Acoustic Fingerstyle Mixing Advice

Z

Zephyr

New member
Hi there,

I have a Martin D-1GT Dreadnought acoustic and I record into an AKG Perception 120 (a decent lower priced condenser mic).

The problem I'm having is at the mixing stage, because I use the same guitar to record strummed chords as well as the finger picking parts, the finger picking part just doesn't pull through in the mix.

I've tried panning, which works to a certain extent, and various EQ derivations but with no joy.

Could someone give me any tried and tested tips they use in this situation please? Please bear in mind that I only have access to the same guitar.

Many thanks,

Steve :guitar:

 
First off lower the bass.
It sounds like your acoustic guitar has an unnatural eq boost somewhere in the mids.

Decide which guitar part is more important and put it up front, and then with the other part lower it in the mix and make EQ cuts so frequencies don't mask or build up the main part.
 
Try different mic positions with that same mic when you track each part. I tend to sit closer to it when finger picking, and further away when strumming, but I generally use two different guitars for that.

Mic position alone will give you some tonal variation beyond just your fingers vs. the pick. +1 to experimenting more with panning, EQ and comp though...all of those have the potential to help distinguish those two tracks from each other.
 
Thanks for your thoughts guys.

I've already rolled off the bass on each track. For the unnatural boost in the mids, I'll look into that - I'm thinking using a spectrum analyser will help with that and also using a slightly different EQ shape for each track.

I'll also give the mic positioning a go - if I have the mic further away to capture the ambience of the room for the strummed part, maybe that will put it a bit further back in the mix. I'll also reduce the volume of the strummed part.

I'm trying to avoid adding lots of plugins, as the Martin has a good enough sound on its own - it's also quite bassy, which is great - especially for picking, but it needs to be controlled - I'll look into comp for the bass frequencies.

I'm just trying to retain the sound of he guitar without altering it too much.

Any preferences for a comp?

Thanks.
 
I think the guitar sounds too compressed, try lowering the ratio or not compressing it at all, sounds very flat and lacks depth, somehow the acoustic guitar sounds 'lofi' that's the only way I can explain it, like it's lacking some high end sheen and it also lacks warmth as well, maybe it's your monitors or environment? did you mix this on speakers or headphones?

However I do like the musicality and originality of the piece, my comments are purely based on the mix and not the music, it's a relaxing piece of music to listen to with some interesting changes.
 
Zephyr said:
Hi there,

I have a Martin D-1GT Dreadnought acoustic and I record into an AKG Perception 120 (a decent lower priced condenser mic).

The problem I'm having is at the mixing stage, because I use the same guitar to record strummed chords as well as the finger picking parts, the finger picking part just doesn't pull through in the mix.

I've tried panning, which works to a certain extent, and various EQ derivations but with no joy.

Could someone give me any tried and tested tips they use in this situation please? Please bear in mind that I only have access to the same guitar.

Many thanks,

Steve :guitar:

Click to expand...

Hi Steve,

Something to try is to back off the mic on the picked guitar, perhaps around 60cm or so. This will minimise the proximity effect adding the unwanted boom that is eating the important mid and highs. Also make sure your mic is pointing off axis of the sound hole approximately around the 12th fret. Somewhere around here will get you a nice natural sound. You could then add very subtle compression to the picked guitar, but also add a parallel compression track with the mid and top excentuated. Slowly blend that with your other picked guitar. This will keep your original copy natural and dynamic, whilst adding a supporting foundation of consistency and brighter tones to the blended track.

Give it a try and let me know how you get on.
Cheers 4D
 
I think its just about mixing and balancing the levels, for my ears the guitar has an unnatural sound on first listen I would have sworn it was a piezo pickup not a mic, It might be worth muting all the processing and get the rough levels first?
 
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