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Post by michaelm on Jan 23, 2016 9:19:47 GMT
For what little recording I do, I've either recorded direct using a Zoom H2 as a mic, or occasionally for a "duet" I've used a loop station then played that through a Marshall amp and recorded using the H2. Then used Audacity to clip front & back, sound's ok for uploading and posting on here (I think!).
Sorting the "finer points" for my new guitar, I'm tempted to keep it purely acoustic (just because I like the idea of it), but this would lead to some disadvantage if I wanted to record something. On the other hand, I've heard it said that a mic captures the guitar much better...
Has anyone recorded a piece - preferably the same piece using the same guitar, twice - once by pick up, once with mic? I'd like to see whether or not there's any noticeable difference listening to it after it's been imported/uploaded and then played on a PC!
Having read that, maybe the pick up would be the easiest option...
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Post by jonnymosco on Jan 23, 2016 9:56:18 GMT
I use an Apogee Mic, a USB mic - very natural sound.
I have recorded via a pickup when I've been in a noisy house, but regretted it. The sound of the acoustic guitar filling a room is important, not just the sound of the strings picked up by the pickup. I now know that each room has its own acoustics and some are better than others (lots of soft furnishings helps).
Good luck with it.
Jonny
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Jan 23, 2016 10:30:38 GMT
I do not have the soundfiles now Michael, but I did do the pickup/mic direct comparison test some years ago. The pickup was vastly inferior - for the reasons Jonny has outlined. If you want to hear your acoustic guitar properly, record with a mic. The extra quality of sound is certainly preserved once uploaded/Youtubed etc.
A lot of the investment in sound quality on a decent guitar comes from the construction and materials of the top and its ability to move air. Most single source pickups bypass this entirely. Soundboard trandsducers will sense the vibration of the top, but not the air moving.Some pickups have a mic element incorporated, and these stand a fair chance of making a guitar-like recording, but it still won't be as natural sounding (even with a lot of post-processing) as a mic out front. Even a simple one such as the Zoom H2 you have used, and which I use too.
Keith
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Post by vikingblues on Jan 23, 2016 17:33:59 GMT
I just have one example of same piece by both methods Michael. The same piece recorded (1) with a microphone, (2) with just the piezo pickup through the Fishman Soundbox amp, and (3) by a mix of microphone and piezo. The 3 sound recording are the same performance all recorded at the same time. You will find the soundclips linked near the bottom of my introductory post on a thread elsewhere on the forum:- - linked here. It's just played on a cheap guitar but even then the difference in quality of sound between mic recorded and piezo recorded is very much in evidence .. and despite this being the best guitar I've had for the piezo sound matching the acoustic sound. I had a Breedlove Concert Pursuit for a while last year and the sounds from the two were such poles apart it sounded like two different guitars, no matter what I did to the controls. I do have a piezo and a microphone recording of the breedlove but two different pieces - I can link them if you want. Since putting a bone saddle on the guitar in my linked recordings the difference is now more than these recordings suggest and since getting a better hang of recording by microphone the difference is more yet again. There was just one microphone used in the linked recordings - the dual microphone recordings I have been doing more recently I have found to capture the guitar sound much better. I have hardly used the piezo pickup route while using this guitar for recordings since this early test comparison. I agree with all said in the replies above so far. I would add that one negative I also find with the piezo pickup is that as soon as the vibrating string producing a note is damped the sound disappears completely, losing that effect of the continuing body resonance that is to be captured when using a microphone. Mark
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Post by michaelm on Jan 28, 2016 20:58:54 GMT
As I wrote the OP, I was thinking to myself "OK, for convenience, let's go with the pick up." And then I read Keith's & Jonny's posts and was thrown into confusion again!
That's an interesting post/link Mark, I'm left wishing I'd listened without knowing which was which - I can hear they sound different, but can't say I prefer one over the other to be honest. Maybe it's my ears - I don't have the best of hearing.
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