Peluso P28: Your Acoustic's New Best Friend

I recently had the opportunity to record a mid-tempo track for Austin songwriter Paul Whitney, consisting of acoustic guitar, mandolin, brushed snare, hand percussion, and vocals. The goal here was to sound natural and close, with an intimate sense of space and a degree of polish without harsh brightness. So I set out to find some gear.

I've always felt frustrated recording acoustic guitar - it has to have warmth and body and transient crispness - all without sounding boomy or thin. I think we're all familiar with "cardboard box with strings" recordings of acoustic instruments, or worse, the god-awful "ice-pick on strings" sound often achieved by incorrectly chasing "sheen" and "polish".

Worse still, these problems can't be corrected with compression without very obvious artifacts - fine in a layered rock mix, but murderous to the vibe of a quiet acoustic song. My quest then, was to find a flat, natural microphone, one that could pleasantly squish some transients, and provide a warm tone while keeping a "woofs" and "booms" at bay.

Enter the Peluso P28 pencil tube microphone.

The Mic:
A small diaphragm condenser modeled after the classic AKG C28 (but at a fraction of the cost!) this condenser imparts the warmth and body so sought after with large diaphragm condensers (which would ordinarily "boom" and "scrape" on an acoustic guitar recording), with the accuracy and transient response of a small diaphragm condenser. Though listed as a small diaphragm condenser, at 18mm, it's larger than expected compared to something like a Rode NT5 (13mm).
What attracted me to this microphone was the tube, however - not because tubes are "rad" or "vintage" (although, they totally are), but because tubes are known for their natural compression characteristics, which seemed promising for handling pick noise and harshness.

The Setup:
Peluso p28, Rode Nt5, SM-57 Kel Audio HM7U
FMR RNP
Tascam USB 1641

I setup with a commonly used mic setup - SM-57 on the 12th fret of the acoustic, Peluso p28 on the soundhole, both mics about a foot away from the instrument, and the Kel Audio Large Diaphragm condenser capturing some room ambience. This yielded a nice sound, though not really resembling what i was hearing in the room. The 57 over-emphasized the upper mids, and the p28 was a little too "warm" and close sounding. I was pleased, however, to find that even with vigorous strumming it was immune to the boom and random resonances you often hear from other mics.

So I changed my approach, using a technique more often found in bluegrass and country settings - the Peluso over the player's  shoulder, pointed down at the soundhole where the pick hits the strings (about a foot away), and given the p28's warmth, the nt5 on the 12th fret a foot away (in case i needed to mix in additional brightness). This position really hit the spot - yielding a warm, natural sound with a little bit of roominess to it, with a smooth high end, that, due to the tube and careful positioning, avoided the terrible ice pick scrape sound. After a little tweaking, we were off to tracking. See clips 1-4 on the player below.

P28 Review by Colin Laflin

Next was the Mandolin - I used a similar position (why change what's already working?) to great results - see clips 5 and 6 - the p28 providing more warmth and body to the mandolin than what was actually present in the room! It really made a $300 dollar mandolin sound alot more expensive than it was. I added a little LA-2A compression to smooth out the high notes, and boosted a little 500-600hz to emphasize the "throatiness" of the instrument.

Next was the brushed snare part - a driving rhythm that runs through the song, we needed airiness without harshness or too much snap. I can't say enough about how well suited the p28 was for under the snare - 4 inches away from the bottom head, 45 degree angle, just slightly short of where the snares hit the head, taming what can often be a terribly NASTY snap of snares into a palatable "pit pat". Add a 57 on top for some body, and I had my snare sound. The clips you hear below have no compression or eq...the squish and gush you hear is all that beautiful little tube!

Just for fun, I tracked some shaker with the p28 as well - again, accurate transient response with the right amount of gush and swish, smooth, present highs.

I was thoroughly impressed with this mic - I will never, ever record another snare without trying one of these underneath. And the same goes for the acoustic guitar - unless I'm layering on top of a massive rock mix, I plan on having a pair of these around anytime I need to track acoustic instruments. Natural, warm, smooth high end, and immune to booms and harsh, scrapy highs. Nicely done, Peluso. The c451b's should be shaking in their shockmounts.

I should probably also mention that everything used in the recording - including the guitar and mandolin (with the exception of the Kel HM7U room mic) - can be rented at Rock n Roll Rentals!

In particular, all of this Peluso P28 goodness can be yours from Rock n Roll Rentals for the weekend rate of only 17 bucks!

Reviewed by Colin Laflin