Anthem Acoustic Guitar Pickup and Microphone — LR Baggs (2024)

FAQs

Does the LR Baggs Anthem need a preamp? ›

The Anthem has all of the essential tools in one complete system. The feather-weight preamp and controls include: volume, mix, phase and a battery check. The mix control blends from the augmented TRU•MIC position to Element pickup only.

The LR Baggs set flat sounds way better to my ears. More natural and clear without sounding thin. I couldn't hear any issues at all. I know it says acoustic guitar in the literature, but it works equally well for upright bass.

A high-quality mic is always going to be the "truest" method for amplifying an acoustic stringed instrument, as it's the closest thing to putting your head (ears) in front of the instrument in question and "hearing" the sound out of the air as the instrument produces it.

I'd place them wherever there's a hard surface that can bounce your voice sound back into the microphone. So that means the side walls of your alcove, the back wall and possibly the ceiling of the alcove, and then on the desk and in front of the screen.

Using A Single Microphone

The most common starting point for miking an acoustic guitar is right where the neck meets the body. If the guitar sounds a bit boomy, you can inch it away from the body and a little further up the neck. If the guitar sounds too thin, fix this by moving the mic towards the body.

The LR Baggs Anthem Tru-Mic acoustic guitar pickup is the best all-rounder. It combines a piezo pickup with a mic to achieve more of a 'true' acoustic sound. In this case, it's a noise-cancelling mic mounted inside on the guitar's bridge plate close to the guitar's top – the primary source of its tonal character.

Every pickup is made here at our California factory and is pre-tested in a guitar for output and balance.

Electronics within acoustic guitars (whether pickups or microphones) don't capture the sound the way that we're used to hearing it; the familiar sound of an acoustic guitar that we all know and love is the sound from outside of the instrument. So if you're looking for a natural sound, a microphone is the way to go.

Piezo pickups are by far the most common type of acoustic guitar pickups. They work by converting the vibrations of the guitar's soundboard into an electrical signal.

So let's dive into the three most common stereo techniques for recording acoustic guitar. While you should always experiment with placement and mic choice, generally speaking you will want to use a pair of unidirectional condenser mics placed close to the instrument (approximately 6" to 12" inches away).

Where do you put a microphone pack? ›

The mic needs to be placed on you somewhere near your mouth, the battery pack needs to be put on you somewhere comfortable and inconspicuous, and the wire needs to run between the two as invisibly as possible.

Microphone Placement in Your Booth

Positioning the microphone between three to twelve inches away from the singer and setting the mic at a 45° angle from the mouth will ensure that the microphone captures the full range of the singer's voice without any unwanted distortion.

So the best practice is to keep receiver at the place that is visible from where the microphone is being used. Besides the placement, it is not a wise idea to randomly set or change frequencies. Wireless mics can interfere with each other.

When positioning the microphone make sure the diaphragm of the mic is in line with the vocalist's mouth. This should give you the most natural sound. However, placing the microphone higher and angling it down will produce a more nasally sound and placing it lower will give the recording a more chesty, bassy sound.