It is always a challenge to a get great acoustic guitar sound on stage and with guitars being an integral part of modern music, a good place to begin this series is by taking a look at some cool ways to make acoustics sound heavenly.

Acoustic guitars sound best when they are mic'd, and contrary to the claims of guitar manufacturers touting their pick-up systems, when it comes to reproducing the intricacies of an acoustic guitar, nothing beats a small diaphragm condenser mic. The tighter the pick-up pattern the better. A tight pick-up pattern means less stage noise will get into the guitar mix. Check out the Shure PG-81, Behringer B-5 and the AKG C-1000 as superb economical mic choices. Our sales pros will be glad to audition the mics for you.

Guitar EQ tip #1: The common frequency for the fixed bass eq knob on a mixing board is usually 80Hz, but can sometimes be 100Hz. The more preferable 80Hz corresponds roughly with the low E string on a guitar.

Guitar EQ tip #2: If your mixer has only one mid knob that sweeps, then start by boosting 1.8K Hz by 2 or 3 db. This is the magic frequency of the pros! This gives you great sounding highs that will cut through and still be smooth to the ear. Most sound people will boost a much higher frequency if you ask for brightness, but 1.8K is really what you want. The ideal channel EQ for acoustic guitars if you have all four sweeps is as follows: