My 2 beautiful guitars (Moffa and Schottmüller)

[Dave93]

And which of these guitars is the most comfortable?

It really depends on the period and how I’m feeling, but in terms of comfort and playability I often find myself reaching for the Schottmüllers. That said, it’s very subjective—like choosing between a Ferrari and a Lamborghini.

[Dave93]

FWIW ,I think there's too many variables in your recording trials. Start with a simpler setting. I hear a lot of unpleasant room tones that you can't really control with the setup you're using, pointing the mic at the guitar that also picks up the amp, shooting at the ceiling with an angle projection .

Fellow member (Mark Kleinhaut) has achieved much of what you are looking for and has shared his tech skills with the community, I'm sure he would be very glad to answer any questions you might have .

Mark's audio miking setup

Hope that helps

S

Thanks, I really appreciate the detailed feedback. You’re absolutely right, there are probably too many variables in my current setup, and simplifying things would help me better understand what’s actually going on.
The room tone is definitely something I’ve been struggling with, especially with the mic placement I’m using right now. I’ll try a more controlled approach and experiment with a cleaner, more direct setup to reduce those unwanted reflections.
Also, thanks for pointing me toward Mark’s work, I’ll definitely check out his miking setup and see what I can learn from it.

[Dave93]

with full respect for the above, a technique that will work well. I disagree completely. If you learn how to mic you can and should be able to eliminate the post production chain thats become popular. I record top artists in compromised acoustic environments regularly. Learning how to mic takes a lot of trial and error. Start with that Decca book and learn about the mics, get the calculator, you really want to record a world class guitar with plugins to make up for insufficient miking? I use a minimum of mics but have a good selection of capsules for various situations. I was told by one of the top engineers "trying to eliminate the room with close micing is making 2 mistakes" and Al Schmidt said "use bleed" 2 things most "engineers" say the opposite. The other plus is in order to get good you have to record a lot which means you have to play a lot, win win

Thanks for sharing your perspective, I really value that approach. I agree that learning proper mic technique is fundamental, and ideally you want to capture the sound at the source rather than relying on plugins to “fix” things later.
I’m still in that trial-and-error phase, trying to better understand how placement, room interaction, and mic choice all work together. What you said about not fighting the room too much and actually learning to work with it really resonates, I think I’ve probably been overcomplicating things and chasing solutions in post instead of getting it right upfront.
Also, that mindset of recording more to get better (and playing more in the process) is a great reminder, definitely a win-win.

[Rickco]

Marks method has its place and is usefull to know, your guitars are special fine "acoustic" instruments and you play well, so youve already done the hard part, thats why I use the "classical" approach for acoustic perfomance. I record student bands for the local jr college. Knowing how to process in post is often necessary, in that situation and I often have to close mic because they need to punch in after. When Im recording guitar and amp I try and use 1 mic and find the spot and relative volumes that are complimentary and a room mic which can give you that nice open sound in (almost) any room if you have the patients to experiment. TRY EVERYTHING!!!
good luck, beautiful guitars

[SOLR]

You probably know all this already but S. Schottmueller has a few really nice sounding demos on his links

According to YT notes , first 2 have acoustic and amp as a straight L-R unmixed...

and these a nice too..

Having 2 of his guitars, I would contact him and ask about how he did these recordings, or have you been to his shop already to try your before you bought or when they were built? Did he record your playing?

S

[Cunamara]

I think this discussion demonstrates why amateur/at home recording is generally done without room miking and direct into the DAW. It's hard to get a good sound in most rooms, because most rooms are not designed acoustically for music. They're designed to fit within the footprint of the house.

Getting a good sound could not be done in my living room without doing extensive acoustic modification. Unless the room is designed or modified for its acoustic properties, it's going to be a real challenge getting a good sound. My wife would not appreciate my modifying the living room with acoustic panels, etc. Mark K's recording set up is a way to do that on a micro scale, but seems like it would be difficult to fit a band in there. If you listen to some of his ensemble recordings at home, you will hear that the sound is very different compared to his mini studio. I also think he's changed that set up, from other comments he's made in his ongoing solo guitar performance videos.

[Dave93]

You probably know all this already but S. Schottmueller has a few really nice sounding demos on his links

According to YT notes , first 2 have acoustic and amp as a straight L-R unmixed...

and these a nice too..

Having 2 of his guitars, I would contact him and ask about how he did these recordings, or have you been to his shop already to try your before you bought or when they were built? Did he record your playing?

S

You are right, I will ask directly Stefan about it

[Cunamara]

And maybe DM Mark Kleinhaut here on the forum, he is an excellent guy and has figured out how to maximize his tone for his videos.