic an acoustic guitar in a live recording situation with drums,bass and vocals.
im DI'ing the bass so thats not an issue.
any suggestions???

Maybe select a mic that you know doesn't suffer from proximity effect too badly so that you can get it close enough to the guitar to avoid too much spill. Depending on how the band is arranged you could even use a figure 8 and point the null at the offending spill (probably drums?).

I would take a DI of the acoustic as well if it has a pickup, so that you can blend it with the mic'd signal. Not only will it give you a bit more control over the level of the acoustic in the mix, but we're all used to hearing the sound of DI'd acoustic guitar live anyway!

The only other thing I can suggest is just embrace the spill, it makes it sound real and more like a live recording, which it is!

Good luck, if you get the whole thing down on disk and nothing goes horribly wrong I reckon you've already done pretty well with a live show recording!

Cheers,
Nick.

Yep... what Nick said.

You could alway di it, and then reamp it later.

13thbeach wrote:You could alway di it, and then reamp it later.

i could if the guitar was any good. apparently its just a normal acoustic guitar with a pick up in it. not relying on those.
but yeah like nick said, i could always blend it in with the mic signal.

thanks for all your suggestions guys, it was real help :)

How about something like this??


or this..

looks real nice, wish i had the gear to replicate all that. :P

Yeah!, and how about those jeans?!

May not look flash for a live setting but maybe try and get hold of a "mic thing" or "reflexion filter". Should work ok if the band isn't too loud, the foldback isn't too loud and the player doesn't move around much. Record the DI as well just in case.

If it's a "normal acoustic guitar with a pickup in it" what makes micing it up any more attractive than the pickup option? If it was a great guitar I could see it, but then it would probably have a good pickup too ;)

Funny how we're happy to DI bass, even though it's usually much brighter than the amp sound but baulk at doing it for acoustics. (myself included, I rarely mic up a bass cab live)

Kurt wrote:(myself included, I rarely mic up a bass cab live)

Wow, I always mic the bass cab when ever possible. It just adds that roundness and cabnet timber that a DI can't produce.
That said, It depends on the rig being used for sure. Also I have found the sm57 to do an amazing job in this situation, its such an amazing microphone!!!!

13thbeach wrote:

Kurt wrote:(myself included, I rarely mic up a bass cab live)

Also I have found the sm57 to do an amazing job in this situation, its such an amazing microphone!!!!

Amen to that, you can mic up a whole band with sm57's and still get amazing sound. :P

True, but the fact is more often than not in a pub sized live setting bass amps are DI'd (even worse, DI the bass before it gets to the amp)
People (well, bass players) look at me funny on the occasions I've used a mic rather than a DI.

jithknot wrote:

13thbeach wrote:

Kurt wrote:(myself included, I rarely mic up a bass cab live)

Also I have found the sm57 to do an amazing job in this situation, its such an amazing microphone!!!!

Amen to that, you can mic up a whole band with sm57's and still get amazing sound. :P

Kurt wrote:True, but the fact is more often than not in a pub sized live setting bass amps are DI'd

What venues are you working in????

I do sound at a venue here in Canberra, out of close to 400 (average 8 bands every weekend) times I've dealt with basses in the last year I can think of one bass player who asked me to mic the cab rather than DI it. I mic Ampegs 'coz I think their DI is pretty ordinary, I mic cabs when the amp doesn't have a DI/line/pre-amp out. There are a few who turn up with no amp at all.

Bass players must expect to be DI'ed, many will plug it in themselves when they get their amp on stage, or tell me "there's a DI on the back mate" when I'm micing up the stage.

I suppose it's 'coz they're quick, easy and spill free. With a decent sized amp I'm also just bolstering the sound of the bass a bit, much of it is coming straight off stage.

Try playing spot the mic on the bass cab next time you're at a pub gig ;)

13thbeach wrote:

Kurt wrote:True, but the fact is more often than not in a pub sized live setting bass amps are DI'd

What venues are you working in????

An yet in your first post you say the bass will be DI'ed!

jithknot wrote:Amen to that, you can mic up a whole band with sm57's and still get amazing sound. :P

Yeah fair enough. We generally do what we want and the bands are happy to go with it. Occasionally we will get a pain in the ass drummer who insists on using his subkick thingo that he brings along. So of course we plug it in, but not actually use the dam thing. ha!