Recording Acoustic Guitar

[bobsbobbackwards]

I normally just point my rode M3 around the 12th fret but have a nice modded Oktava MK219 as well now.
What would be the best way to utilise both mics for a richer sound with possibly more width. I only have one mic stand, just wondering if it's worth getting another to get both mics on the go?

Whenever I've seen 2 mics on acoustic it's usually 2 SDC's orientated 90 degrees from each other, just wondering if a SDC and LDC can work well together.

[octatonic]

I often use a pair of SDC's but an SDC and LDC can work fine.

90 degrees?
Do you mean Mid/Side micing?
It can work but you need to have one mic set to figure 8, the other is usually cardiod, although omni and fig 8 can work too.
I use MS a lot of time but not often for acoustic guitar, unless you want a stereo image- which with a single acoustic guitar sounds a bit odd to me.

When micing acoustic guitar I generally put on mic around the 12 fret and the second mic either over the sound hole (if I want more bottom end) or pointing at the soundboard (for less bottom end).
I pan them the the same point in the stereo field, starting with dead centre.

[MaxTheMac]

i'd imagine he's talking about a co-incident pair of SDC, with the capsules mounted at right angles to each other, about 45% off axis to the instrument....

or possibly something like ORTF. (spaced pair angled away from each other)




both of which are stereo techniques, requiring matched pairs, rather than any two random mics....


but the idea is sound, no reason why you shouldn't point the SDC up the neck, and the LDC at the rear of the body behind the bridge (never directly at the soundhole, it sounds horrid)



but pan them together... or at least nearly.... guitars are not infinitely wide, so the panning for a lifelike representation should attempt to recreate the sense of the size of the instrument with some reference to reality... so, if using say logic, and you want to create an image just to the right of centre, you might pan the instrument at +5 for the SDC, and between +7 and +10 for the LDC, depending on the size of image you want to fool the listener in to believing...

try and mount the mics so that the centres of the capsule diaphragms are aligned together laterally, but crossing over each other in an X , the angle can be varied to aim the mics further up the neck, or behind the bridge, etc etc.... after all, this is not a purist stereo recording, but rather an attempt to capture the sound of the instrument as you wish to portray it.... so Mic placement is all about the result you want , rather than a version of rule books derived from Alan Blumlein's work.

[StuartBahn]

Take a look at guitarist Jay Graydon's site, he has a great deal to say about recording guitars: http://www.jaygraydon.com/guitatxt.htm