hillbilly wrote:. . . what are you doing to get better acoustic sounds than me.
I'm not; yours are way better. But since you ask, for mics I use an Audio-Technica ATM41HE stage dynamic for vocals and flute, and an AKG 190E studio dynamic for acoustic guitars or for amps (but mostly I run electric instruments direct into the board). Occasionally I switch the mics around, depending on my mood. When I mic an amp, I point it directly into the speaker cone, sometimes a bit off-centre, an inch or two from the grille (and I turn the amp down). When I mic a guitar, I point it at the area to the lower right of the soundhole (my right as I hold the guitar), adjusting the exact position by ear. I try to get within four inches to hold down the room noise, but if I get too close, I often end up whacking the mic with the guitar when I reach for the recording controls, which is annoying in the headphones.
The amps include a Peavey Backstage Plus for heavier sounds, and a Vox AC15VR for lighter or vintage sounds (not that it's a vintage amp). I don't use my bass amps for recording. (Point of interest: the bass on "Beat the Heat" is an unplugged Fender Kingman acoustic, recorded through the AKG.)
For preamps, I use the channels on a Mackie 1642-VLZ3 mixing board. I usually leave the EQ flat, but I do have the low cut switched in for everything but bass and (electronic) drums.
The sound card is an M-Audio Delta 1010LT.
For acoustic tracks, I tweak the EQ using standard Reaper plugins. I always apply a low cut to take out any mud or rumble (again, except for bass and drums), and I lower the frequencies I don't want instead of boosting the ones I do want (although I don't rule the latter out completely). I have no fixed EQ setup; I play it by ear.
For ambience on acoustic tracks, I mostly use presets from the Reaper ReaVerbate plugin (often "Acoustic in the Mix" or "Intimate Vocal," sometimes "Discrete Room"), but occasionally I use the renowned Ambience plugin.
For piano tracks, I use MIDI and Reason Adapted NN-19 samples.
I listen using Yamaha 5" studio monitors and a variety of headphones, including Sennheiser 424 and ATM-50.