
Seafroggys
Well-known member
This is more a minor rant, but there's also a small question here as well.
So I'm working on my concept album, and I'm mixing a few songs with acoustic guitar. I feel some of the songs call for compression. Yet I don't have much experience mixing acoustic guitar, so I like looking around online to see any starting points or general advice points. I swear on every thread on every forum I google, when this question is asked, the answer is overwhelmingly the same. "I don't compress acoustic guitar, I just volume automate." Like everyone on these forums thinks acoustic guitar is some holy sound that shouldn't be squashed. You don't really see this opinion on other instruments (except piano).
Yet, on countless recordings I've listened to with acoustic guitar, I can clearly hear that its been compressed. I know what a natural acoustic guitar sounds like, and I can clearly hear the compression. Sometimes its transparent, but its there. On virtually everything I listen to.
So how is this? How is everyone's advice to not compress acoustic guitar, yet its incredibly common in practice? People are wanting advice on something that's happening in the real world, and no one is giving them that advice! Same with piano too, maybe less often but I often hear compression on a lot of piano tracks, and so very few people actively say to compress piano.
Anyway, rant over. Yes, I know context is everything, song is everything, it varies, etc. But any general advice? Like 1176's, optos-style, etc? A lot of times I'm wanting the compression to
push the low mids and fill up the sound, like often happens when I throw an LA-2A on a vocal track. Because otherwise the acoustic guitar is all highs and lows (and I often EQ out the lows so its not so boomy).
So I'm working on my concept album, and I'm mixing a few songs with acoustic guitar. I feel some of the songs call for compression. Yet I don't have much experience mixing acoustic guitar, so I like looking around online to see any starting points or general advice points. I swear on every thread on every forum I google, when this question is asked, the answer is overwhelmingly the same. "I don't compress acoustic guitar, I just volume automate." Like everyone on these forums thinks acoustic guitar is some holy sound that shouldn't be squashed. You don't really see this opinion on other instruments (except piano).
Yet, on countless recordings I've listened to with acoustic guitar, I can clearly hear that its been compressed. I know what a natural acoustic guitar sounds like, and I can clearly hear the compression. Sometimes its transparent, but its there. On virtually everything I listen to.
So how is this? How is everyone's advice to not compress acoustic guitar, yet its incredibly common in practice? People are wanting advice on something that's happening in the real world, and no one is giving them that advice! Same with piano too, maybe less often but I often hear compression on a lot of piano tracks, and so very few people actively say to compress piano.
Anyway, rant over. Yes, I know context is everything, song is everything, it varies, etc. But any general advice? Like 1176's, optos-style, etc? A lot of times I'm wanting the compression to
push the low mids and fill up the sound, like often happens when I throw an LA-2A on a vocal track. Because otherwise the acoustic guitar is all highs and lows (and I often EQ out the lows so its not so boomy).