View Poll Results: What is your preferred method for recording an Archtop Guitar?
- Voters
- 166. You may not vote on this poll
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Record Direct
48 28.92% -
Mic on the Amp
40 24.10% -
Mic on the Archtop
5 3.01% -
Combination of the Above
73 43.98%
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Right now if I'm playing/practicing with a backing track, my usual method is to play through a Fender Princeton Reverb Re-Issue, with a Bluebird Blue microphone close and about 2-3" off center. That goes into a PreSonus Audiobox iTwo Digital/Analog converter (the track goes into another channel). From there, the USB port connects to my iPhone 6s Lightning port. I import the file into a program called Screenflow for tweeting levels.
Alternatively, since I use the Line6 wireless setup, which has both an instrument jack and an XLR, I sometimes run the XLR direct to the PreSonus and use the instrument output to the amp just to monitor. I usually add some reverb in the tweeting in Screenflow.
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08-22-2019 08:52 AM
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I thought I'd post this clip because it was an interesting recording experience. I used my Gibson L5ces played through a 55 year old Silvertone 1484 "Twin Twelve" head. That was the "Poor Mans Twin Reverb" back in the day. It had 2 6L6 power tubes (the originals are still in there!!) and the funkiest reverb you ever heard. Nobody ever used it, but it was fun to have. The tremolo was to die for. About 30-40 watts on a real good day. So I'm playing this through a 10" 4 Ohm speaker. Microphone is Bluebird Blue, close to the cab. Running into a PreSonus Audiobox iTwo, which supplies the phantom power for the microphone. Backing track goes in the other channel. When I brought it into Screenflow, I added just a tad of "small room" reverb to the guitar track.
I know it's not studio level, but this recording really captures what I generally hear when playing this guitar and amp. I might try this with a parallel setup sometime, running direct, using other amps, etc. just for fun.
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"Preferred" really depends on context and purpose. If I'm in a real studio, with a real engineer, with a good amp and good mics (a rare thing in my life), mic'ing an amp is best. Recording at home? Even though I have a great amp, and a couple of decent mic's, I've never succeeded in capturing a good sound mi'cing an amp at home, and direct with a good amp sim plug-in sounds better (even though the amp sounds way better in the room). However, all of the above comes with the overhead of having to set things up, fuss and tweak, and (if I'm doing a video) sync sound and video. So, for my typical purposes (capturing something relatively spontaneously on video and sharing it on a thread here or with friends; capturing a rehearsal), audio quality matters less than simplicity and speed, so a cellphone (maybe with an external mic) or a handheld digital recorder is what I prefer.
John
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I've always liked mic'ing the cabinet but recently the Direct line from the Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb has really been impressing me. I might be a convert to mainly direct line recording now.
Here's an example (previously I uploaded and linked the wrong video. This is the right one)
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Having someone else paying for studio time....
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Wether I'm my home studio or a real studio I'm either using a Shure SM57 in front of the amp or a big cardoid mic' in front of the 12th fret placed roughly 20 cm ahead of the guitar for the acoustic sound. Sometimes I am combining the two for a mixed electric/acoustic sound. Then post-registration treatment (mostly EQ).
Cheers.Last edited by Fred Archtop; 02-13-2020 at 06:32 AM.
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@Fred,
Not yet received all my new gear to set up my small home studio, so I can't (yet) speak from experience.
However...... in terms of sound I've aways loved the live sound of Anthony Wilson when I've seen him; from what I recall his stage setup is a mike to his amplifier (probably on the cone edge, from what I could see) and another one aimed at the twelfth fret (or thereabouts). The pure acoustic sound is not as high in the mix as the amp sound, but it's still very "present". I find this setup very pleasing to the ear, and plan to experiment with it once my shure SM 57 and T.Bone SC1100 have arrived. I'll probably also try to capture the acoustic sound, plus direct injection from the Fender ToneMaster Deluxe (nod to Lawson ).
Nonetheless, the immediate priority is installing the K&K Trinity Pro Mini System into my Martin (discontinued JM Mahogany Jumbo from the "Road" series)
Fun days ahead ! Who said retirement was boring?
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Since I play and L-5 going DI to a good preramp and A/D converter seems to be the more flexible way. But monitoring is an issue.
Enviado desde mi LG-H870 mediante Tapatalk
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A mic on the amp and one close to the guitar for the acoustic sound will give you great versatility if you mix both sounds.
Sometimes in the studio I use the direct signal as well (di before I hit the amp), but when recording at home it's the two mics.
I love ribbon mics but don't have one,.. think I need to buy me one
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12-06-2020, 08:42 AM #35Dutchbopper Guest
I tried many things over the years (amp modelers, recording pre amp, direct recording) but miking the amp is far superior to any of that. No more direct recording for me. I want the amplified sound of my guitars to go into my virtual software studio. The amp and speaker sound are an essential part of my sound.
DB
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Originally Posted by Dutchbopper
How are you?
Best
Kris
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Originally Posted by kris
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DB wasn’t banned, he left the forum and asked for his account to be closed. After which, the posts now show as ‘guest’.
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Originally Posted by grahambop
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I think he just got tired of it, for various reasons.
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Why does this thread seem to assume that acoustic archtops either don't exist, nobody owns them and or nobody records with them?
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fractal FM3/FM9
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My favourite would be a binaural mic set-up at the ideal listener position in a place with "real" acoustics.
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Duplicate
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The best? pay a very good audio engineer with a lot of experience recording jazz who owns lots of expensive microphones and lives down the road.
A bit of mic and a bit of amp works well when I’m not doing a proper record.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Originally Posted by pawlowski6132
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Originally Posted by Christian Miller
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My favorite setup at the time is the combination of the following:
- Royer R121 in front of the cab, in about 10cm distance
- Sennheiser E906 in front of the cab, in about 10cm distance
- Neumann MCM 114 in about 6 cm distance from the top of the archtop and about 2cm off axis to the f-hole on the treble side
I prefer the R121 to the R101, it seems to sound a tad warmer though being more precise.
PS: my fellow musicians all are praising my recordings & mixes :-). Demos and CD's
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Originally Posted by JazzNote
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Originally Posted by JazzNote
Probably 9/10 it goes right up against the grill, dead center of the cone. It pairs nicely with a LDC, U87 or similar.
Using an Empress ParaEq (or similar) as a preamp?
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