Recording Examples Microphone vs. B-Band

I often get into discussions how to pick up the sound of an acoustic guitar, may it be to get it amplified on stage or for recording purposes. Especially one question appears frequently: Would a good microphone be better or can a pickup system, built into the guitar do the same job, iE do the modern acoustic pickup systems sound "natural" enough to forget mikrophones. My experience is: It depends.... I remember the troubles I had getting a clean and natural acoustic tone on stage using microphones. Microphones still catch the guitar's sound more naturally in my opinion than pickup systems do, but I always had to deal with feedback on the one hand and a lack of consistency on the other. If I change the guitar's position only a little bit sideways or change the angle to the mikrophone, the sound changes: It's getting louder or more quet it's getting  muddy or tubby or too bright. This is the reason why I always would prefer an acoustic pickup system for stage use. The sound of modern acoustic pickup systems to my experience has developed and is by far good enough for me. With a little bit of eq-sqeaking and  a little bit of a good reverb the sound will be quite natural, consistent and feedback problems range between little and nil.

Recording on the other hand should still be done with at least one good condenser mikrophone. Recording specialists  - I am none - claim. that an acoustic guitar should be recorded stereo with mikes at different positions to catch the lively spirit of an acoustic guitar. Microphine positioning is not an easy task even when only one mikrophine is used: The position of the mike should secure a balanced sound (not too boomy, not too tinny) and should catch an impression of how the used instrument really sounds. There are many recommendations about how to place the mike(s). On for instance says it would be OK to "aim" at the 12th fret from a distance of about 10 to 12 inches (25-30 cm). Annother says, the microphone should be placed against the soundboard near the bridge. I tried many positions and still have not found out the ideal microphone position. I actually position each and every time I start a recording, controlling the result via headphones before I start. One thing is quite sure: If I place the mike against the soundhole, the sound will be muddy and boomy, so this is no option.

To share a bit of my experience  with the B-band AST pickup system, I recorded two examples using the microphone and the AST at the same time. The recording is stereo, the microphione take went into one channel, the b-band AST take into the other. The microphone was placed about 12 inches away from the 12th fret. I set every EC-button to "0", so there is no sound sqeaking at all. The same within my recording system (Steinberg Cubase): No sqeaking, no compressor/limiter, no effect at all. If I had to use the b-band AST take, I would try to reduce the upper midrange frequencies and add some bass. The microphone take could be improved reducing the bass a bit.

This is the result:

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