That acoustic sounds amazing.
You may not know it, but the sound you hear takes a little bit of effort to get to your ears. Here’s what I mean. An acoustic guitar can be played without amplification. However, it’s generally not loud enough to be heard when performing at a typical venue. So what does it take to get the sound to your ears? There are a few different ways to do it.
One of the ways to capture the sound of an acoustic guitar is to use a microphone. This is used a lot when recording an acoustic within a controlled environment like a studio, but it can be quite difficult to use in a live environment, such as a bar or nightclub. The issue is a microphone is prone to feedback, creating a not so pleasant squealing sound. When they don’t feedback, they provide excellent sound reproduction of an acoustic guitar.
Another method, is to use a pickup like this Fishman Humbucker that sits under the strings and mounts into the sound hole of the guitar. These are fairly inexpensive, easy to install and sound decent, but not quite as nice as a microphone.
One of the more common and least obtrusive pickups used to capture the sound of an acoustic is the
Piezo pickup, like this Fishman under saddle pickup. These take some effort to install, but provide a clean look. A lot of acoustic electrics come with a piezo pickup already preinstalled. They sound decent, but have an overtone that is sometimes referred to as a “quack”. The Matrix Infinity pickup above tries to minimize the “quack” using electronics.
One of the newer methods for acoustic guitar amplification utilizes both a piezo under saddle pickup and a microphone mounted inside the guitar. My Martin acoustic uses an LR Baggs Anthem pickup like this These are more difficult to install, but include the ability to blend both the sound of the piezo with the sound of the microphone for the most authentic sound possible. The quack is virtually eliminated with this style pickup.
Any of the methods used to capture the sound of an acoustic guitar are then amplified by the PA and blended in with vocals and other instrumentation to provide the overall sound you hear. So the next time you hear an acoustic musician performing, you now know how they get that beautiful sounding acoustic to your ears. Have an awesome day. Cheers!