Tommy Emmanuel - Recording Technique - Mics

[bodhimian]

not simple. most complex acoustic guitar miking technique i've heard of so far :D

[bloodtypebloodtype]

tabs?

[paulvcarter]

YOu'd think his voice would be mic'd better........can't hear him

[flyback777]

welcome phase problem

[jesseldrummer]

IMAGEN HOW MANY MICS HE WOULD USE ON A DRUMSET!

[Nukkro]

Wow, didn't even know he was an aussie haha.

[offthewallstudio]

any audio samples for this??????

[dee304]

I'VE NEVER SEEN SOMEONE USE 3 MICS!! I use 2 tops

[TheJaredpotts]

@dee304 you use 2 tops - but you aren't a professional artist either.

[dee304]

@TheJaredpotts Sorry correction. I've never seen someone use 3 Large Diaphragm. I've seen 2 pencils and a Neuman U87 for room. Unless it was a quick take then just the Neuman. But youre right sorry.

[terrornuggi]

EVERYTHING Sounds great when tommy emanuel plays........... Fuck off the equipment this guy is doing music!

[WinnerOlmann]

I don't know if that's simple ($8000 worth of mics) but I sure like his playing though

[wartree]

@WinnerOlmann plus another 8000 to get a mixer and recorder to handle all those mic lanes

[darrylportelli]

oh yes, simple.....If I had to try it I would get all sorts of phasing issues lool

[definiteNZ]

@darrylportelli yeah wouldnt that create phasing nightmares? i get phasing issues with just 2 mics let alone 4

[darrylportelli]

@definiteNZ i guess they know the physics behind the mics and have a lot of experience with using this technique

[fngrpkn06]

Great information and a little treat with the tune!

[DouglasRoss1]

Thank you Tommy, I can always appreciate more tips in the art of recording and I appreciate you. You have remarkable playing ability and I just wanted to say thank you.

[DNAugust]

What's the name of that song he played?

[TyneGibbs12]

@DNAugust Mombasa. He wrote it in 1999 in Africa. Today's version feature a 'drum' solo on his guitar. Very lively. Youtube some. There's plenty on here. :)

[DNAugust]

@TyneGibbs12 Thank you Very Much! Beautiful!!

[MrJazzeman]

An easy way to record acoustic guitar with stunning results is to use one mic 6 inches back from right hand (I usually use a cardioid SDC), pointed toward last fret on axis. This works well for classical, flamenco and steel string, whether your in the studio or recording a live performance.

[Whyrendog]

You can also put room mics on each corner of the room, a surround mic on the ceiling aimed straight down and put 15 metal plates around the room each angled toward the next for reverb. Simple, but effective.

[hammi96]

haha great mic placement, his levels for his voice are soo low

[guitarmax99]

Wow. Six sound sources! That must be phase cancellation city. Of course the engineer in me has so many questions. Were all the mics set in cardioid patterns? Omni? What kind of compressor was used? Settings? Were ALL the mics compressed? How were things panned? Oh, I could go on, but Tommy's description of his recording technique is so vague that It would be worthless to try to emulate it. Of course the most important part of the signal chain is Tommy himself. The man can play!

[harvey288]

his cousin used to be my music teacher ROCK ON

[douskara]

Wow I'd never guess his tone is so easy to reproduce with this cheap setup!

[Fichtezxc]

@douskara All about the technique

[renniegrant]

I use an SM-81 on the neck, a silver AKG 414 with a C27 capsule on the sound hole/fingerboard area, and sometimes a room mic. That would be a Ribbon mic of some kind. Sounds great every time. Of course that's providing the player has good tone and the guitar is set up correctly. I have seen guys use a 57 and make it sound good though. It's all between the ears baby, all between the ears.

[theobtuserecluse]

if youre comparing mics you shouldnt be compressing the signal

[coreyfromtheband]

@theobtuserecluse i think thats right

[peterm3964]

this is a joke right ???? you call that a good sound??? .no seriously this is a camera mic is'nt it

[acidjames]

@peterm3964 camera mic :), listen to the album "only"

[danielghofrani]

@peterm3964

first of all what headphones are you using? what headphone amp are you using?

what digital to analog converter are you using?

by the way youtube down samples audio tracks to 16 bit 44.1 kHz audio. so you can't hear the original recording.

