Acoustic guitar and vocal eq/reverb?

  • Thread starter Thread starter saustindavis
  • Start date Start date
S

saustindavis

New member
Hey everyone, I'm a long time lurker, infrequent poster... I have a question about mixing some acoustic guitar and vocals together. I recorded a buddy of mine and after listening to the songs in the car an on some computer speakers I am not really happy with the tone on the guitar or his voice. It sounds to midrangy to me. Actually, the top end of the guitar tone sounds nice, but the mids and lows not so much. His vocals are also a little boxy sounding, if that makes sense.

I kow that some of the problem is that I am working an extra bedroom with no treatment whatsoever, but I don't really have the option or the money to upgrade. The songs are for a short demo so that he can go out to venues and try to find show, and for posting on his myspace, so I don't really need radio quality sound, but I do want to make him something he can be proud of. Anyway, on to the question...

What is a good starting point for doing eq and effects on the guitar and vocals? What are some guidlines or poiters for acoustic and vocals?
 
You can get good results in an untreated room and you should focus on getting a good recording before you go adding effects. How are you mic'ing him? Does the guitar have fresh strings? How many mics are you using? Are you recording vocals separately from the guitar? I would say use 3 mics, 1 to close-mic the vocals and 2 for a close x/y on the guitar. Play with mic placement, if you've got good mic placement, it could be that your mic doesn't handle low frequencies well. When it comes to effects you gotta just use what the track needs, there are no guidelines really. The only thing, and people will disagree with this as a guideline, but generally I cut vocals off at around 100hz. Maybe add a touch of reverb if it's that kind of song. Also maybe play with some multiband compression if it still sounds too midrangey.
 
I used an AT2020 at the 12th fret and an AT2021 at the bridge on the guitar takes. The tone is actually pretty accurate to how his guitar sounds, it just sounds like its made of plastic and I would love to improve it a little.

I used the AT 2020 for his vocals as well on a different take. I'll give those suggestions a try and see if it improves. I'll mess around with doing a low-pass at 100hz and see if it improves. I'm using GB to record. Is there a multiband compressor built into the sofware? Could you explain what that is? I am not up on all of the terminology and gear yet (maybe someday...).
 
im guessing GB is garageband, which I am not familiar with so I don't know if it has a multiband compressor. Just google it and read what it does, get one and play around with it and see how it affects the sound. If you have a regular compressor, play around with that first to get an idea of how it works.
 
Unfortunately, that boxy sound is the room. If you have a dynamic mic available, you might try that on the vocal. A condensor will pick up a lot more of the room than a dynamic.

The boxy sound is actually in the time domain (it's a small delay) rather than frequency response, so it would be difficult to eq it out. But you might try a room mode calculator to see what the strongest resonant freq's are for your room, then notch out just that freq.

Can you retrack? Record just the guitar, then find a better location for teh vocal.

I like jlewis' suggestions for the guitar. I suck at getting a good acoustic tone, so I'm not going to suggest anything.

Have fun,
 
try vocals in the bathroom or the kitchen or some other room with an acoustic character that you like or at least find interesting. bedrooms do not typically have good character to them. also, have the singer hold still(ish) and move the mic up and down. i know it sounds a little weird, but if you want a more nasally tone (think john lennon) point that mic at his nose. more rumble, lower to chest level.

also, look out for phase correctness when using two mics on the guitar like that. the different frequencies will hit each mic at different times and, when you play them back, cancel each other out. this often leads to boxy acoustic guitar tone. once you learn to listen for it (think the sound of a phaser pedal, often in the high frequencies) you will know it when you hear it from then on. it's a recording biggie, in my opinion.

maybe try putting on yr headphones while he plays guitar and moving the mics about a bit. because of proximity effect, you can often make a crappy plastic guitar come alive by moving the mic closer. it's fake bass, but it can sounds ok, particularly if you've another mic a little further out to blend it with for the shimmer.

hope any of that helps!
-s
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top