Share your talent in mixing acoustic guitar

J

jerberson12

mucis procedure
Ok guys, im kind of frustrated in mixing acoustic guitar. I change my mic a lot just to get the mix i like in my acoustic guitar. Actually, I have no advance ideas on mixing acoustic guitar. I went from Shure SM58 to Rode NT3 to ROde NT1A to MXL 2003 and now I got MXL 993. Still cant get the mix I like. Is it my Preamp? My EQ? MY Comp? mic placement? my mic? or my ability?
What I want you is, I have link here below, its a short clip of my acoustic guitar track. It is a wave file only 6mb. Im using a martin D-15 Acoustic guitar, mic on MXL 993 to my Roland MMP-2 preamp, unprocessed, no COMP, NO EQ and track in my Sonar. Maybe if you could download the clip and improved it using your guns youve got in there(Recording software, DX/VST plugins, Etc). After editing, you post in back here and share what you did. I really need some professional ideas :D . If you can please state what comp or eq you used. Hope you guys have a heart. cheers HRBBS

PS dont add more tracks, just edit the acoustic guitar clip as good as you can.

http://f2.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/benison_jerberson
click public folder and click Aguitar
 
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OK you want tips on it or what. you can call me if you do email me. it is for long distance in china. i DO know about how to make good mixings with guitars. it is SO easy. let me explain
 
I'd have to have the mix it's going into. How ever the guitar is treated to make it sit in the mix depends on the mix itself. There is no one size fits all process to make it work.
 
Where do you situate the mic when recording? Have you thought of using a pickup? Your track almost sounds 'plastic', like a nylon string. General practice is to point the mic at the 12th fret. It's possible the mic you're using it TOO good and may be picking up every single thing going on from the fret board to the plucking. Also make sure the mic is about 4 -6 inches MAX away from the source, otherwise you'll pick up a lot of transient and ambient sounds. Get that gain as high as you can without peaking.

Here's my most commonly used eq and compression settings, which I do tweak based on the individual song as Track Rat explained. In general I used this as a template and modify it from there (edit-->undo is our friend :p ). But there is a general "place" for each stringed instrument in the spectrum:

Bass in the lowest and high-middle, for definition

bass_eq.jpg


Electric guitar in the low-middle and middle

electric_eq.jpg


Acoustic generally the same as guitar with emphasis on the higher frequencies for clarity

acoustic_eq.jpg


Lead guitar depends on if it's clean or distorted, I uploaded my setting for the last song recorded on a strat).

lead_eq.jpg


I usually apply the strongest compression once to get a full sound, but only after equalizing and adding any other effects (delay, reverb, additional chorus and such). Compression will saturate the recording, so adding more effects after compressing will usually clip or distort the track.

track_compressor.jpg


I'm still using Cakewalk 9.03 for my multitracking, and won't be using anything else until I find a reason to change. lol But I use the soundforge 6.0 and various Waves plugins for the graphic EQ and track compressor.

None of this is rocket science. Once you find the formula that fits your gear and mixing style you're golden. Minor tweaking is all it takes based on need.

Here's a minor attempt at your file.
 
I don't think anyone could help you unless the acoustic was the only instument in the mix. We could "fix" it for you and it still won't sound right if you add in the other instruments, like Track Rat said.

Just experiment with mic placement, different mics if you can, and look at the room you are recording in, to see what kind of refractions are coming back at you. Remember that mics don't hear like your ears hear, and different mics respond to frequencies differently.
 
lol thanks for sharing pink. Haha actually my Martin D-15 suppose to be a steel string, yes im kind of experimenting so i change it to nylon. :D . My room is not sound proofed, its just an ordinary cave with lots of leakage. Il try to change back to steel string and do more some mic placing.

anyway i use a medium pick on that. did you compress my track?


My acoustic guitar mix never improved. I am starving for professionality. I am suffering with amateurity. Its been a year of practicing. Quitting is near and all i can do now is drink beer.
 
jerberson12 said:
anyway i use a medium pick on that. did you compress my track?
Click to expand...

Slightly, a 3:1 compression I believe, then normalized it. Before either of these things I applied that exact acoustic EQ and added a touch of medium room reverb. I'm a big fan of presets, and not necessarily mine. These apps come set for a wide variety of uses. I've found starting with their idea of chorus and making it my own is easier and less time consuming than building the chorus effect from scratch.

In the case of the guitar, it's actually not a bad thing to use nylon - but it's better to play finger style if you're going to go that route. This also means that the recorded part you posted wasn't recorded that bad after all.

Enjoy the beer, but I doubt it will get the steel strings on the D-15 any faster. :D
 
You might want to try both mic'ing the guitar and running direct (if your acoustic has a pickup on it). Then mix the 2 tracks together until you get the sound that you want. I find this technique works very well.

If your guitar doesn't have a pickup, then you could try using two mics, maybe one condensor closer to the 12th fret, and mabye even a sm57 (or some other dynamic mic) close to the bridge to pick up the punch sound that you might be looking for.

Although I haven't tried this technique yet, I find if you experiment with different methods, not only do you learn about what instrument you are micing but also which mic works good for YOUR applications.

Timmy J
 
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