PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Best mic for recording guitar in an apartment just outside a noisy street ?

Hi all,

The question says it all... my house outside a busy street and park - but I'd like to be able to record an acoustic guitar through a microphone and minimize the extraneous noise. Which microphones would work best ? I'm not a mic guy, but guessing a low impediance unidirectional mic ? - can anyone recommend particular model ?

PS - I know that for "hi-fi" recordings (remember that word ? lol) one needs to be in a very quiet place like a studio - but for getting the rough ideas down, looking to minimize the noise as much as possible - not looking for perfection.

Dynamic microphone with a super-cardioid pattern.

You have a linen or clothes closet?

Open the closet door.
Set up immediately in front of the door to the closet.
Point the back of the mic into the closet.
Set input level on your audio interface and in your DAW software. Press record.

That said, there are some really nice recordings being made with the IK Multimedia iRig Acoustic Stage.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/iRigAcousticStg

Since you are also thinking of doing open mics, you might just go for that setup.

Also get a windscreen for your mic.

Hi Joe

I think Scott gave you some good advice. I recently got some excellent results by using a mic and combining with the direct in.

Here is a sample of a track I recorded like this.

https://joannecooper.co.za/track/1251609/if-i-were-a-rich-man-acoustic-guitar-instrumental?autostart=true

And here is a blog post I wrote about it.
https://www.joannecooper.co.za/blog/blog/recording-and-mixing-a-single-acoustic-guitar-track-using-realband

Yep def some good advice above, including Joanne's about using a DI. There really are some good acoustic guitar pickups around. I have the LR Baggs Anthem which combines a small condensor mic inside the guitar with a piezo under the bridge. I don't use it for recording (it's for stage) but I might in your situation. Plenty do.

Otherwise I don't find close micing my acoustic really works if that's what you're thinking. You just get the sound from that part of the guitar. It'll help cut out ambient noise but at a cost. I also think a bit of room sound can really enhance an acoustic.

It's not just the mic that will help you minimize street noise. Mic placement is critical to recording acoustic guitar but you can get a quality recording with most any good quality mic.

Omnidirectional and figure 8 pattern mics should be avoided in your particular situation. But I interpreted your question more to be about how to minimize extraneous background noise getting into your recording rather than recording the guitar itself.

Unless the mic you are currently using is an omnidirectional or figure 8 pattern mic, I would begin attempting to eliminate noise with whatever current mic you have. If you have multiple mics of different pickup patterns to choose from, try them all and record with the one that records with the least amount of background noise.

If you have a choice between using a dynamic mic or a condenser mic, use the dynamic mic as it will be less sensitive than the condenser mic and will pick up less extraneous noise.

Find which room in your house is the quietest in relation to street noise and record in that room.

Determine the time when street noise is at a minimum and record during that time.

If the acoustic guitar is critical to a project or a paid project you are doing for someone, record the guitar part at a different location that is quiet. Friend's house, church, or similar place.

Place a gate across the input. BIAB, RB and any DAW will have a gate. Hardware gates are relatively inexpensive on Ebay and Craigslist. This choice will likely make the biggest difference in eliminating extraneous noise of any options other than going somewhere else to record in a quiet room. Rather than buy another mic, invest in a hardware gate if necessary. The software options will likely work fine though.

After recording your track, open up the audio editor and mute or silence the areas between audio that should be silent. This is more prevalent on a vocal track where there are gaps between words but any particular guitar track may also have gaps and you can concentrate on those areas to clean up the track a bit.

As Matcham mentioned, room ambiance can be very desirable to a recording. In your circumstance, if it is inconvenient to record when outside noise is at its minimum, take time to record the ambient room during a quiet time and mix that with your guitar recording. Alternately, make note that your 'ambient room' does not have to be the actual room you are recording in. It can be any room, anywhere in which the 'sound' of the room enhances your recording or portrays a mood. This technique is prevalent in video overdubbing but works just as effectively with audio recording.

In a video example, a crew may go to a busy, local bar, take a exterior shot and a shot of the interior crowd from the front entrance. The shots can either be video or a photo. They record the room audio of the busy bar. They can then record close up video of two characters having a conversation in a booth, mix the previously recorded room audio with their conversation immediately following a couple frames each of the exterior shot, then the front entrance interior shot to the close up scene. The impression of viewer will be the entire scene is recorded in that bar. The actors may never go in that bar as the close up video scene can be recorded at any booth at any location and the conversation can be recorded in a studio... and mixed with the previously recorded bar room audio.

The same effect can be created with an audio file. For instance, if you want your song to create the image of couple walking in a park, take a field recorder to a park and record the ambient sound and mix that recording at a very low level with your studio recording. The listener then almost subconsciously hears 'park' sounds. You are creating a sound similar to how reverb, chorus and delay is used in a normal recording.

So, be creative in your ideas for a song and at the least, record a quiet ambient room at a friends house for a few minutes to mix into your recordings that are noisy and after you have taken measures to reduce the noise in your recording.

You may find some of this information useful and some not so much so. Take what is useful, if there is any, and best suits your particular needs, ignore the rest. Hope you find something helpful.

Charlie

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SM57



Position between sound hole and neck. Move the mic around to find the sweet spot. Rinse and repeat.


Regards,

Bob

That would be my recommendation if a mic needed as well.

That was the original question.









Regards,


Bob

If you don't mind piezo mics than you might want to look at guitar tuner pickups like the following:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/361905371492

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CM200BK?utm_source=MSN&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=none&utm_term=Brandkorg&creative=9338692720&device=c&matchtype=e

I use both when it is impractical to use a mic; it can get very noisy around here also. Most our acoustic guitars in our songs were recorded with one or the other. You will have to buy an extension cord, as the cords on both of these are very short.

I usually don't recommend a pickup for an acoustic guitar, but in this circumstance, it might actually be the best option. Mics of all kinds will pick up the background noises. A pickup won't.

There are some fairly decent pickups for acoustic guitars now. You can also try loosening the strings and sliding something like a 57 inside the body. It's worth a try to see if that will work. I'm guessing you'll need some heavy EQ to fix it though.

My wife's guitar has both a mic-mounted pickup and an electronic one; I normally mix about 1/3 electronic and 2/3 mic, but in this case perhaps reverse that.

And I wasn't kidding about the mic windscreen; it will gently reduce mic sensitivity to the outside noise.

Some mics have a dB gain reduction switch.

Especially if you leave your apartment window open on windy days.

You may also want to look into getting some bass traps or acoustic treatment depending on how much noise or sound reflection happens in the room you are recording in.