low end on guitar

willovercome

willovercome

New member
i think most of my guitar tracks sound ok, but they all seem to be lacking a little bass. the mids and highs sound good and not overpowering, but there is almost no low end.

i usually use any combination of NTK, sm 57, or NT5s. i use small body taylors, and a martin d-18 mostly. any tips?
 
i'm no expert on taylors but it probably comes down to mic positioning.
maybe a question of using different strings ?
could be a number of factors.
one thing to note - the bigger the guitar cavity the more it will
resonate from an audio perspective, and i guess "throw" the sound out.
i mention this because your using you said small bodies.
also playing stle might be a factor. ie: a light picker versus a heavy picker.
how about trying a pickup under the strings and recording that ?
to get nore bass ?
just some ideas.
 
From my own experience, low end can be very hard to judge if you don't have good monitors and an acoustically treated room.

So be careful, the low end may be there after all, you just can't hear it from the mixing position.

The way I would deal with this situation (assuming poor monitors and a bad room) is to burn the mix and play it on 4 or 5 different audio systems (small stereo, car stereo, home theatre stereo etc.).

Take note of the bass levels, if you stilil feel they are lacking, use some EQ to raise the lower frequencies.

100-200Hz is the general area that will add some fullness to the guitars.
 
My only advice is to use proximity carefully to your advantage. As already mentioned it can be hard to judge. Get the mic a tiny bit closer if you want some more lows.

But really the bigger issue is how it sounds in the mix. Is there going to be a bass or any other instruments or will the guitar sound be carrying the mix?

Some verb can fill out a single guitar nicely. Ok, I am sure this is all completely obvious but that's my .02$
 
Yeah, be careful. A friend has a D-28 "cannon" that sounds terrific acoustically but always sounds tubby on recordings. In fact, he was featured on a public radio show and all you heard was booooooooooooom. When I record him I have to be careful about mic placement and I usually end up rolling off the bottom end anyway.

So try different mics and mic positions. There's a place around that Taylor where it'll sound bottomy. Just be careful not to overdo it.
 
As an owner of both Taylors and Martins, I can tell you they're two TOTALLY different animals. Martin Dreadnaughts are notoriously bassy to record and will "woof out" a mic if not placed correctly. The Taylors are much thinner in this area. If you're looking for a Dreadnaught type of tone, you need a Dreadnaught.
 
All of the above, plus try a heavier pick and/or move around in the room until you find a spot where the guitar sounds bassier, usually near a wall or corner. I've got this one spot in my room where I do all my solo finger picking tracks for the bass response.....it's laying down on my bed in the corner looking up at the ceiling. Strange but works
 
reshp1 said:
laying down on my bed in the corner looking up at the ceiling. Strange but works
Click to expand...

Crazy, I have a spot like that too, mine is sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor, has a really nice natural reverb and a very "open" sound. We are strange people...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top