Taming bright acoustic guitar

Hello all! Got a bit of a pickle. I recently recorded a song with a friend of mine. She is a singer/acoustic guitar player, and I thought it would be fun to record a song with drums and bass so she could have a full completed work to show off to the world, or just her mom. Anyway, all the parts sound great, except for the acoustic guitar. When the guitar is playing quietly, it sounds great, but when she strums really hard, it gets thin and harsh.

I have 2 tracks recorded one left and one right. Normally, I would just re record them and do a better job, but time is against me, and I know she just wants it done. I have tried adding a single tap delay, EQing all different ways, different compression methods, different reverb options, etc, but nothing seems to do the trick.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am hoping to have this for her in the next few days, and I am at my wits end with these guitar tracks. I am more used to recording rock/metal, so this is a different world for me. I can post up a sample when I get home.

Thanks in advance!

How about taming the highs with some eq, compress maybe 1:2 fast attack, about 300ms release... then what I would do is have a third guitar [ you can copy one of your existing guitars and apply a slight delay to not phase] and remove all high frequencies and have it boost your low end.

In the end you have panned higher frequency guitars, maybe an 80% to either side with one guitar [mostly lower frequencies] down the middle...

I often use a de-esser on acoustic--especially if the player uses her fingernails or a heavy pick.

De-essing and/or automated EQ...

SoundToys Decapitator always seems to work.

Use a compressor as a side chain set to the frequency which is harsh. This may just work for you.  In this respect  the compressor is actually EQing but only at the offending frequency. Its sometimes a more natural way of doing things than EQing on its own, because instead of simply "cutting" out the frequency, the compressor is compressing specifically at that frequency.

If this makes no sense or you think I am talking in Hindi, just ask and I will explain more.

Best of luck.

play the track through a good pa or full freq studio monitors, re-record with a ribbon mic.

deuce42 said:

Use a compressor as a side chain set to the frequency which is harsh. This may just work for you.  In this respect  the compressor is actually EQing but only at the offending frequency. Its sometimes a more natural way of doing things than EQing on its own, because instead of simply "cutting" out the frequency, the compressor is compressing specifically at that frequency.

If this makes no sense or you think I am talking in Hindi, just ask and I will explain more.

Best of luck.

Click to expand...

Have you ever tried the Sonnox Suppressor for this kind of stuff? to me it's the easiest and most precise dynamic EQ

Awesome! Thank you so much guys.

Jsefer- That's a great idea! Good way to really spread out those guitars.

Meathands & Hank- Never thought about using a de esser. My brain seems to think to linear some days, but that could definitely work. Automating the EQ is a great idea too. Thanks!

Deuce42- If you are talking hindi, then I guess I speak hindi! I have used Logic's compressor to do this in the past as a de esser. Thank you!

Mouse- Going to give this a try. Might combine it with Jsefer's idea and run the track up the middle. Checking phase along the way of course. Thanks!

Ben- Don't have Decapitator or Suppressor. Soundtoys native bundle has been on the top of my to buy list for awhile. I do like the idea of saturating the guitar a bit. It's too clean. I probably have something that I can use. Thanks!

I really need to take some time and really dial in a compressor on this track. There are a lot of dynamics in it, but I haven't liked the sound of any compression that I have tried on it. I always find acoustic guitars difficult to compress in a way that still sounds good. Man I need some more outboard.

Insomniaclown said:

I have tried adding a single tap delay, EQing all different ways, different compression methods, different reverb options, etc, but nothing seems to do the trick.

Click to expand...

As it was already suggested, the dynamic EQ is made precisely for that purpose. Adjust threshold, gain, ratio, along with release/attack, and then set frequency and type of EQ, and away ya go...

Best, M 

Yup. Dynamic EQ worked nicely to tame the harshness. I also used a comp to take off a couple of db to smooth them a bit. I don't have a ribbon mic at the moment, so I used one of my DIY condensers in omni about 6 feet from my monitors, heavily compressed it and got it to pump a bit. I have been automating this to fill out the guitars in louder sections. Then I ran all 3 guitars to a bus, and put some saturation on it. Then I started automating the bus as well. Sounds pretty good so far. I am taking a break after 2 hours of working on it, so we'll see how it sounds after that. Then I just need to add a little verb.

Should be able to get this done today. Just have to automate the buses, and make sure the low end is well tuned.

Wow! seems like a lot of work...

Well done, let us know how the results come out and if you are pleased with the sound.

Matthew Jacobs said:

Wow! seems like a lot of work...

Well done, let us know how the results come out and if you are pleased with the sound.

Click to expand...

Your right! It was a lot of work, which I could have avoided by paying more attention while I was recording the guitars. Oh well. At least I am refining my turd polishing skills.

So far so good. I have a little automation to take care of still, and then I hope to post it up for you guys to check out.

Sometimes finding the offending frequencies resonant points (usually related by octaves, or thirds or some sort of mathematically explainable number) and then making some high Q cuts can help cure brite microphone/weird brite guitar strings resonances.

George Massenburg approves this message!

Well, if George Massenburg approves than it must be good! Thanks Abe.

I went back and re vamped things a bit. Spent some more time on it, and I think I have it. Another tough part was gluing these guitars into the track, which I finally did I think. I also removed a lot of the processing I had before as I felt the guitars were getting lost. In the end,  went with the make it sound natural approach, and I think it turned out well.