Tips & Tricks

Miking Acoustic Guitars

Miking an acoustic guitar can be as simple as jamming a mic into the sound hole (the usual method you often see), but it can be a lot more, too. Here are a few tips to getting a more creative and full sound out of your acoustic:

1. First off, try using a condenser mic, like an AKG 3000 or a Shure SM81, instead of your standard dynamic mic like a Shure SM57. You will pick up more subtleties, nuances, and high frequencies this way because the mics are more effective at lower SPL’s (sound pressure levels) and higher frequencies.



2. Try using two mics instead of just one, and blend them to your taste at the mixing board or sound console



1. I like to use one condenser mic aimed about midway between the sound hole and the neck. This mic, when placed about 6 inches away and aimed slightly off-axis, is great for picking up the sound of the pick hitting the strings when doing a lot of single note playing.


2. The second mic is positioned about 2 to 3 feet away from the guitar and pointed on-axis at about the 12th fret. This mic is going to picking up the overall sound of the guitar, as well as ambient room noise. It will give you a completely different sound than the close mic.


3. Play around with different mics. Not all guitars sound great with the same mic. Why? Because guitar tone sounds totally different from guitar to guitar depending on player style, strings type and age, body size, pick versus fingers, room quality, etc. I have been in studios where the floor bristled with mics sitting in front of the acoustic guitar giving the engineer the opportunity to pick and mix a variety of mic sounds after the piece was tracked. You can always decide not to use a track, but you can’t ever go back and get it afterwards. Trust me on this!



4. Play around with different mic positions. Does the close mic sound better aimed off-axis at about the 12th fret instead of between the soundhole and the neck. Does it sound better farther off than close up. Sometimes you might even want to forget the mic and just capture the preamp running from the guitar, if it has one, through a DI (direct injection) box going straight to the board or preamp.



5. Forget about EQ’ing the signal coming from the guitar. If you have to use almost any EQ at all, you should work on the mic selection and position first. Likely that is the real culprit. You’ll know when you have it right, because you will only have to use minimal, tiny amounts of EQ—if any at all.

The important thing to remember about miking an acoustic instrument is that there is no hard and fast rule, only guidelines to get you started. Try different mic and different positions to see what sounds best for your particular situation, taking into account the player, the guitar, the room and the song. Don’t forget the song! After all, in the end, that’s really all that counts!