Dave, (or indeed anyone) do you have experience of recording acoustic guitar and can you recommend a good microphone to use with valve preamp? A friend is making a home recording studio and is looking for tips. Not a big budget so £2500 omnidirectional condensers are out of the question.
I'm a bit out of touch these days being retired - and never knew much about mics other than pro ones. Apart from you tend to get what you pay for.;-)
My personal favourite for acoustic guitar is the AKG C451 which was made for many years and in vast quantities. I'd expect they would be easy to pickup secondhand.
[later]Lots on Ebay both new and secondhand - seems they have re-introduced them. Priced from about 150-250 quid.
Many say there are Chinese/Russian valve condensers which are very good at the price - round about 100. No experience of them, I'm afraid.
This subject is regularly done to death on rec.audio.pro
Check the archive, then, if necessary, ask a question while wearing flame proof clothing.
The consensus varies, depending on the room, the style of playing, and the preferred type of sound. And the exact preamp model, as some microphones will work well with some preamps and not others. The most important bit is to get the room to sound good first, then try a few microphones and preamps in the room. Microphone positions can make a mediocre mic sound good, or a great mic sound mediocre. Use rentals, or a number of real Pro Audio dealers (not Academy of Sound or DV 247 or whatever they're called this month) will take one back for a small rstocking fee if you don't like it.
As a start, check out the Rode microphones for good value on a budget. Getting the room right will make more difference than spending any amount of money on a top class microphone, though.
If he's building a studio in an existing room, Ethan Winer's site:-
Thanks, that seems to be in his price range. A suggestion from someone at work was the Shure SM81LC and one of the musicians chipped in with a preference for microphones that attach to the guitar such as SE Electronics GM10 or K & K Sound Meridian.
For a "session" recording I'd probably go a C414, completed (and sold) listings on eBay vary from =A3400 to =A3600.
But like you, I really only know about a limited range of pro-mics. Certainly some of the Russian mics seem to have good reviews. The Chinese ones tend to cheap imitations and not as good.
Nice mic - I have a couple. But about 3 times the price. And I still prefer the 451 for pop acoustic guitar - more 'edge'. However, like all such things a personal preference.
I'm told they're pretty good. But I do prefer a small diaphragm mic for acoustic guitars. Better transients.
Can you drop me an email, Steve? (note the spam trap at the bottom of the post) I might be persuaded to lend you a 451 to make sure it suits.
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