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Owning neither an SM81, KSM44 or any other uber nice mics, anyone got any suggestions on the best way to record nylon strings? I've got an AKG C1000 which is okay-ish, and a cheap MXL Large-diaphram-condensor which just sounds like your playing with the mic sat in a wooden box...

Did this yesterday - nylon innit.. - which required massive EQ-ing to stop is sounding boomy, but then you loose the depth of the sound..

thoughts?

My first thought was “You have a very feminine voice Ben!�

try placing your best mic about 10 inches to a foot away right at the spot your neck meets the body.

Alternativley, place a mic to the left of the bridge (audience perspective) at a 45 pointing towards the strings.

Or try both of these. Whatever you do, stay away from micing the soundhole directly!

also keep in mind that in a mix you will almost always need to cut some boomy out (200-300), and sometimes even some hi mids (around 1K) to make it fit right (Depending on how nasal the guitar). Cut everything below 50 or 60. Try boosting around 5 - 6K for some more "meat" in your treble. And then above 10K for the sound of fingers on strings.

listening to your track, sounds pretty good through my little netbook speaks. How did you mic it to begin with?

LDC about 4-6 inches away from the soundhole, angled so the capsule wasn't pointing at the soundhole. The mix was as best as I could make it for a late evening recording - basically added a massive low shelf to kill everything with a hint of boom, then boosted the top end. My LDC tends to emphasise the low end and kill the top.. which is usefull to try and work around. Thinking of procuring a rode NT1-A or Behringer B2 Pro to see if the difference is significant, especially since these demos will probably increase in frequency..

Steel strings seem to get away with SDC at the 12th fret, and a DI feed.

Yep, like Ian said, try playing with mic position a bit more. Over the shoulder looking down at the guitar can also work well sometimes. It's best if you have someone else around to either play or move the mic around and listen. Or just move their head around different spots to find where it sounds the best, then put a mic there.

TRY ANY MIC YOU LIKE. YOU MIGHT SUPRISE YOURSELF. TRY ANY POSITION YOU LIKE TOO. EXPERIMENT. THATS HOW ALOT OF FAMOUS RECORDINGS HAVE CAME ABOUT. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX AND USE WHAT YOU GOT. YOU DON'T NEED UBER EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT TO GET A GOOD RECORDING.

or use caps lock. that will make everything better.

benwalker wrote:LDC....

LDC vs SDC doesn't mean very much at all. SDCs can be very good with low frequencies too.

More Cowbell wrote:

St. Jimmy wrote:or use caps lock. that will make everything serious business.

lozzleness for shozzleness.

James wrote:

benwalker wrote:LDC....

LDC vs SDC doesn't mean very much at all. SDCs can be very good with low frequencies too.

Right on... unless you have OCD and you are recording the ABC's and live SLC.