[samth3mancgp]

Dang! I like how in depth he went with it, like mic models and stuff! that seems like alot of mics for a single acoustic guitar, but they might not actually be using audio from every single mic though. they can mixthe ones that sound best for the song and not the others. I want to know a bit more though.. like whether it was all done to protools, or to analog tape? I know all of my acoustic recordings sound much better analog. Still very insightful

[20KfromShea]

No matter what walk of life you are in, it is always the minor details that set apart the real artists. Tommy is just paying attention to minor details.

[universalmind3000]

simple...ahahahah...if you have enough cash to buy that guitar and 4 microphones...and of course if you have his same skill XD

[Isosphere]

Simple?

haha,

but effective, yes.

[dougieboy88]

LOL @ "simple but effective"..

SIMPLE??

[flatpikinguitar]

@dougieboy88 haha yeah. only 4 mics and 2 pickups right?

[ChrisGalinato]

@dougieboy88 simple but expensive

[musicstudioguy]

Sad that I am actually commenting on this, but that really seems like overkill. Also, I doubt that more than two of those sources accounted for 90% of the end signal used.

I think some engineer set all those mics up to make this artist feel good. :-)

[Erabot]

Agree. Overkill for a single piece of music.

These mikes might make sense for the whole of the album though, as a big buffet of sounds will be ready on offer, for any nuances, moods of tone with only balancing tracks to be done...

"The best microphone in the world, is the one you have at arms length."

[anote321]

I would have to disagree with the over kill statement. And the whole point of using that many microphones is simply to fill out the sound. so your statement of 90% of the sound coming from 2 "sources" (technically only the guitar is a source) is completely accurate because that is the whole point. you pick one or two main spot mics, and fill out the sound with the rest of the mics

[gazoscreek]

I'd have to disagree. The sound quality that comes across on Tommy's studio recordings are clearly the best recorded acoustic guitar sounds I've ever heard.

[musicstudioguy]

You might be right - his recorded guitar does sound great. As a studio owner and music producer, I just can't imagine actually using 6 sound sources on one acoustic without having all kinds of phasing issues. Hey, but more power to him (and his engineer)!

[helraizer]

Yeah, but if you record with more than you need then you can take out what you don't need post-recording but you can't add more in if you used less. The more microphones, the more you (one) has to play with as it were

[NotOnMyLawn]

Have you ever recorded solo acoustic guitar?

[musicstudioguy]

I record solo acoustic guitar all the time (for a living) - and I usually use two mics, one on the body and one at the neck joint. Once in a while I'll introduce a third room mic. But much more than that I find cause more problems (phasing issues and high frequency blurring) than is helpful.

[kpstartrak]

frekin 4-5 k mics

[kpstartrak]

Brauner Mics? omg so expensive

[drew4663]

not true. sorry.

[drew4663]

I don't follow guys. What makes you think there were phasing issues to begin with?

[MichaelBradus]

When mics are pointing at eachother like they are in this video there will be phasing issues.

[anote321]

yea but you could flip the phase on one mic, just like you do when you mike a snare drum top and bottom. and you don't always get phase issues simply because the mics aren't lined up. yes it CAN cause problems but not always.

[Pkw101]

yeah, how is phase not a big problem with all those mics!!?!!?

[DaleCampbellAcoustic]

If not setup carefully I agree that it could be a problem, however they are going to be setup taking this into account.

Also they problem align them all in a DAW after recording so the to get everything synced.

You could also use a little labs phase alignment tool which would allow you to place the mic anywhere then twist the knob and bring them into phase.

[Engnrguy777]

Great guitar player but that's a ton of mics for an acoustic guitar. I imagine the phase issues were a pain in the posterior.

[simonpca]

if used and mixed properly, there shouldn't be a big phase issue with these microphones... think at the number of mikes on a drum set...

[Engnrguy777]

Ah, but with drum mics you mic different sources with different mics. This is one source and multiple mics intending to pick up the same source. That is a recipe for alot of phase correction. If you use software to record then phase correction is easy. Mixing doesn't help with phase correction, it is acoustics/waveform problem.

[simonpca]

Listen to the album he talks about...

[anote321]

you are technically both right, im not sure what he was referencing from the drum mics but if you look at the overheads they pick up everything thats already been spot miced