Oh, yes. Before we leave this completely. Can you post that picture of proper microphone placement?
Koz
It’s pretty impressive that you are getting such low noise from what is still a relatively “budget” pre-amp - that’s quite a distance between the mic and the guitar, but it shows very well how it is able to pick up the whole of the guitar sound and some room ambiance.
I presume that you still using it on the cardioid setting? If so, it may be worth trying it on omni as that will allow you to pick up the same amount of room ambiance at a much closer distance to the guitar. Also, the “proximity” effect should be much less on “omni”.
(Proximity effect: the tendency of microphones to accentuate the bass frequencies when used close to a sound source. )
Excellent. Yes, that’s what I want to do with the hallway here at work. And if you move the mic too much either direction along the instrument, it starts sounding wimpy or boomy?
Koz
Yes, still using cardioid. I tried omni once briefly but I didn’t like much the sound from it, so I went back to cardioid. I think I didn’t change the position of the mic though… so I shall try again in a closer position…
And at the top of the stairs 
Have you thought about putting a safety strap round the mic/mic stand - perhaps it’s the photographs, but it looks pretty close to the edge 
I didn’t try to move it along, but occasionally I unconsciously move/rotate myself and slightly change my position while playing and I noticed that probably due to that at some parts of my recordings the sound became a bit more boomy, probably when I moved the guitar hole closer to the mic…
You also probably noticed that I don’t put the mic in a vertical position… I do that for two reasons:
- when I’m playing the guitar is usually not in a vertical position either… so I tried to place the mic more or less parallel to the guitar
- when the mic is facing slightly down like in the pics it seems to capture a better ambience sound than when I positioned it vertically
It’s the photographs 
It’s pretty safe. It’s much more prone to being slapped by my myself or the guitar when I sit down/stand up than falling down the stairs 
Here’s a pic taken from behind where I sit:
Phew, I can rest easy now 
(one of my duties at work is “Health and Safety”, but I’ll avoid commenting on the lead trailing across the top of the stairs… oops, too late 
)
That’s the “classic” way to do it. Bit by bit you’re confirming, from experiment and experience, that the text books are right.
You may find that you still prefer the cardioid setting, but with the experience and refinements that you now have available I think it would be worth trying.
I’ve just tried to record some samples in the omni setting. It sounds more “distant” like if the mic was standing much further away from the guitar… Placing the mic closer to the guitar of course reduces this effect, but then it starts to sound a bit more boomy…
I’ve also been playing around with opening/closing the doors in the stairway hall to change the echo/reverb effect. With all doors closed it’s interesting to listen while I play but then on the recording it’s just too much reverb, specially in the omni setting… but that’s what I was expecting…
(hopefully in a not so distant future I will get all variables settled and start doing some more serious recording 
I look forward to hearing that. I’m sure Koz will too.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr10/articles/acguitar.htm
Look what turned up in Sound on Sound Magazine.
Koz
Interesting article… Maybe they’re watching this thread…
Now I guess I need to register on their website to read the full article…
I think you only do that if you’re already subscribed to the paper magazine. The PDF download, however is certainly reasonable. I’ll buy it for you if you’re out of money.
Koz
Thanks Koz for your kindness, but I can still afford it I still need to register on the website to buy the pdf though… It’s more about the laziness to fill in the forms than anything else hehe
Anyway I’m doing it now…
Here’s a sample using the omni pattern: 36-omni-sample2.flac
Please ignore the heavy breathe in the middle… 
(one of the problems of having the mic so close to my nose/mouth…)
I still prefer the cardioid pattern with the mic further away from the guitar… (on this sample the mic was much closer to the guitar than what you saw in the pics… otherwise it would sound like if I was playing at the end of a very long hall…)
It’s certainly not unpleasant, but I agree that the cardioid pick-up has more “immediacy”, and for solo guitar I also prefer the cardioid response.
It’s interesting just how much difference there is - if ever you want to record a more “background” type sound, you now know exactly how to do it.
And if I want the opposite I can use Figure of 8 pattern which gives a brighter/drier sound…
The possibilities are so many and varied it can be hard to get round to doing any real recording
Finally I did the test I’d been willing to do for a while… testing the line-in of the xonar essence stx and the line-out of the art usb dual pre.
I recorded both samples at the same time, so the captured sound was exactly the same.
40-art-usb.flac: mic → art → usb → macbookpro → audacity
41-art-line-out.flac: mic → art → monitor line out → 1m mono jack-jack cable → xonar essence stx line-in → audacity (on windows, because linux drivers don’t allow me to use the line-in yet)
Some more info:
- same version of audacity (1.3.11)
- art monitor volume at max
- xonar’s line-in volume at max
- art powered from the usb connection to the mac
Apart from the obvious difference in gain/volume, after amplifying both samples to the same level, my non-audiophile ears can’t tell the difference between the two samples… Let me know if you can