2 Acoustic guitars

I can hear what you're talking about but I think there are a couple of different aspects to the issue. First........with so much hard separation...........and only the two tracks....... the differences (of all kinds) between the two tracks are emphasized far more than they might be if they were in a mix or at least had some center focus such as a vocal or another instrument. If these two tracks were going to be the complete song then I doubt that they'd be panned so far apart...........lessening the effect. As I watched my meters it appears that the left track is mostly (but slightly) louder than the right......with spikes on the right that are louder than the left. Confused? Just an observation. Some compression does seem to be in order. What are your compression settings that are not working for you?
 
Totally agree with Mickster.
Have to say, the guitar sounds really nice. :)

Are these guitars going to end up part of a mix?
Usually the way you've recorded and separated them is what you do if you're trying to achieve big width and obvious separation.

If you pan them a little closer and even out the dynamics like Mickster says I think that'll help blend the two a bit,
but I'm wondering if you'd end up wanting to undo that once a bass and vocal, for example got added.
 
Send them to an aux with a compressor on that? It’ll gain up the low side and tame the hotter one as much or little as you want without trying to do it individually.

P.S. Not saying to completely remove compression on the separate tracks.
 
Keith, what software compressor would you use and what settings please?
Like everything, it would depend on what was already done and what might be done later. But, I’d lean to something on the colorless side unless you want to try and add that in on the submix and go with less color on the individual tracks. I generally use the Logic’s “Platinum” for colorless compression or their “Studio VCA” (Focusrite Red sim) - nothing really vintage because I put those in the individual tracks typically.
 
Hi chaps,

So I have 2 AC guitars doing slightly different things panned hard left and right.
Is there a way to stop the constant imbalance between the 2?
I've tried compression and eq etc but it's not giving me that smooth constancy.
Have a listen to this clip which is untreated.
Cheers,
mike
]


what if you dont pan them hard left and right ?
 
The problem is playing identical (or near enough) parts. It's happened to me, and doesn't help if you only partial pan. You need two different sounds. Use a different 2nd guitar. Play it capoed/up the neck.
 
My ears want variety, and I get that in the second clip with the addition of the kick, the tambourine, the electric guitar and the vocal. I can also see the usefulness of changing one of the acoustic parts with a capo or adding some damping by using bar chords versus open chords. And tasteful compression makes sense, especially when you add other sounds to the mix. But, all in all, the initial clip sounds good to me. It's well played and well miked. And you don't really hear any of the typical acoustic recording issues, like harshness or roominess. Maybe you're over thinking (or over mixing) this.
 
How about you pan 45% or 50% left right instead of full pan, I find I very rarely full pan (100%) anything. For example fully paned stuff never works for me if listening to headphones.

Alan.
 
Thanks guys I've taken a lot of the suggestions on board, re-panned, re-equed and compressed.
Here's the track going into verses 2 and 3 including bass. Any bass comments? (or anything)
There's no reverbs on yet as I don't want to muddy things even more.
Thanks.

On my computer speakers it sounds okay although a bit tinny. The music is very repetitive which I did not care for.
Maybe if I played it on the stereo speakers it would sound a lot better. Not sure that would help the repetition though.

And it could be my pc speakers but I did not notice any bass. Or else there was nothing but bass. All I heard was one relatively fixed range.
 
The bass comes in about half way through that clip mr average, did you get that far?

will go back and try again

now i hear the bass. sounds better than the other part.
overall better at the end but still hear a bit of something 'tinny' which may be the pc speakers fault
not sure if i heard somebody trying to say something near the end as it was low and muffled
 
This version shows what the original issue was.......in that there was not enough in the middle to justify the extremely wide panning. Having said that....some of the other instruments you've added are also......seemingly.......hard panned as well......only adding to the original issue IMO. Around 1:00 is a good example on the left side. A thin sounding guitar (I think) panned hard left. Does it have to be hard left? If you listen with cans.....you can hear it right away and to me it's a bit distracting. By the way....these are nit piks....and only my opinion.
 
I agree with Mickster that a lot of instruments seem to be hard-panned or at least way to one side where they could be brought to closer to the middle. I don't really hear the acoustic left-right problem with all the other instruments in there, but hiding the problem is not the ideal solution. (may as well just use one acoustic guitar track panned towards the center than two similar ones.
 
The hard panning (or lack of activity in the middle) may seem less important when the vocal is added back in. Similar to the second track you posted. And that may solve the issue people keep focusing on.

As far as the other added guitar parts, I'd be inclined to remove the Wah pedal guitar. I think that's what I hear. It's a little distracting and inconsistent with the genre. Of course, that's just me. I'm not a big Wah fan unless the song is Season of the Witch or a funk number. Like George Harrison said, "I don't need no Wah Wah." :D

I do like the slightly dirty guitar and the occasional volume pedal swell panned from side to side.

I'd also be tempted to build the song a little differently. First, two acoustic guitars. Then add vocal. Then bass. Then the rest of the guitars. Again, my two cents and IMHO.
 
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