Which acoustic guitar recordings have world-class tone?

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Scott Baxendale

Scott Baxendale

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What acoustic guitar recordings, or records that feature acoustic guitar, have what you consider great world class acoustic tone?​


I’ll start with the acoustic sound on Blind Faith, Rod Stewart’s Every Picture Tells A Story album and, Low Spark Of High Heeled boys. These records were all recorded at EMI around the same general time. I love how the acoustic, drums, and bass sound on these records.

The Rick Rubin produced Johnny Cash albums have incredible vintage Martin acoustic sound.
 
All of the home studio demos from the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Wildflowers reissue. The absolute best an acoustic guitar has ever sounded. One day I'll duplicate it, if I'm lucky. :)
 
PorterhouseMusic said:
I love the sound of the acoustic guitar from "Suite Judy Blue Eyes".
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I think they compressed the shit out of the acoustic’s on that record. The Stills acoustic lead on Buffalo Springfield’s Mr. Soul is the most compressed acoustic but it sounds so perfect like that.
 
Scott Baxendale said:
I think they compressed the shit out of the acoustic’s on that record.
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Indeed! They squashed those, big time.


Scott Baxendale said:
I think they compressed the shit out of the acoustic’s on that record. The Stills acoustic lead on Buffalo Springfield’s Mr. Soul is the most compressed acoustic but it sounds so perfect like that.
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And the acoustic gtr solo from "Year of the Cat" - the way it sustains..... sounds like compression and reverb? Anyway... sounds so cool.... the way that was recorded/rendered.
 
Took me a while, but I found this clip of Richard Durrant - this is not one of my recordings the ones I did were in the early 2000s and I don't have them.
Richard really knows the sound he wants and in his concerts, travels with a single AKG 451 with the cardioid capsule. He aligns the mic himself, and uses it to make the bridge vs neck tones change as he wants. He had the guitar made for him, and it has no finish. He liked it in the plain wood, and it never got shined up and sealed.
 
Steve Howe's acoustics always sound good on those middle-period Yes records, for instance the guitar intro on "Roundabout." Another good one is his work on "Turn of the Century" from Going For The One. Really awesome sounding stuff, with a ton of reverb.
 
I clearly have cloth ears because for me, that has just never been a 'thing'. For me, an acoustic guitar sounds like......an acoustic guitar. Yes, they are recorded in a variety of different ways and yes, there are many different makes and other variables out there. But to me they all sound like acoustic guitars. Unless one is cack-handedly flubbing all over the place or the recording is just overly bassy, then to me, it's all much of a muchness. I am not one that has an ear for acoustic guitar 'tone' or a particular tone being elevated beyond all others. The tones are always going to have subtle differences due to a whole host of variables, but when all is said and done, an acoustic guitar always sounds to me like an acoustic guitar.
 
RFR said:
Cat Steven’s catch bull at 4, early Simon and Garfunkel, CSNY, Doobie Brothers and many others.
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Cat Steven’s had a great acoustic sound on his early records.
 
Track Rat said:
Norman Blake always seemed get that perfect Dreadnought sound.
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Norman Blake is one of my acoustic favorites. He used to come into our shop in Nashville all the time and watching him play up close were the best guitar lessons I ever took.
 
grimtraveller said:
I clearly have cloth ears because for me, that has just never been a 'thing'. For me, an acoustic guitar sounds like......an acoustic guitar. Yes, they are recorded in a variety of different ways and yes, there are many different makes and other variables out there. But to me they all sound like acoustic guitars. Unless one is cack-handedly flubbing all over the place or the recording is just overly bassy, then to me, it's all much of a muchness. I am not one that has an ear for acoustic guitar 'tone' or a particular tone being elevated beyond all others. The tones are always going to have subtle differences due to a whole host of variables, but when all is said and done, an acoustic guitar always sounds to me like an acoustic guitar.
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China makes acoustic guitars for you.
 
D0k said:
All of the home studio demos from the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Wildflowers reissue. The absolute best an acoustic guitar has ever sounded. One day I'll duplicate it, if I'm lucky. :)
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I have the extended box set on vinyl and it is amazing!
 
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For rock music, I've always thought Days of the New had a great acoustic sound. I've used this as a reference mix a bunch:

 
grimtraveller said:
I clearly have cloth ears because for me, that has just never been a 'thing'. For me, an acoustic guitar sounds like......an acoustic guitar. Yes, they are recorded in a variety of different ways and yes, there are many different makes and other variables out there. But to me they all sound like acoustic guitars. Unless one is cack-handedly flubbing all over the place or the recording is just overly bassy, then to me, it's all much of a muchness. I am not one that has an ear for acoustic guitar 'tone' or a particular tone being elevated beyond all others. The tones are always going to have subtle differences due to a whole host of variables, but when all is said and done, an acoustic guitar always sounds to me like an acoustic guitar.
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Are you perhaps a drummer?
Dave.
 
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