I’d consider some kind of damping material in a few small spots when mounting it, depending on what it braces against.
Sorry to hear it's problematic! I think they're great guitars, especially for the dough!
I am very frustrated with this! I too (with WAY less experience than Les - pun intended) can not find an acoustic pickup I like. My Martin J40 did not come with a pickup, and I decided to auger out the strap button hole and install a Fishman Rare Earth Mic Blend pickup system. Neither the mic nor the pup's sound worth a damn!! Wish I had never even installed it!!! I have not tried the TLM102 (but have heard good things about them for miking acoustics) and personally use the Shure SM81-LC's in a 90 degree pairing (one pointed at 14th fret, one running parallel to fret board)!!!! I am pretty happy with that set up for capturing my acoustic sound, but when I am singing along (almost always), I of course get bleed through into those mics of my voice!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Not trying to hijack this thread and Mr. Aahzz's woes, but if anyone has any suggestions (I have tried lots), feel free to chime in!
The frustrating fact is that sticking a microphone inside a guitar body is not going to deliver anything like the sound you hear in front of the instrument. It can't. And even the best piezo pickups don't sound like a miked-up acoustic guitar. You can mess with it, you can EQ the crap out of it, still doesn't sound like a miked instrument.
Thanks for the detailed response Mr. Les! I will look further at the NOS technique!! I am using the 90 degree setup (Blumlein Pair Array) not to stereo the sound per se (even though that is what creates the room ambience), but to capture two different sounds and blend them to taste. I have not done any acoustic recording since I got my first PRS Electric (Feb '21), so it has been a while, but seems to me one had richer bass tones and the other captured the brightness better. Anyway, I can sing independent, but as you know, when playing and singing, it takes on a special blend (at least in my experience) due to the simultaneous instrumenting you are engaging in!The frustrating fact is that sticking a microphone inside a guitar body is not going to deliver anything like the sound you hear in front of the instrument. It can't be. And even the best piezo pickups don't sound like a miked-up acoustic guitar. You can mess with it, you can EQ the crap out of it, still doesn't sound like a miked instrument.
The more mics you put in front of the guitar, the more bleed you get. There's no perfect way around this unless you use a single mic with a very tight polar pattern, and find a way to aim the mic at the guitar so that the mic's diaphragm aims away from your voice. This usually doesn't produce the ideal sound, but if you try it, aim for the point where the neck hits the guitar body and point the mic as best you can so it doesn't aim at you while you sing.
I always record vocal and guitar separately unless the singer simply can't perform without playing the instrument while singing. I've only had this happen once and here's how I solved it:
I had the singer hold the guitar and make the chord shapes while strumming extremely softly in one pass, with one finger or the thumb, and then overdubbed the acoustic guitar without singing. Yes, you'll hear a bit of this strumming when you blend in the "good" acoustic track, but it beats a sharp stick in the eye.
However, let's assume for the moment that with a little practice you can deliver a separate vocal performance.
The setup you're using is a bit hit-or-miss in creating a stereo image, which is the whole point of using two mics, right? If you can play the acoustic without singing at the same time, try this setup:
I use a spacebar and mount the mics in a Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (Dutch Radio Foundation) 'NOS' stereo array. The right distance is when you hear the stereo image solidly snap into place in your cans. I sit on a rolling chair and move the chair around while I'm playing to find this distance from the mics, mark it, and then set up a proper stool so there's no wheel noise. With this technique and a couple of decent mics, the guitar sounds like it's live in the room. The imaging is fantastic.
Here's how to do the NOS technique, though it's for recording the instrument if you're not singing, because there will be vocal bleed:
NOS stereo technique - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Happy recording and good luck!
I played an se acoustic at guitar center 3 years ago and it was a fantastic guitar. First time I had played a prs acoustic and I was thoroughly impressed. I played it for about an hour but walked out without it.
I've tried, but cannot hold back:PRS sent a new preamp assembly, and I dropped the guitar off at my tech this morning. We'll see next week.
Wait, they make you pay for your PRSes? I get mine for free because I'm so highly regarded as a guitar player.If the funding were currently available I'd be playing a PS
Yea!!!!!Back from the tech, rattle-free with a working pickup once again
I have to agree, the pickup systems in acoustic guitars tend to sound bad to me. I hoped the one in my Angelus would sound good but it's just so so. I've only used it once at a live acoustic show so there's that.
