Recording Acoustic Guitars: Mike and Pickups

Acoustic guitars present an entirely different challenge in the recording studio than electric guitars. For example, an acoustic’s lower signal level limits mike placement choices. However, within those limitations, a universe of tonal variations exists. Whereas most recording engineers can haphazardly slap a mike hi front of an amp and achieve a decent sound, miking an acoustic guitar requires much more care and attention.

We talked to four guitarists who record with acoustic guitars. Each plays a different style of music and expresses varying opinions about how to achieve the best results. To determine which approach is best for you, con sider how closely these artists’ recordings match the results you want to achieve. Peter White, a solo artist who has worked with Al Stewart, plays nylon-string acoustic guitar in a jazz ensemble along with several electric instruments. Rob Allen, a solo artist who has toured with Melissa Etheridge, plays steel- string acoustic in a rock/jazz band setting along with synthesizers and electric guitars. Martin Simpson, who has several records on Shanachie, plays fingerstyle and slide on a steel-string guitar solo and in small acoustic ensembles. Former Starship guitarist Craig Chaquico, who recently released Acoustic Highway on the Higher Octave label, uses a steel-string to modem new age/rock.

This month, our participants talk about miking techniques and pickup applications. In part two, they’ll discuss effects, performance considerations, and environment.

Choose your weapon. Peter White suggests that you find the right guitar before you begin recording. “I have several acoustic guitars,” he explains. “I always find that one works better on some songs than another. If you can find a guitar that doesn’t have much boom in it, that’s the guitar you should use for recording. Bottom-end boom is the bane of all acoustic guitar players when it comes to recording, although it’s great when you need volume for playing live.”

Microphone placement. Once you’ve chosen a guitar, consider what kind of micro phone you need.

Allen prefers an AKG 414, White likes AKG 451s, and Simpson recom mends a Neumann U87. “You should pick a microphone that complements what your guitar sounds like,” says Simpson. “Get two of the best microphones you can afford.”

Pay careful attention to microphone placement, which affects the overall sound more than any other variable. Allen likes to point a mike at the soundhole when he’s recording single-note lines and towards the bridge when he’s strumming rhythm parts. Simpson and White feel that you should never point a microphone directly at a guitar’s soundhole because it generates too much bass. Both prefer to point a mike at the finger- board where the neck meets the body, but Simpson angles the mike slightly towards the headstock while White points it towards the bridge.

Simpson advises players to spend some time on their knees in front of the guitar, lis tening while somebody else plays it. He feels that this is the only way to figure out where the best sound is. White recommends a similar approach using a closed set of head phones: “Listen to the sound through your headphones while you experiment with dif ferent mike placements. Close miking is a compromise because no one ever listens to a guitar with their ear six inches from the soundhole. However, you have to put the ridcrophone there because an acoustic guitar is not a loud instrument. I’d love to record an acoustic guitar from a distance, but that’s not possible because you can’t get enough level on tape.”

Allen doesn’t recommend distant miking either: “If you mike the room, it just mucks up the sound. When you have reverbs as good as they make these days, you can create almost any type of room you want.”

Recording direct with a pickup. Depending on the result you want, you may want to consider recording without any microphones. A pickup can help you maintain separation when you’re recording several instruments simultaneously. it’s also more convenient and consistent than using microphones. If you’re not entirely concerned with creating a natural acoustic tone, a pickup also makes it easier to experiment

“Everything on Acoustic Highway was recorded with a Washburn EA-20,” says Craig Chaquico. “it has an XLR output, so I can plug it directly into my tape recorder. Some times I plugged the guitar into a Scholz XPR preamp, into a limiter, and then straight to the board. After that I effected things during mixdown. By going direct, I didn’t have to worry about mike placement I could go back three days later and redo a solo or add some thing and have the tone match up exactly. It was never a matter of where I was sitting in the room or where the mike was placed. I didn’t have to worry about extra noises com ing through either.”

Allen sometimes records with only a pick up as well. “I use an L.R. Baggs pickup and preamp equalizer,” he details. “I’ve recorded acoustic music direct to DAT with a little digital reverb, and it’s come out great.” Allen feels that you cannot tell the difference between a mike and a pickup when you’re playing in an ensemble, but he prefers a mike for solo playing or when the guitar is the featured voice.

A combination of pickup and microphone can also provide interesting results. “I’ve start ed using a Highlander pickup when record ing,” says Simpson. “I don’t think you can get a great, traditional acoustic guitar sound with a pickup. If you use a pickup, you generally have to EQ the sound too much. But if you want a modern sound with a different edge, it’s very worthwhile to experiment.

“I’ll use a pickup to capture a particular region such as a harsh attack that I want to accentuate,” Simpson adds. “If I want to treat a signal, I’ll often do that to the pickup’s signal, leaving the miked signal dry. You can use de lay or phasing and bury it below the miked acoustic sound and get some interesting noises that way.”

Source: Guitar Player Magazine