Mounting Audio Technica Mics

gitpicker · July 2010

Thought I'd share this after reading the other thread. Here's a homemade method for mounting the Pro-70 or AT831b mic that works real well.

John Jorgenson buries his mic into a foam cube on the top of his guitar which is attached with velcro. I didn't want to use velcro on the top of my guitar so I made a foam cube with a slit on the top and attached some velcro strips so I could attach it to the strings near the tailpiece behind the bridge. I bury the mic in the foam and just run the wire under the tailpiece. Looks clean and works like a charm!

Benefits:
-It doesn't pick up certain frequencies off the soundhole that howl or feedback easily.
-Does not pick up the "clack" of picking noise.
-Being buried in foam away from the soundhole NOW you can play your guitar in a LOUD, NOISY environment with NO feedback! Noisy bar gigs, no problem now! (provided your amp isn't in front of you or facing the mic of course)

Here's a couple pictures of my cheap little setup. I use this on all my gigs with John as well as all my other gigs in small noisy environments like the noisy crowded wine bar I'll be playing at tonight!

adrian · July 2010

Ooooh! Thanks for posting this, gitpicker. I've gotta try this immediately. I've been doing the thing where the microphone is inside the soundhole with a little wire, with poor results. This looks very promising!

Adrian

jscook777 · July 2010

Hi Doug,

Thanks for posting this!

-Quick question.

Is the foam cut out in front of the tip of the microphone so the mic picks up the surface of the guitar without foam in the way? Or, is the mic just imbedded in the cube and picks up the guitar through a layer of foam?

Thanks,
Jason

gitpicker · July 2010

Hey guys glad you like the idea. It works real well. The mic is imbedded in the foam itself pointed right towards the top of the guitar. The foam cube basically makes contact with the top and the mic is imbedded into the foam about halfway. It picks up the sound of the guitar no problem and it's MUCH more feedback resistant which is the main reason I like doing it. Here's another pic which maybe you can see it better.

Good luck!
Doug

Djoe · July 2010

That looks like an elegant solution... simple and effective! How are the velcro and foam attached to each other?

bluetrain · July 2010

I've been testing with this type of mounting and I've noticed that the foam alters the sound depending on the type of foam (soft, hard) and how close the microphone is from the top. For me the best sounding solution was to use very soft foam and placing the microphone as far from the top as possible (maybe 10mm). I noticed if the microphone is very close to the top the sound is very bass heavy. Any similar experiences?

Still I think the sound is better if the microphone is placed inside the guitar but maybe it's more prone to feedback but that's just my opinion.

Nice pictures btw!

gitpicker · July 2010

Good observation. In general, EVERYTHING effects your sound, period. No matter, what pick you use, YOUR touch, strings, in this case the foam, etc..whatever. You can experiment with different materials, mic placement, etc., to fine tune this setup. Personally I use a very light foam that's not very dense at all and yes a bit of distance from the top is good. What's optimum for one guitar might vary slightly for another. In general it seems to be a very user friendly and easy solution.

Djoe: The velcro strips are just inserted into a slit I cut into the side of the cube. You can glue the velcro in or as in my case the velcro strips have adhesive on the surface so they stay in. If you need more closeup pictures let me know.

Tele295 · August 2010

Doug, is the bottom of the foam cube real tight against the guitar soundboard? How do you keep it from flopping around if it's not permanently affixed to the soundboard?