repairing a DI'd acoustic guitar track??!

[Fishybob]

Hi,
I've been recording a local duet for a demo CD (just to go to pubs for promotion) and was struck by a thick guitarist (no jokes I'm a guitarist too!).

He insisted on me recording his very nice Semiacoustic DI'd through an amp sim. The intention was for it to sound like the perfect live set. Problem is that I can't stand the sound of DI'd acoustics and need to mix it with a fantastic female vocal track. I have nothing else to play with to 'hide' the sound in the mix.

He also played at different levels while performing than during level checking... No amount of 'tips' stopped him. Therefore the level through the amp sim was very high and a little distorted!!!!!
Help!!!!


Anyone got any idea what I can do to save this recording? A great performace. Can't re-record as we work different shifts.

I'm getting a bit of spare cash for it and really want to do a good job... I just can't think how to repair it.

 

[noisedude]

You can fiddle with re-amping and stuff but basically you're stuck with it ... sorry.

There's a lesson here about doing a good job. You have to ask yourself who's in charge of the engineering, and then tell the guitarist that. Thing is, if you got it wrong, it's still your fault, even if you want to blame him (and I totally sympathise with that!!). For future reference, stick up a mic AND DI the acoustic to give yourself mixing options later ..

Nik

 

[Fishybob]

Of course you are right. I really wanted to put up that extra mic but as one of my first sessions with external folks and I lacked the conviction. Plus I really respect the guy on live sound... I'll take it as a lesson and be brutal next time.

Cheers




The bonus is that I've managed to persuade the great female singer to work on my next project... Muhahahah!

 

[noisedude]

I made the same mistake with acoustics on my first couple of recordings, when I was a kid. A friend of mine sent me some tunes he's been doing on his Lexicon Omega and they're great except for an inexplicably DI'd acoustic ... and he plays a Taylor!!!!!

 

[Fishybob]

Doing that to a Taylor... That's just dirty!


One to be taken as an example to any newbies on 'What not to do!'

 

[xstatic]

The sad reality is that we learn more from mistakes than from doing things right. You will just have to do your best to make that track usable. Maybe you can tweak the track to the best of your ability and then try and sit the other tracks around it in a way that maybe allows you to use the "problems" as an advantage

On the Taylor note, we just bought a Taylor 814CE acoustic for the studio. It has the new "neve expression" pickup system in it. The other day we threw down a song where we just wanted to test the pickups out so we plugged it in direct for a reference track. The pickups were absolutley amazing for a DI'ed acoustic. We didn't even EQ it, compress it, or anything. Even all of the knobs on the guitar were on full. Of course running it through a Chandler TG2 may have helped a little Anyhow, the result was that I feel like there are lots of songs where I could easily use the direct line off of that guitar and it would still sound great. Not that I am giving up on micing acoustics or anything, but the direct sound I heard the other day really changes my options, and in a very good way

 

[Fishybob]

I'm jealous is such a big way! I have a fantastic Fender Semi with a satin finish. This makes a wonderfully warm, rich sound naturally that the Fisherman pickup just can't replicate.

I'll be off to the shops at the weekend to demo one of those then!

What's the model type?

 

[Megaman]

He insisted on me recording...

Next time tell him to just worry about playing while you work the recording gear. Playing live and recording are two different animals and he should have listened to you since you were the one pressing record. Don't understand why some musicians think they can get a better sound than the engineer on the recording

 

[noisedude]

Of course running it through a Chandler TG2 may have helped a little

Ya think?

Yeah this Taylor isn't quite so high up the range as that one, and I don't think my friend has any particular nous in setting it up ... hence I suggested he slap his condenser mic up to give it a go - should give more acceptable results more quickly.

 

[scrubs]

Without knowing what the song sounds like, it's hard to tell you how to fix it. In my opinion, making a DI'd acoustic sound more "acoustic" is pretty fruitless. Your best bet, if feasible, is to mangle the tone to such a degree that it's pretty unrecognizable as an acoustic track (add more distortion, heavy chorusing, a flanger, run it through some amp & speaker sims, etc. -- basically, make it sound like an electric guitar - clean or dirty). Sounds strange, I know, but it may just salvage the track.

I generally DI my first scratch track of songs, just because it's easier (then I go back and retrack the part with mics). I did this on a tune the other day, and actually ended up using the track (albeit, in a highly altered form). I ran my acoustic through a cheap Behringer GI-100, with the "4x12" cabinet emulator on. Then, in Cubase, I ran it through the SimulAnalog JCM900 and the mdaCombo speaker sim. The resulting sound was more like a trashy, slightly distorted electric guitar and sounded nothing like the original piezo plasticity that I started with.

 

[xstatic]

Since that post I have put it striaght through my console and it still sounds amazing. Of course I have a D&R console which doesn't hurt either. So far this is the third Taylor I have plugged in with the new Neve expression pickup system. They have all sounded great. Not that I wouldn't still mic them in the studio, but now I have other alternatives. For some songs, DI'ing actually gives a better feel in my opinion.

FYI, the first experience I had with the Neve expressions was with a Taylor plugged into a Marshall acoustic amplifier. I could not believe how natural the acoustic sounded plugged in and through an amp. It just seemed to be missing a lot of the artificial harsh highs and still had a really warm bottom. The second experience was another Taylor plugged in through a PA. We had problems for about 30 minutes because the guitar was pretty new and the artist was very picky about his monitors. As it turned out he had multiple pickups. After 30 minutes of trying to make some pretty minor changes to get it just right for the artist (who was very good BTW, he was not mean or anything, just wanted to dial up that "perfect" tone), he switched to the Neve pickups. He had three guitars, 2 which had the new pickups. We switched both the guitars that did to the new ones and 5 minutes later all was peachy