Micing a resophonic guitar

[53mph]

Hey there,I bought a resophonic guitar the other day. The type used by Sun House and on the cover of Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms". The entire body is metal and it's got an internal coil which makes it really, really loud. I'm quickly falling in love with it. Does anyone have any experience of micing these guitars?I've played about a bit but I can't capture its sheer raw loudness in the recordings.If you're wondering what the guitar is check out this link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resonator_guitar

[53mph]

Quote:Hey there,I bought a resophonic guitar the other day. The type used by Sun House and on the cover of Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms". The entire body is metal and it's got an internal coil which makes it really, really loud. I'm quickly falling in love with it. Does anyone have any experience of micing these guitars?I've played about a bit but I can't capture its sheer raw loudness in the recordings.If you're wondering what the guitar is check out this link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resonator_guitarCom'on haven't any of you bluegrass, country, blues players ever used a resophonic guitar?I've searched around for recording advice but haven't found anything specific. Can't any of you good ol' boys offer me some recording tips?

[og]

For what it's worth, when I play slide on my acoustic, I mic it the same as for picking. If I want it loud, I put a LDC about a foot from the 12th fret. If it's backgraound, I use a SDC about 6" from the 12th. Are you holding it like a guitar, or playing on your lap? That would be the only difference, seems to me. Let me know what you figure out, 'cause a resonator is on my wish list!

[ernstinen]

Sorry no one but Og responded, 53mph! It's probably because we didn't know the answer, but I'll give it a shot.Here's a 2 microphone trick I've used recording acoustic guitar:Use a condenser mic near the guitar body, finding the sweet spot without it sounding too boomy.Then, point a shotgun condenser mic down the neck from the top of the guitar near the tuning pegs towards the body.Balance the volume between the 2 mics. Great in stereo!From one good ol' boy to another, Ern

[edteja]

Robert Johnson had one microphone and it seemed to work okay.

[billg]

The new issue of recording has a section devoted just to this . . . you're in luck! -billg

[sgs4u]

I had a look at Gearslutz, check this forum out, and thread. If you were to post this exact same question on gearslutz, you might get a lot of valuable advice. http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much- ... tmlBecause of the nature of the sound of a resonator guitar(as opposed to the woodiness of a dobro), so much high end, I'd be careful about placing mics too close to your instrument just because the tone seems to be more usable, from 3 ft away, than 6 ". I'm not an expert engineer at all, so I hope I'm not steering you the wrong way.A guy I work with tries to use one live (with some cheap pickup on it), in the middle of our loud band. Almost impossible to get a great sound live when we're giggiing, but the thing always cuts through the live band mix because of it's high end. We call it a cheese grater.I'm in the market too, I love them as much as dobros. Quote:Hey there,I bought a resophonic guitar the other day. The type used by Sun House and on the cover of Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms". The entire body is metal and it's got an internal coil which makes it really, really loud. I'm quickly falling in love with it. Does anyone have any experience of micing these guitars?I've played about a bit but I can't capture its sheer raw loudness in the recordings.If you're wondering what the guitar is check out this link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resonator_guitar

[mazz]

I've never mic'd a resonator guitar before but if I were faced with that challenge, first I'd consider the song and what part in the arrangement the guitar was going to play. After that discussion, I'd have someone play the instrument and I'd walk around them while they were playing to find the spot in the room where the instrument produces the sound we've agreed on and put a mic there. The type of mic depends on the sound you are looking for as well. It pays to know the characteristic frequency responses of your mics and also the characteristic frequencies the instrument produces that you want to accentuate or minimize by your mic placement.Of course, if you want to do your placement in the mix after the fact or if your room doesn't sound very good, then mic close at a point where you get a balanced amount of body and string sound and as little finger noise as possible unless that's what you want. Then you can eq, etc. during the mixdown. Just some speculation on my part. Have fun and let us hear it when you get it.Mazz

[53mph]

Thanks for all the advice.I find that micing close to the body of this guitar doesn't compliment the sound. Probably my room sound's not doing me any favours when I try micing from 3 foot away.I'm going to play about with a 2 mic recording and experiment with positions. I like the idea of a shotgun mic down the neck because this guitar has a very vocal fret sound.It's possibly a similar micing situation as with a banjo. Booming high end sound which cuts through everything. It's certainly less subtly expressive than a wooden bodied guitar (can't play the Deer Hunter theme on this baby) so a close intimate sound is foolish. I'm going to try and think along the lines of a big band.FYI I'm interetsed in getting a John Fahey sound similar to the raw sound on the first few tracks of "Modern Love" or something similar to some Sufjan Stevens tracks.

[squidlips]

Hey 53,Sorry I'm late on this......didn't even see it. I don't come to this board often, there're already so many more experienced guys here.I play a Beard resonator and I've had good luck with the two-mic system myself.......a shotgun angled from the pegs toward the neck with another mic placed around the sweet spot near the biscuits, about 2-1/2 to 3 feet away. I found playing to be distracting with the neck mic but it couldn't be helped. I hope this helps you and good luck! Let me know how it works out for you.