AUDIO TECHNICA ARTIST SERIES ATM350GL GUITAR MOUNT

Despite decades of technological advancement, reproducing the natural sound of an acoustic guitar, either on stage or on record, remains a potentially onerous process and sometimes only a high-quality microphone will do. While sub-miniature internal mics have grown in popularity recently, there is no substitute for an external mic if an uncoloured sound is your goal.

This approach brings with it new and interesting challenges and a number of specialist microphone companies have adopted an instrument-mounted microphone approach in order to make life easier for the acoustic purist.

Made of three constituent parts – a rugged clamp, a goose-neck mount and the microphone itself with attached lead and XLR power module – the ATM350GL is relatively simple to fit onto the shoulder of a guitar. Once installed, it feels extremely solid. In fact, the term ‘clamp on’ seems more accurate than ‘clip on’, in this case.

There are rubber pads to protect your instrument, but we’d still be a little wary of attaching it to a French-polished top. The goose-neck mount feels stable and the four-metre cable (permanently attached to the mic) should be more than capable of reaching your DI box/mic preamp without hampering mobility. The overall size of the mic and clamp, however, is considerably greater than some other systems and if you’re playing high up the neck, you may find that visibility is compromised.