Cpt. Crash Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 I am currently in the market for a Gibson j-45. Really love the warm tone & vintage vibe. But first I would like your advise about this guitar recording-wise: -Does this guitar record well? I have some trouble getting a balanced sound recording my taylor 210, should I be able to notice a difference with the gibson? I mainly record just acoustic guitar (fingerpicking/light strumming) + vocals (think: ryan adams, damien rice, etc.) in a crappy (bed)room. -more specialistic: is there a difference recording wise when it comes to the j-45 modern classic vs j-45 TV? (apart from the pick-up) Hope someone can shed some light on this. If additional info is needed I would be happy to oblige. Thanks in advance. Recording equipment: tascam us-122l, studio projects b1, mxl 603s PS any other gibson acoustics I should consider when I am at the shop? (considering genre/playingstyle) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefleppard Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 wow. the j45 is arguably the most recorded acoustic guitar of all time. you'll surely be able to find a way to get it sounding great. try a pencil-style condenser positioned mid-neck pointed at the sound hole about 10" from the guitar and another near the lower bout, same distance and angle to form a triangle with the two mics and sound hole. i've even had great luck with a single large diaphragm condenser sitting 2 feet right in front of me. experiment. once you find a sweet spot, this guitar will light up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nodehopper Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Recording is a huge Pandora's Box. My suggestion is to find a guitar that sounds great then work on your recording techniques until the recorded sound sounds like the guitar. There are so many variables in recording. Mics, mic placement, blending mic signal with a pick up signal, recorders, pre-amps ...on and on.... My guess would be that if you are having issues getting a good recorded sound from your Taylor, especially if you are mic-ing the instrument, it is either mic placement or mic quality, second would get getting a good strong quality signal to your Tascam. Perhaps putting your instrument signal through a pre-amp / DI box with EQ would be helpful. The UMGF has a forum section specifically about recording and sound reinforcement for acoustic guitar. It can help a lot to read through past posts and ask questions. http://theunofficialmartinguitarforum.yuku.com/forums/16 Absolutely ....by all means buy the Gibson J-45 ..I am SURE it will help your recordings sound better but really the keys to getting good recorded sound is experiment ...trial and error .....and lots of research ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonCarlos Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Recording the guitar is a hit and miss learning experience and has a lot to do with mike placement and your ears and knowing your recording gear. There are several techniques on mike placement and you might just get by just sticking your B1 directly across from your soundhole. I always used two microphones putting one (your Mxl) across from the 12th fret and the other (your B1) about midway between the bridge and soundhole. The distance out from the guitar will have to be played with a bit. I am not that familiar with your recording interface since I do not use pc's to record on, but make sure that you are getting the optimum input level before clipping occurs (you do have to leave some headroom though, for your later mix) Record your guitar dry going in (you can add eq and stuff like that later when you're mixing). Since you're not in a studio, make a portable one by taking a mike stand, putting it into a T shape and draping a heavy blanket over the T. You could make a couple T's and put the mikes between you and the blanket wall(s). Works absolutely great for vocals as well. If you are trying to capture the sound of an acoustic, stay away from recording directly from UST and pickups. Unless that is the sound you wanted, an amplified acoustic. Like I said there are a lot of choices on techniques, but just fool around with what works for you and the guitar. Good luck and buy a J45. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 J45s record amazingly well-in fact, most Gibsons record better than any other brand. I find Martins can get a bit muddled in a mix with their rich overtones, and Taylor guitars seem to sound a little thin recorded. Gibsons are meaty, warm and gorgeous to record. I am always amazed by how warm my Hummingbird sounds recorded, and I was recording just this afternoon with my friend's amazing L00 Legend Series, which sounded absolutely stunning. I have owned a couple of J45s, and they have appeared on various records I've made, much to my satisfaction. The True Vintage J45s are incredible. Pick one up, get a K&K Pure Western Mini installed in it and you've got a true audiophile quality road & studio ready lifetime guitar. Go for it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guth Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Recording is a huge Pandora's Box. My suggestion is to find a guitar that sounds great then work on your recording techniques until the recorded sound sounds like the guitar. That's kind of where I'm at with all of this. I found a J-45 that I liked the sound of (in my case a J-45 TV' date=' Sitka top) and now I'm playing around with the recording side of things. I tend to play mostly in a fingerpicking style and I usually use a thumbpick to boot. I've had problems with other guitars booming, especially with the thumbpick, but I've been really happy with the J-45 in this regard. Here's a sound clip of my J-45: fingerpicking my J-45 Good luck! Guth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonCarlos Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Guth.....sounds great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nodehopper Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Guth ...great playing and nice recorded sound. Can you tell us a little about your set up for recording?....I bet the OP would be interested to hear how you recorded your J45. Thanks for posting the sound clip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilliangirl Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Great playing Guth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuestionMark Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Cpt. Crash- Here's an audio recording clip on YouTube of me playing my new CS 1964 J-45. It was recorded with only the audio recorder function of a Canon SX10 Camera, nothing fancy, no effects, only the built-in mic from the camera...yet, I am quite pleased with how the guitar sounds in the recording. Jazzman Jeff Performing His Original Song Latin Lemonade: QM aka Jazzman Jeff ps. The guitar with me in the photo with the audio is a '72 Gibson Southern Jumbo, not the J-45 I'm playing. Don't yet have a photo of me with the J-45. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steverok Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Two condenser mic's, placed where your ears are, but towards the bottom of the guitar, as opposed to over it. Also record the pick-up if it has one. Three tracks of your guitar will cut through anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guth Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Guth ...great playing and nice recorded sound. Can you tell us a little about your set up for recording?....I bet the OP would be interested to hear how you recorded your J45. Thanks for the compliments all. I had posted this clip and the recording gear details in another thread a couple of weeks ago. I should have thought to include recording gear details here as well. I made the recording in my living room (no acoustic treatments to speak of, just an area rug over hardwoods, some furniture, and drapes). The microphones are the built-in condenser mics on my Sony digital recorder (PCM-D50). I had the recorder placed approximately two feet in front of my guitar. I transferred the track into my Mac and used Audacity to cut off the excess bits before and after the playing. I did not use any effects or processing of any sort. After that I dumped the tune into iTunes and converted it to MP3 format before posting it to the web. I think that pretty much covers it. Guth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nodehopper Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Thanks for the compliments all. I had posted this clip and the recording gear details in another thread a couple of weeks ago. I should have thought to include recording gear details here as well. I made the recording in my living room (no acoustic treatments to speak of' date=' just an area rug over hardwoods, some furniture, and drapes). The microphones are the built-in condenser mics on my Sony digital recorder (PCM-D50). I had the recorder placed approximately two feet in front of my guitar. I transferred the track into my Mac and used Audacity to cut off the excess bits before and after the playing. I did not use any effects or processing of any sort. After that I dumped the tune into iTunes and converted it to MP3 format before posting it to the web. I think that pretty much covers it. Guth[/quote'] That is quite impressive for a recorders built in Mics. I assumed you used a more complicated set up based on the quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt. Crash Posted November 18, 2009 Author Share Posted November 18, 2009 First off all thank you all for your quick & thorough replies; a heartily welcome! I know recording can be a real challenge. I am glad to hear there some good experiences (and examples!). My main concern was a non-balanced sound (which I have encountered recording my taylor dreadnought). I am planning to try some models this week or next week, the shop I am visiting currently has a few MC's and 1 TV (red spruce). I ll keep you posted! Again: thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guth Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Cpt. Crash, Hope it works out well for you! All the best, Guth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt. Crash Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 Ok, so I went to the store (two actually). Unfortunately Holland isn't the land of a thousand Gibson's. Tried a j-45 MC, j-45 TV, some jumbo's & a southern jumbo. Actually; I liked the J-45 MC best. Is that strange??? The TV had a more airy, dry, woody sound, where the MC was more balanced, round sounding (although I love the headstock on the TV). So, it's probably going to be a MC. The one I played was nice sounding (and had a nice straight grain). But, once upon a time in Amsterdam...I played a J-45 MC that touched my heart (in a good way), and I didn't have the same feeling now...I ll try some more in the nearby future. To be continued. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tw2_usa Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 I find Martins can get a bit muddled in a mix with their rich overtones Funny you mention this. Just yesterday a friend loaned me a Fishman Neo-D soundhole pickup and I am ecstatic. My Martin D-16RGT sounds like crap mic'd, very discouraging. Way too muddled. This cheap(er) pickup magically clears the mud. I am shocked how good my git sounds now amped. Now I can open mic without struggling with perfect placement and fully enjoy myself. Who knew...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjl200 Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 The Aura pro system is unbelievable when it comes to true acoustic sound and the voices one can blend make it amazing. It takes the out the 'guess work" of micing an acoustic. Listen to one if you get the chance. They have come a long way I liked so much I'm getting one installed in a J-45. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jannusguy Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 anyone have experience with trance audio p-ups? i had the chance to see jackson browne recently and he has them in all his acoustics. sounded great. especially the older gibbys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guth Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Actually; I liked the J-45 MC best. Is that strange??? I don't think that is strange at all. Even though I ultimately ended up with a TV model, I've walked into the local Gibson dealer in the past and found at least one MC that sounded better to me than the TV they had at that particular point in time. None of those guitars really spoke to me however, so I had no problem passing on all of them. Had I found a MC that really knocked me out, I would not have had any problem choosing it over the TV. There are no absolutes. The TV that you played might have more appeal to someone else, but its the guitar that appeals most to you that counts. All the best, Guth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Ferguson Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 There are no absolutes. The TV that you played might have more appeal to someone else' date=' but its the guitar that appeals most to you that counts. [/quote'] So true. Well said, Guth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guth Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 So true. Well said' date=' Guth. [/quote'] Thanks Greg. I like that TVZ album cover in your avatar. I used to live in Austin and sometimes would drive up to Colorado by way of New Mexico. I always felt it was my duty to play "Snowing on Raton" on the stereo whenever passing through that neck of the woods. All the best, Guth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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