Help with mic'ing/recording acoustic guitar

Experiment # 5

New take - no padded box for the mic. I placed the mic on a table level with the acoustic guitar and parallel to the neck. Front of mic facing directly toward guitar. This take is completely dry and I have not added any FX afterward. I did normalize and added a couple of fades.

I was fortunate to find a hard Fender pick laying around. I used a different strum (down-strokes mostly, and not so much on the E & B strings). I think it's a cleaner sound from the guitar, with some warmer tones.
 

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  • Acoustic Vol II.mp3
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Are you sure you are normalizing correctly? If you think the pick sounds loud at -27LUFS, it is 14dbs louder at -13LUFS. You need to get it close to what you would master it at, so you have a better chance of finding any items that need to be corrected. But that is just my opinion. You play very well! Do you have headphones to listen on or just DT speakers?

View attachment 100827
 
Are you sure you are normalizing correctly? If you think the pick sounds loud at -27LUFS, it is 14dbs louder at -13LUFS. You need to get it close to what you would master it at, so you have a better chance of finding any items that need to be corrected. But that is just my opinion. You play very well! Do you have headphones to listen on or just DT speakers?

View attachment 100827


No. I'm not sure I'm normalizing correctly. I just select Normalize from the menu and it does it - no popups offering adjustments or settings. This does bother me though, because I record at the correct level and this bumps it up quite a bit, as can be seen next to the track vol knob above the track item. This leads to my next question to you:

I record at the optimal levels (-18 to -12). When I Normalize there is a large boost in dBs on the track item display and the meters reflect this increase. Previously, after Normalizing, I had right-clicked the fader knob and entered a different value for dBs, but all that did was physically lower the faders (I did not do this for this last .mp3). This leaves me wondering how I can Normalize without such a large gain in dBs. I know I want that sound volume, but it's normalizing at too high a level.
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Thank you. I have both headphones and speakers, but the speakers are disabled by the interface - and I do not monitor myself, I just hear the guitar by ear and follow the meters. When I dub myself or record someone I do monitor by headphones.
 
Reaper's normalize always just adds enough gain (via Item Properties Volume) to get the items loudest peak to 0dbfs.

The SWS extensions add a few other normalize actions, including some "loudness" (RMS/LUFS) actions that might work better for you.

Edit to add - For now probably either don't normalize and adjust the rest of your chain as necessary, or normalize and then pull down the fader like you've been doing. It doesn't much matter. If you normalize, then you know exactly where your loudest peak is, which is sometimes worth knowing. That's going to change when you start adding plugs, though, so what comes out the other end is often not so easy to predict.
 
Samplitude Silver lets you normalize to any desired level. I dare bet Audacity does too?

Dave.
 
Reaper's normalize always just adds enough gain (via Item Properties Volume) to get the items loudest peak to 0dbfs....


Crikey! Mine was set at +19.0dB - I have never adjusted anything in that window. I wonder why it's that high..?

I double-clicked the fader and it reset to 0.0 (default, I guess).

I had the SWS package a few days ago. I uninstalled it when Reaper crashed on me. I'll retrieve them.
 
No. I'm not sure I'm normalizing correctly. I just select Normalize from the menu and it does it - no popups offering adjustments or settings. This does bother me though, because I record at the correct level and this bumps it up quite a bit, as can be seen next to the track vol knob above the track item. This leads to my next question to you:

I record at the optimal levels (-18 to -12). When I Normalize there is a large boost in dBs on the track item display and the meters reflect this increase. Previously, after Normalizing, I had right-clicked the fader knob and entered a different value for dBs, but all that did was physically lower the faders (I did not do this for this last .mp3). This leaves me wondering how I can Normalize without such a large gain in dBs. I know I want that sound volume, but it's normalizing at too high a level.
_____________________

Thank you. I have both headphones and speakers, but the speakers are disabled by the interface - and I do not monitor myself, I just hear the guitar by ear and follow the meters. When I dub myself or record someone I do monitor by headphones.

Cool.
 
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I did this video for your file. I only had a few mins. This will explain it all. It's real simple. It is also unpublished. Once you view it a few times, let me know and I am going to delete it. I will redo when I have time...

Thanks, Mack. Actually, I just finished one of your videos (I also DL'd the SWS Extensions again).

YouTube
 
Crikey! Mine was set at +19.0dB - I have never adjusted anything in that window. I wonder why it's that high..?
Well because the original file's highest peak hit at -19dbFS, so adding 19db gain puts it right at 0.

And yes, of course Item Volume defaults to 0db gain. It plays back whatever you recorded at unity - exactly the same level it came in at - unless you tell it to do otherwise.
 
Well because the original file's highest peak hit at -19dbFS, so adding 19db gain puts it right at 0.

Exactly. Reaper determined that 19db boost was required for your highest peak to become 0.0.
I'm not sure why we're talking about normalising although, I admit, I haven't read the whole thread.

Be aware, though, that normalising is nothing more than turning your track up to a very specific point.
There's no magic or voodoo or processing.
Pick sounds won't sound louder because you normalised. The track will.

