I’ve been very impressed with the sound of the acoustic guitars in some of the interviews. Particularly, the David Grier interviews, the Molly Tuttle interview and the newer Carl Miner interview. Does anyone know what mics and other gear were used to record the guitars in those interviews?
Hi! Sorry for the delay. The early Grier, Tuttle, and Miner interviews were a mix of the omni lav mics that come with the Sennheizer AVX wireless, the internal mic on the iPhone in the magnet, and the Zoom H6 stereo audio recorder pointed at the guitar. The mixes were complex, where I blended all three mics with some eq, compression, and reverb. I think in all these cases the lav mics were allowed to essentially bleed into the guitar mix and become part of it, so I didn’t have to do any ducking when they spoke. But this means when their lav mics are ducked for any reason, the guitar sound is different.
The latest Grier interview is the simplest. Just the H6 for guitar. Compression and EQ to bring up the bass, because David picks very close to the bridge, and some reverb. This creates a standalone guitar track. When David speaks, the guitar track is totally ducked, and when he plays, his lav mic is ducked. If he speaks and plays, you’ll hear some reverb on his voice — that’s his voice bleeding into the H6 guitar track. Sometimes when that happens, the lav mic is brought up a bit so you can hear him better.
You could reproduce the latest Grier interview with just about any stereo pair of small diaphragm condenser mics pointed at the guitar, and in a pinch, could do with just one and maybe some verb. Probably still sound great placed in the right spot.
Hope that helps!
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That’s awesome, thanks! I don’t have any small diaphragm condensers at the moment, but a Zoom H6 may be in my near future! Thank you for the details on using Compression and EQ to bring up the bass as well. I’ll definitely keep those in mind as I’m recording. I appreciate it!
They came out with the H8 recently which looks really nice, if I were in the market I’d check that out — prices aren’t that different.
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Nice! That H8 looks great. I think it’s more than I need honestly, I’m just going to be recording my acoustic with it, I don’t currently have plans to do any actual field recording (obviously, haha). Since I don’t really need the extra features, I’m debating between getting an H6/8 and just spending the extra money and getting a good small diaphragm condenser.
If you just get a mic, you’re still going need cables, preamp, interface. And if you want stereo, you’ll need two mics, two preamp channels, etc. It can be done but the nice thing about these portable devices is that they’re frequently stereo to begin with, and entirely self-contained. They can also function as audio interfaces via USB if you don’t have an interface yet, or don’t have a small / portable one.
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I’m not an expert by any stretch, but based on internet hearsay, it seems those Zoom recorders are popular among low/no-budget filmmakers in part because of some of the things Troy alluded to: a small single device can readily be discretely placed near a subject without a bunch of cables to worry about.
Edit: And if you decide even the H6 is overkill for your needs, Zoom and competitors like Tascam offer more stripped-down versions for lower cost.
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@Troy Great points! I do already have cables, preamps and an interface, so for me it’s pretty much just the choice between one of the Zoom devices and a mic. I don’t have any plans to record outside of my home studio right now, so I’m not worried about portability or versatility really.
@Frylock That makes perfect sense. I don’t have any intention of recording other people with it at this point, hence my current dillema, haha.
EDIT: @Frylock I was under the impression that when you get below the H6 that the sounds quality starts to drop off.
I think since the Zoom devices are what has been used for the acoustic interviews here, which I like the sound of, and they are around half the price of the mic that was recommended to me, I will start with one of the Zoom recorders and upgrade to a standalone mic if I can’t get what I want out of the zoom.
Yeah I’d be worried that below the H6 the specs might not be the same. Also, the mic with the H6 is a removable / clip-on mic. The unit comes with the stereo AB/XY small diaphragm condensers as well as a mid-side attachment. They make others like a mini shotgun too. So basically with the Zooms you are infact buying mics as well. I have only ever used the small diaphragm condensers for our stuff.
Unfortunately, the latest version only comes with the AB/XY mic. They stopped adding the MS mic in 2020. Somehow that didn’t make it any less expensive though. Imagine that, haha.
They probably realized people weren’t using it. Still worth the money for us, great device.
You’re probably right, and I’m sure it’s still worth the price. I’ll have one on its way to me shortly!