I thought I might post this simply because I was reminded a week or so ago that it's not ALWAYS going to be the "go to" mic that does the job.

I have a bunch of mic choices. Lrg D condensers, sml D condensers, lrg D dynamics etc etc..AND a bunch of different mic preamps to hook these up to. In short, a decent selection and tool box that I know how to use for most situations.

I needed a couple of acoustic guitar tracks on a project I'm currently involved with. I wanted to record my incredibly cheap but decent OOO bodied solid top Asian built guitar that I usually use as a live instrument. So, I hook up my "go-to" acoustic guitar set-up and play the parts. Sounds fine through the phones at tracking. disaster through the speakers.

Okay. NEXT. Changed out the mic, same pre. Not good. Went to #3. different but unusable. Okay. Time to reflect. What do I want out of these tracks?

The guitar is a firm mid-range box. Not much low-end so no boom. why it's a 'live' instrument. I'm capo'd up a bit...I want the percussive effect and not too much of the fundamental except to be harmonically correct. <---THIS IS THE RIGHT THING TO THINK! Now we're getting somewhere.

Solution is a DYNAMic mic. A 57 has too much low mid bloom. An SM7 is too low-endy...I have about 16 more to go through and then I look into one of the dynamics boxes...specifically the DRUM Mic box and once again the process of what I'm trying to accomplish with the tracks is clear and my GO-TO SNARE mic winds up on the guitar. Its going to bring out the percussive nature of the instrument...its got enough clarity to make the notes and the harmonic content stick out and its a 'dry' responsive kinda mic. Bingo.

I wound up with the Beyer 201 through the Phoenix Audio DRS Q4 Mkll > Grace 502 comp> PT HD. The EQ on the Phoenix allowed me to shape as needed and the mic provided everything the guitar had without any standing overtones which I was getting with ANY of my usual condensers. Usually an acoustic guitar track starts with AKG C460>Manley>1176> PT. Or U87>True Systems P2> 1176>PT.

So, my point here is mostly aimed at those who are starting to understand how different devices create different results. It doesn't take a large rack full of pres and compressors, or a large variety of mics to find the sweet spot for a sound you need on your creation. What it takes is an assessment of WHAT sound you're trying to capture and what it's role will be in the song arrangement. There's always a lot of times that questions come to the forums about "How can I get this or that sound" "How do I mic this particular instrument" etc. I made this example as a tutorial per se for those that may still be growing in that search for these things.

Enjoy.