EQ-ing acoustic guitar

[Joost Assink]

When I record I mostly just record solo acoustic fingerpicking pieces on my Taylor. I have a Rode NT1a and an AKG C451B going into an M-audio DMP3 preamp to record the all-Koa Taylor Jumbo.
I personally believe that you need a good guitar, decent strings, good mics/preamps and good mic placement (ideally also good sounding room) for a good acoustic tone (crap in, crap out as I read somewhere), and EQ-ing cannot compensate any of the previous factors, but I still think some EQ-ing is necessary in some tracks.

How do you normally EQ acoustic guitar. Like cut out some 100hz to make it less muddy or a high-pass filter to filter out bad room, wind noise or traffic).

What are other frequencies to improve things like finger squeek or guitars that are too mid-y or maybe to make it more open and airy?

I don't have any experience with this, so maybe this is a dumb question...

PS: I know I shouldn't double-post, but I didn't think to chose the right forum at first

 

[Chibi Nappa]

How do you normally EQ acoustic guitar. Like cut out some 100hz to make it less muddy or a high-pass filter to filter out bad room, wind noise or traffic).

First of all, those are all pretty high-pitched sounds so you'd probably need a low-pass filter to get rid of them. Second... if you have a bad room and you're trying to record accoustic guitar, you're screwed right off the bat. Accoustic instruments need to use the room sound or else they're just....dead. Better make sure the room sounds good. As for filtering out the noise, you're not going to accomplish that without killing the details of the accoustic's tone. Minimalize the noise and live with what's left. You'll get far better sounds overall.

 

[chessrock]

How do you normally EQ acoustic guitar. Like cut out some 100hz to make it less muddy

If it needs it. However, I often find 200 hz to be more problematic. Depends on the guitar and the room, though.

or a high-pass filter to filter out bad room, wind noise or traffic).

Uh . . . no.

What are other frequencies to improve things like finger squeek or guitars that are too mid-y or maybe to make it more open and airy?

For that kind of stuff, I'll generally do a sweep and figure out, by ear, what's missing, and what effect certain boosts and cuts will have on it. Then I'll make an artistic judgement call as to whether it makes an improvement or not.

If it's too "mid-y" as you put it, then try cutting some of the mids. If it sounds like it could use some air, then I'll try a hi-shelf boost somewheres around 9 khz on up and see if it helps.

If finger squeeks turn in to a problem, I'll use a multi-band compressor (you could also use a de-esser for this) to help tone those down.

 

[Joost Assink]

cool!

using a multiband compressor for EQ is something that is relatively new to me. Using it for finger squeek is completely new. What frequency range and settings would you generally use?

 

[jdier]

do a search using google on the phrase "eq primer" it will direct you to a document which should prove valuable to you for a long time.

 

[starch]

I think the best way to answer your question is to find a sweepable eq and with your source (acoustic guitar) playing start with the low-end and slowly sweep your way up. Make note of what the eq changes does to the source. Words like boomy, muddy, twangy, sizzly, airy, etc. may describe what you are hearing. Make note of what frequency each occurs at. Now when you listen to the source material, ask yourself what is the problem or what would you like to enhance. If it sounds muddy, find the muddy freq and cut a little, if it needs more sizzle, find the sizzle freq and boost a little. I hate to be so general, but once you master this, you will be well on your way to understanding mixing as these principles apply to pretty much all instruments.

If you want to know details, the only thing I will generally do with acoustic guitar is a low-freq roll-off somewhere around 60-100hz sometimes higher as there is generally little usable content there. If you are recording acoustic by itself, be careful not to roll-off too much. Other than that it is eq to taste based on what I hear and what I am trying to accomplish.

Good luck.

 

[chessrock]

Re: cool!

using a multiband compressor for EQ is something that is relatively new to me. Using it for finger squeek is completely new. What frequency range and settings would you generally use?

Oops. Looks like I forgot all about this thread.

But since someone revived it, here's my belated response:

Easiest way is to use what's called a spectral analyzer. Using this method, you'd just watch what frequencies jump out when the squeeks occur -- you'll be able to see it. Or just do a sweep to figure it out by ear (Find out what general area, when boosted, exaggerates the squeeks the most).