Need help with a guitar sound

P

PaddyGordon

New member
BAAD Sessions: Flock Hart - Boo Baby's Lullaby - YouTube


Recorded the fiddle with a Neumann TLM 102 and an SM57 in stereo
Recorded the guitar with a Shure SM27 and an SM58 in stereo
Recorded the room using an MS Pair, Rode NT1a facing forward and an sE X1R facing sidewards, I caught some reflections by pointing an SM58 up in one of the corners.


I'm looking to make the strumming parts on the guitar less harsh. I've tried some very fast compression and taking a bit off the high end for the strumming parts, but it now sounds compressed.

Any ideas?
 
I hear what you're saying about the harshness of the strums in an otherwise beautiful lullaby (well I might have backed off a little on the fiddle's gain and the highs as well.) What to do to fix it...

You didn't clip there when you hit the strum, did you? maybe you should try it again and back off from the mics a little?

I really like the song though.
 
The guitar does sound kind of dull, so maybe put some highs back in. The fiddle is pretty loud, so I'd turn it down a tad in the mix, not sure if trimming some highs would help too...
 
To clarify, it's only the guitar strums I think are distorting/clipping. Otherwise brightening them up a little and backing the fiddle off could be good.
 
Screen Shot 2012-08-09 at 03.44.36.png

This is a screenshot showing the waveforms of the guitar parts.
Definitely didn't clip, it's the compression you can hear (Thus me starting this thread, how do I get it to sound harsh without the compressor making it sound distorted?)


Done a quick new mix:
https://www.box.com/s/eedb1b7e921ce240aa57

I've taken off the compression again, and booosted a little at 12Khz on the guitar part.
 
Well, what's the guitar like without compression then?

Acoustic guitar isn't an instrument badly in need of compression like bass and drums can be. Or if you really think that the picking parts need compression, you could just apply compression on that and leave it off the strums?
 
Great tune, love it. As far as the strums are concerned, maybe if you backed off a bit and didn't attack the strums so aggressively, give each tone in the chord a chance to ring out, they would sound better. Of course if a muddy sort of sound is what you are trying for then maybe as has already been mentioned, a little more mic separation might help.
:guitar:
 
I didn't think the guitar was harsh. Strummed otherwise. I thought it was missing high end. Like nothing above 7K or so.

If anything was harsh I thought the violin was. But even that wasn't bad. Maybe just notch it out at 2600hz or so.

The song was beautiful and well performed.
 
I think I get what you are saying about the strummed guitar part. I don't think it's the highs making it sound harsh, in fact it sounds kind of boomy, especially on the two beat. Seems like there is too much attack, which you could help with volume automation, or compress that part differently than the rest. The boominess may benefit from some cut around 200Hz. The picked guitar sounds fine to me. Adding more 12k to the second recording did nothing to improve the guitar tone IMO. It only seemed to make the hiss louder. Instead of boosting the highs, try cutting some lows (only in the strummed parts). Lovely song, well played.
 
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