Solved Dilemma

[danny.guitar]

I have this song I've been working on for awhile now. It consists of 2 acoustic guitar parts: rhythm which is just basically chords, and a lead which is only at the beginning of the song.

Then there is a piano solo towards the end, and strings throughout.

My problem is, the strings and piano sound really, really good. And when recording my acoustic, it just doesn't sound "up to par" to the strings. It makes the song sound like "hey some guy just recorded his guitar and put some really nice, but fake strings in there". They don't mix well I guess.

I don't want to bring the whole song down by finding less-than-stellar replacements for the strings and piano, I'd rather get a better sound out of my acoustic. But I've tried all sorts of mic placements, etc. and the guitar just won't fit.

The rhythm guitar is important, but less important towards the end when more strings and the piano come in.

Can someone give me some advice?

Have any professionals here been forced to work with a not-so-great acoustic guitar and somehow make it work in a mix with other higher quality instruments? And tips/tricks?

 

[VSpaceBoy]

So your piano and strings parts are midi, and the acoustic is miced right?

In the situation, my biggest struggle to make the two (real world and electronic world) mesh well is the room. I would put a new set of strings of the acoustic, and then try recording it outside in the open air.

Its thats not an option then just "kill" as much of the room sound from your mics as you can with instulation, blankets, etc.

Also, you'll have to lay on the compression "fairly" heavy and artistically to get it to lay nicely with the other tracks.

 

[XLR]

The description sounds like the strings and ac gtr sounds have very different densities/thicknesses, resulting in the gtr sounding thin, or more distant, by comparison.

You can thicken the ac gtr sound nicely using the Blockfish plugin by digitalfishphones.

Here's what you do: put two or three Blockfish plugs in sequence on each gtr track. If it's a stereo track make sure to turn on Blockfish's stereo switch, otherwise it'll sum it to mono. Don't use the compression or saturation controls, just the Output knob... move it from 12:00 to about 12:30. Same for each of the plugs in sequence. If the sound gets too thick, just use one plug. Works great. Very natural sound, but it gets much bigger and closer.

 

[chessrock]

Have any professionals here been forced to work with a not-so-great acoustic guitar and somehow make it work in a mix with other higher quality instruments? And tips/tricks?

Yes, and my solution was to turn the guitar part down in the mix until I couldn't hear it any more.

Works wonders.

.

 

[danny.guitar]

So your piano and strings parts are midi, and the acoustic is miced right?

In the situation, my biggest struggle to make the two (real world and electronic world) mesh well is the room. I would put a new set of strings of the acoustic, and then try recording it outside in the open air.

Its thats not an option then just "kill" as much of the room sound from your mics as you can with instulation, blankets, etc.

Also, you'll have to lay on the compression "fairly" heavy and artistically to get it to lay nicely with the other tracks.

Thanks I haven't considered compression. It's not that the guitar sounds like *shit* it just isn't nearly as professional sounding as the string samples.

And I'm sure the room has a lot to do with that. I tried recording into my closet with a bunch of blankets, clothes, etc. but then the guitar just sounded too upfront and the mix sounded 2D.

 

[danny.guitar]

The description sounds like the strings and ac gtr sounds have very different densities/thicknesses, resulting in the gtr sounding thin, or more distant, by comparison.

You can thicken the ac gtr sound nicely using the Blockfish plugin by digitalfishphones.

Here's what you do: put two or three Blockfish plugs in sequence on each gtr track. If it's a stereo track make sure to turn on Blockfish's stereo switch, otherwise it'll sum it to mono. Don't use the compression or saturation controls, just the Output knob... move it from 12:00 to about 12:30. Same for each of the plugs in sequence. If the sound gets too thick, just use one plug. Works great. Very natural sound, but it gets much bigger and closer.

Thanks, I'm going to try that.

 

[jochanan]

Personally, when I am recording an accoustic that sounds very 2-dimensional, I'll use SIR to beef it up a bit. I usually will roll off everything in SIR over 2k, and I end up with a guitar that has a lot more depth to it. play around with your envelope size and wetness till you can't hear the reverb at all...

another trick that i've used before is to use two condensers on the guitar, one at the 12th fret, about a ft or so away, play with it to get the right sound, and another over the guitarists right shoulder aiming down at the lower body of the guitar. In the mix i'll pan the two out a bit opposite each other. It creates a much more spacious sound. It doesn't always work though. But it's saved me on some lesser guitars before, like Baby Taylors and such.

How are you micing your accoustic, where are you putting your mics?