Personally, I don't see any point in normalising because any plugin which boosts gain (eq, for example) is going to then throw your track over 0.0.
Record healthy, mix where it's at, raise it at the end.

If you're at the end, fair enough. :p
 
I'm not sure why we're talking about normalising although, I admit, I haven't read the whole thread.
Posts 83 and 84 raised some questions, and I tried to help clarify.
Be aware, though, that normalising is nothing more than turning your track up to a very specific point.
There's no magic or voodoo or processing.
Yep, you could play through the whole thing, take note of the meter reading for the highest peak, and set whichever volume setting is most convenient accordingly, but this is automatic.

Personally, I don't see any point in normalising because any plugin which boosts gain (eq, for example) is going to then throw your track over 0.0.
Record healthy, mix where it's at, raise it at the end.
I guess it's important to reiterate that Normalize is adjusting the level of the take before it gets to the FX chain. So maybe if you're not hitting your plugins hard enough? Course, there's at least 2-3 other places you can adjust the level in Reaper before you hit your plugs, and any plugs where the input level is actually critical will probably have a way to adjust right in the plugin. Just about anything you do with those plugins is likely to change where your peaks are hitting after them anyway, so if you're shooting for some specific output level, Normalize is not really the place to look, unless you're going to render the file with all the FX applied and then normalize that rendered file to reach a specific goal for distribution.
 
Yep, you could play through the whole thing, take note of the meter reading for the highest peak, and set whichever volume setting is most convenient accordingly, but this is automatic.

You could. lol.
Or you could just leave it where it was recorded. That's sort of my point.
 
I mixed and mastered using my DP-03SD. Normalize is a function of Mastering in that unit - it's automatic.. a pre-set I can't change. The stereo masters got normalized - so I'm used to the idea that when it's used it should probably be at the end of the process.

The main reason I began normalizing my recent takes was to build up the sound and volume in my headphones, but you guys have shown me how to get that without normalizing.

I've been mostly messing around with ReaEQ and ReaXcomp.

The compressor is something I'm not familiar with in this environment, and most of what I alter in the settings makes things sound worse - to me, anyway. And just using a little compression doesn't register in my ears, so I've got to learn to recognize the small changes. I'm in sort of a dead zone with that right now.
 
I mixed and mastered using my DP-03SD. Normalize is a function of Mastering in that unit - it's automatic.. a pre-set I can't change. The stereo masters got normalized - so I'm used to the idea that when it's used it should probably be at the end of the process.

The main reason I began normalizing my recent takes was to build up the sound and volume in my headphones, but you guys have shown me how to get that without normalising.

Cool. I'm open to being enlightened (sincerely) but I haven't found cause to use a normaliser, ever.
If tracking levels are healthy everything's going to be in a workable range.
Yeah, sure, the headphone / monitors knob goes up a little when mixing but that's how it should be.

The compressor is something I'm not familiar with in this environment, and most of what I alter in the settings makes things sound worse - to me, anyway. And just using a little compression doesn't register in my ears, so I've got to learn to recognize the small changes. I'm in sort of a dead zone with that right now.

Stating the obvious but you won't hear a subtle compressor all the time, because a subtle compressor wont be working all the time....on dynamic material, anyway.
If there's a gain-reduction meter in your comp, that's a really useful reference to have.

Something I found, and still find, very useful is to play with a tool at its extremes to really hear and understand what it does.
With a compressor you can pull the threshold way lower than it needs to be to hear it working at its extremes.
Alternatively you can use a might great ratio than need. Probably harder to hear with a subtle threshold, but still a useful thing to try.

I still do this a lot with eq. Maybe I hear a specific resonance and I want to sculpt it out - I'm going to use a narrow q notch with +12 gain to scan and find that frequency.

Hope that's helpful. :)
 
Experiment # 5

New take - no padded box for the mic. I placed the mic on a table level with the acoustic guitar and parallel to the neck. Front of mic facing directly toward guitar. This take is completely dry and I have not added any FX afterward. I did normalize and added a couple of fades.

I was fortunate to find a hard Fender pick laying around. I used a different strum (down-strokes mostly, and not so much on the E & B strings). I think it's a cleaner sound from the guitar, with some warmer tones.

This sounds the best of the sample tracks that I've listened to so far.
 
...
Yeah, sure, the headphone / monitors knob goes up a little when mixing but that's how it should be.

That's what I've been doing - turning up the headphones. Nice to know it's normal.


...
Something I found, and still find, very useful is to play with a tool at its extremes to really hear and understand what it does.
With a compressor you can pull the threshold way lower than it needs to be to hear it working at its extremes.
Alternatively you can use a might great ratio than need....

Hope that's helpful. :)

Yes! Very helpful. I work in the same way. I begin by stretching it every which way and gradually settling into a comfortable area. The compressor really gets some wild sounds..
 
I did this video for your file. I only had a few mins. This will explain it all. It's real simple. It is also unpublished. Once you view it a few times, let me know and I am going to delete it. I will redo when I have time....]

Thanks, Mack!

You can take it down now - it's post # 87 :)
 
I will do it now. Thanks. I am also getting ready to post one on how to set up your recording area as well as debunking some issues concerning bass traps and when you should invest in them.
 
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