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Old 05-14-2019, 04:23 PM
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albee1952 albee1952 is offline
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Location: Norwich, CT
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Default Re: Tracking/Mixing Acoustic Guitar as Part of Rhythm Section

I'd say some experimentation is in order I would approach it as follows:
#1-the guitar itself. Does it sound good in the room? Does it have fresh strings? If it sounds like crap, then it will record like crap. One of the best recording acoustics is a $449 Blueridge(BR40, I think). It records like a Martin for a McDonald's price
#2-try each mic you have(with nothing else going on) and (listening with headphones) move the mic around and see if you find a spot where the sound is good in the phones(if its bad there, its not going to get much better in the DAW)
#3-if your mics don't give you a good tone, then its going to require some mic shopping, but you don't need a mortgage for this. One killer mic on a budget is a used AT4041(I bought one for $100). Starting position(for me) is where the neck meets the body. How you aim(towards the bridge, straight on or towards the neck) can give different tone. Another solid mic for $299 is the Miktek MK300(which has 3 patterns and the figure 8 is very useful for acoustic, if the room sounds good).
#4-I track with some gentle EQ(hipass at 90, small dip at 400 and small boost around 10K), light compression(BF76) and a touch of reverb(don't be afraid to EQ the reverb and thin it out in the low-mids). BTW, reverb is always on an AUX track and NOT as an insert on the guitar track. After you get the best recording of your guitar, use subtractive EQ to get rid of the "ugly" stuff(and feel free to use THAT EQ while tracking).
#5-treating the guitar as a hihat is a great approach!
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