Clever use of PZM-Acoustic Guitar
Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 2:24 am
For anyone that's ever used a PZM(Pressure Zone Mic) you may know that it can do some rather interesting things as a microphone. Common uses are for large confrences, room mics, and kick drum mic if place on the floor in front of the kick.
My standard procedure for recording acoustic guitar is to have a dynamic mic pointed directly at the resonation hole, a condensor overhead, and sometimes a PZM on a window as a room mic. I was out in the field and only brought what I needed with me to a session at a musicians home. Get my portable setup going only to find that my dynamic mic has gone bad. The condensor and room mic alone are just not going to grab all the sound I want. I dared try a radical move and taped the PZM to the body of the guitar. I was pretty sure it was going to be so much rattle and pick noise, that it would be a crappy recording. To my amazement I got the best acoustic recording of my career. In post I was even able to add fx that would only be for electric guitar without it sounding terrible! We messed around with some distortions, tremelo, and others just to see what was possible with that particular mic track. It sounded amazing by itself, and took just about everything we through at it in the studio. To me, it sounds much better than any mic built into an electic/acoustic i've ever heard.
The PZM has long facinated me with the wide range of things it can do. I can confidently say I will be using it for EVERY acoustic session I do from now on!
My standard procedure for recording acoustic guitar is to have a dynamic mic pointed directly at the resonation hole, a condensor overhead, and sometimes a PZM on a window as a room mic. I was out in the field and only brought what I needed with me to a session at a musicians home. Get my portable setup going only to find that my dynamic mic has gone bad. The condensor and room mic alone are just not going to grab all the sound I want. I dared try a radical move and taped the PZM to the body of the guitar. I was pretty sure it was going to be so much rattle and pick noise, that it would be a crappy recording. To my amazement I got the best acoustic recording of my career. In post I was even able to add fx that would only be for electric guitar without it sounding terrible! We messed around with some distortions, tremelo, and others just to see what was possible with that particular mic track. It sounded amazing by itself, and took just about everything we through at it in the studio. To me, it sounds much better than any mic built into an electic/acoustic i've ever heard.
The PZM has long facinated me with the wide range of things it can do. I can confidently say I will be using it for EVERY acoustic session I do from now on!