Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    there is no one solution for your problem, but here are some make-dos
                                                           
    1) try a cheap radio shack pzm mic in various locations near the
    guitar
    2) get a barcus berry transducer installed
    3) aim the mic at the bridge
    4) use 4 (or several) microphone locations and mix them down to
    one track
    
    I usually do 1 and 4 above, and get a good clean full sound.
    
    toodles
    
    Ashley

    Aoustic gittars and rototoms (remember them?) are hard to record.
    
    But I agree with .-1 - mix a mic in a few feet away from the body
    of the guitar, otherwise half of that expensive sound seems to
    go straight past the close mic.
    
    Richard.

	Good idea for a topic!

	How much can a good EQ help?  I'd be interested in knowing this as
well.  For a while, I was training my wife to run the mixing board for me for
playing out live.  I gave her a 6-band guitar EQ stomp-box and told her to
just freely experiment.  She worked and worked with it until she came up with
what sounded the best to her ears.  I looked at it and it was the strangest
curve I'd ever seen on a graphic EQ.  Admittedly, she is quite new to EQ'ing,
as I am also.

	Dan

                       
    The thing about EQ is that if you play with it long enough everything
    you try sounds good, but you forget what it is *supposed * to sound
    like!!!    8^)  8^)
    
    For acoustic guitars, particularly close-miked:
    
    I like to see a rolloff at around 150 Hz to get rid of boominess,
    decrease that until the bass sounds full but not muddy.  Also cut
    around 50 or 75 Hz, just as much.  If bass and drums will be in
    the mix, cut a little more than if it will be just guitar.
    
    Boost around 1.5 to 3 KHz for that "halo" effect you hear on a lot
    of recordings.  Gives a good sheen to the sound. Hard to describe
    what this does.....
    
    Boost or cut around 8 KHz and above to suit your taste for high
    end harmonics.
    
    The above works well with my setup.  I have a noisy house so I usually
    avoid ambient miking.  The above EQ solves much of the close-miking
    problems.  I place the mike near the bridge, about four inches away.
                       

    re .4, various EQ settings:
    
    If I recall correctly, the various settings you describe (cut @75-150,
    boost @1.5-3K) just about match the built-in curve for a good vocal
    mic. The bass cut avoids boominess and the midrange boost gives
    presence to vocals.. so by extension a vocal mic is a very good
    choice for acoustic guitar.
    
    karl

    
    I've found that keeping the mike as far way from the mike as possible
    helps.  To to this, I have to raise the recording level kind of
    high, but my Fostex X-15 4-track seems to handle it pretty well.
    
    I believe when the mike is too close, it picks up only the sound
    coming from directly in front of the guitar and doesn't pick up
    the natural resonance coming from the whole body of the guitar.
    
    Even when I follow that advice, however, I still run into problems
    depending on what key I play in!  When ever a song I write is in
    the key of A major for example, the bottom end on the A chords always
    sounds boomy when I record.  It must be something about the room
    play in or possible something about my guitar...

    Peter

    Shucks I just go direct on mine....I miss all the exciting problems
    
    

    re .6	Could be something about your guitar.  Is it "dreadnaught"
    sized ?
    
    	Reg
    

    Two suggestions that have worked well for me -
    
    	1) Use a "lapel mike", clipped to the treble side of the 
    	   soundhole of the top.
    
    	2) Use a GOOD mike, ABOVE the guitar, not in front of the guitar.
    
    	Bill Message

    
    	I have had trouble with the low A string.  It can resonate if
    the wall sizes are mulitples of themselves or some such thing.
    Like there is more resonance in an 6X8 room as in a 5X8 room  ????
    I record a Guild Maderia with bronze strings in my bedroom (the
    bed and dressers break up some of the resonance) using a Shure SM58.
    I have the mike beside either my left or right ear pointing down
    toward the guitar. I've gotten the best results with this method.
    I sometimes us some EQ depending on what other instruments I'll
    be recording.  My deck is a porta-one.
                                                                      
    
    Guy Novello
    

    
    I also have a Guild Maderia!  Mine's a cutaway design so I can reach a
    little higher on the neck.  It's interesting you have the same trouble
    with the A string.  I'll have to try that technique of placing mike up
    above the guitar.
    
    Peter