I’ve never got a good sound from recording acoustic guitar so far, or any instrument in fact, so this is as good a place to start as any. My friends have suggested three different microphone placements, all involving two microphones, so to find the best way I thought I’d try them out and record the results for reference. My tests are far from scientific, my microphones are fairly cheap, my sound card is currently onboard, and I should really change my acoustic’s strings to get a warmer sound, but the results are somewhat conclusive.

Note: I’ve hard panned all the audio files, one microphone per channel, and the silver condensor microphone is always on the left channel. The audio files consist of: strumming chords without a plectrum, strumming chords with a plectrum, plucking arpeggios and finally some lead. Oh, and the audio files are in ogg vorbis format without any applied equalisation.

Suggestion One:

One dynamic close miked (as a dynamic needs more gain to get the same signal level as a condensor), and an optional microphone slightly further back. Results here.

Suggestion Two:

One condensor pointed at the sound hole 15cm away (it’s close enough..) and another three times further away. Results here.

Suggestion Three:

Both condensors around 30-40cm away from the guitar. Point one at the bridge, point the other below the start of the fretboard. Results here.

So what have I learned? Seems the closer a microphone is, the more it picks up the sound of the plectrum. ‘Boom’ was least noticeable with number three as neither microphone points at the sound hole. The lead in placement number two is the worst of the pack as the volume varies too much. The arpeggio and lead seems a little more colourful in placement one than three, though I’m not sure if it’ll work better or worse in a final mix. My current conclusions are that I’ll be using placement three for rhythm and, probably, placement one for lead.

Update: Something I didn’t think of.. If your acoustic guitar is prone to rattling, then placement number three will pick up this sound more than the other two as you’re aiming the microphones at the body, not the loud, booming, sound hole. Example of how bad it can be here. I suppose each acoustic guitar has it’s own sonic weaknesses, so I think I’m going to have to work out a new placement for mine.