Testing recording my acoustic guitar

[Hellbat]

First off, I'm not a pro player, I'm a hack that plays for personal enjoyment. I'm also in my own estimation, a terrible acoustic player. Any psychological damage or rage caused by listening to these is beyond my control.

The first one is using the 11 rack with the guitar directly in to the guitar input. Fender blackface model with no cab for toneshaping, a dash of reverb and chorus. It's just me farting around on a chord progression, nothing too exciting going on here. Lesson learned : Use a low cut on the para EQ to tame the super boomy bottom. I didn't here. I will next time.

P.S. I applied some compression in my DAW and this track came out HOT, so beware of levels.

http://soundcloud.com/magentaslaad/acoustic-direct/s-nDGdi

The second one is a little longer and a little more rambling through different stuff. It's basically a noodling session just to see if I could actually pull off a miced recording of my guitar.

http://soundcloud.com/magentaslaad/acoustic-miced-test/s-pt8dg

Taylor 414ce miced by Rode M3 into 11 Rack interface. Interface was running para-eq and a bit of reverb. Mic was laying on my computer desk pointed in the guitar's general direction due to my laziness in purchasing a mic stand.

If anyone has any helpful hints or good online articles regarding mic placement I would be happy to hear them.

[Cliff]

Beautiful tone on both. I hear what you're saying about the boominess on the first, but I really like the brightness of the higher strings that you've captured. Love the tone and the noodling on the second; there's a nice confidence and definition to the notes in the runs. I have no hints at all about recording, but I'd be interested to know your thoughts about the difference between what you heard when you played and what you hear from the recording - this is something I've been struggling with when recording electric guitar.

[Hellbat]

Well, it's tough with the acoustic because of course anyone if front of the guitar hears it different that you do because you don't have the sound hole pushing the depth at you as much.

The electronics on the Taylor are kind of interesting in that there is an acoustic transducer attached to the top inside as well as a magnetic pickup embedded at the end of the fingerboard. I think it helps it capture that top end tone a little better than a transducer or piezo alone would.

I would say the biggest difference to being in the room and listening live is a lot of the mids vanish on the recording. This might be because the strings are around 3 months old and not at their best right now. Also there is some reverb added with the 11 Rack on both recordings so it sounds like I'm sitting in a much bigger room than my actual room, but I do keep the mix on the reverb at around 20% so it isn't overbearing.

The miced version obviously sounds a lot more like the actual sound in the room, but that's probably a lot to do with the chorus on the direct track as well.

[Cliff]

Well, if I ever decide to buy an acoustic, you've sold me on the Taylor .

[KevinDguitar]

Sounds niiiiicccceeeee.