Recommendations?

My MXL 990 did just fine when I used it aimed at the 12th fret (protip from Geoff).

Depends on what kind of acoustic sound you are aiming for.

I personally like condensers on them. I liked Dev's MXL990 when it was here, i more often use my MXL2001 because i usually recoard vocals and acoustic at the same time, and the 2001 gets along with my voice better, for what i want to hear.

I usually just use one mic to pick the thing up, but you can also do some nice stuff with two mics, a large diameter condenser(that is what my MXL2001 is), and maybe a small condenser(that is pretty much what the MXL990 is, even though it is in a big mic body), pan them slightly, aim them at different parts of the guitar. The Large condensers pick up a lot of the low end and body of the acoustic. The smaller condensers will pick up a little more of the finger attack and the high end stuff that gives nice definition.

Where you put the mics is also huge. Too close and you just get boomy sounds, pretty much whatever mic you use. If you keep it back about three or four feet, you could even use an SM57 for a decent/good steel guitar sound.

One thing to consider might be a multipattern condenser, because sometimes an omni pattern is really nice for picking up a nice detailed accurate-to-the-real-room sound.

Another thing to remember when recording acoustic: It *seems* like you should mic the soundhole, but generally it is best to resist that temptation.

Generally you will get a more accurate recording by aiming the microphone so that it is NOT directly inline with the air that is coming out of the sound hole, even by pointing the mic just to the side of it, basically as if mic'ing the top itself.

The soundhole is how the guitar is able to project across the room. If you want to mic the sound hole, then mic it from there, across the room. Up close, the sound comes from the wood, the bridge, the fretboard. Up close, the soundhole mostly sounds like dicks in your ears. Avoid.

I mean: Unless you are into that sort of thing. Of course.

Dicks In Your Ears.

Wrong thread, but: Totally.

Hmm, anyone wanna let me borrow one? Seriously

What mics do you have?

And what kind of acoustic are you recording? Steel? Nylon?

Strumming stuff? Or fingerpicked stuff?

sm57.

Steel string. Its acoustic electric, ive been direct recording it for fun.

Strummed.

I would probably try the SM57 then. Set it up four or five feet away, pointed sort of at where the neck joins the body. Record in a quiet room, to cut down noise. That should give like 90% of a usable acoustic sound.

Then if you want double track it with the mic closer. But don't close mic the sound hole.

The far mic will bring most of the sound in, most of the high end, but can sometimes lack the punch of the the strums. The close mic will bring more body in, but will often lack some clarity.

For steel string strumming stuff though, a decent dynamic mic like a SM57 can work just fine. Especially for a guitar that is going to wind up sitting in a mix with like a full band.

For solo guitar or fingerpicked stuff, IMO, "nicer" mics become more useful.

Ill try that, and come back with results for you. Thanks dad.

Shure KSM27 at the bridge/near the soundhole + Rode NT5 at the 12th fret. Basically, LDC for body, SDC for top. They sound good. Given my recent computerfuckery, I can't post clips at the moment, but it's my go-to acoustic setup. It worked on Gethsemane and Imaginary Girl, and those are shitty sounding acoustics.

I do still have my old Soundclick, now that I think about it...

Imaginary Girl: http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=8734993
Gethsemane: http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=7152946
Ingénue: http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=7737867

Beater purple Ibby acoustic that happened to sound better than everything else under $800 or whatevs in GC at the time and I needed an acoustic for a radio session. Same mic config I always use fer that particular fiddle. Nothing new here and my recording chops have improved since, but again, whatevs.

I did my Rode NT1A at around the 12th fret (as Chris said about where the neck joins the body.) and I use my Oktava SDC over head, a bit above my ear. Blend, not stirred.