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Old 03-13-2019, 01:43 PM
amscheme amscheme is offline
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Default Acoustic guitar mixing

Question for any mixers out there, I have a track that the acoustic guitar is peaking on and at the same time the whole song is lower than the other songs on this project, any advice on how to get the song louder without the acoustic guitar peaking? I have tried a couple basic limiters with not much success. I am running pro tools 10.3.10 and have the WAVES plug ins bundle


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Old 03-13-2019, 02:49 PM
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Default Re: Acoustic guitar mixing

Try adding some compression and maybe some eq.
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Old 03-13-2019, 03:00 PM
amagras amagras is offline
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Default Re: Acoustic guitar mixing

Maybe your other songs are too loud.
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Old 03-13-2019, 04:05 PM
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Default Re: Acoustic guitar mixing

Find better limiters
Find better compressors
Ride (dip) automation levels on any large transient peaks and then lift the whole level up.
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Old 03-13-2019, 04:00 PM
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Default Re: Acoustic guitar mixing

Quote:
Originally Posted by amscheme View Post
Question for any mixers out there, I have a track that the acoustic guitar is peaking on and at the same time the whole song is lower than the other songs on this project, any advice on how to get the song louder without the acoustic guitar peaking? I have tried a couple basic limiters with not much success. I am running pro tools 10.3.10 and have the WAVES plug ins bundle


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When you say "Peaking" do you mean "clipping"? If its not clipping you might have a couple options. Besides using some compression (the Waves Renaissance Compressor might be a good option here), you could use the clip gain control, section off where the guitar is too loud, and use the clip gain on just that section to pull it back a bit. Another option is to use the Trim plugin to pull it back. You could automate it to pull back are just certain spots.



Good luck!
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Old 03-14-2019, 07:39 AM
amscheme amscheme is offline
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Default Re: Acoustic guitar mixing

Quote:
Originally Posted by DonaldM View Post
When you say "Peaking" do you mean "clipping"? If its not clipping you might have a couple options. Besides using some compression (the Waves Renaissance Compressor might be a good option here), you could use the clip gain control, section off where the guitar is too loud, and use the clip gain on just that section to pull it back a bit. Another option is to use the Trim plugin to pull it back. You could automate it to pull back are just certain spots.



Good luck!


Donald, thanks so much for your suggestions, the Renaissance compressor worked wonders and my problem is fixed, there’s so many plug ins I haven’t had a chance to thoroughly explore yet, I really appreciate your time.


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Old 03-13-2019, 04:17 PM
amscheme amscheme is offline
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Default Re: Acoustic guitar mixing

The meter actually isn’t even in the red but when I go to listen to it on my phone( since unfortunately that’s how a lot of people will hear it) I can definitely hear the guitar distorting, thanks I will try all these suggestions and I know that renaissance plug in I have not tried yet, thanks again


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Old 03-14-2019, 04:38 AM
musicman691 musicman691 is offline
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Default Re: Acoustic guitar mixing

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Originally Posted by amscheme View Post
The meter actually isn’t even in the red but when I go to listen to it on my phone( since unfortunately that’s how a lot of people will hear it) I can definitely hear the guitar distorting, thanks I will try all these suggestions and I know that renaissance plug in I have not tried yet, thanks again


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An acoustic guitar is distorting and you're not in the red? What's your recording chain? Maybe you overloaded the input to the mic pre? Or is this an acoustic guitar with a piezo pickup and you're using that to record?

Piezo pickups have a problem known as piezo quack which can be brought about by picking too hard. Also piezo's tend to be sensitive to loading.

Is it even distorting? Might be fret buzz or a cracked brace inside the guitar. I know the latter because my old Gibson B25 has a crack in one of the braces and sometimes a mic picks that up. It might even be strings bottoming out on the frets which would mean the truss rod might need adjustment.
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Old 03-14-2019, 07:37 AM
amscheme amscheme is offline
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Default Re: Acoustic guitar mixing

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Originally Posted by musicman691 View Post
An acoustic guitar is distorting and you're not in the red? What's your recording chain? Maybe you overloaded the input to the mic pre? Or is this an acoustic guitar with a piezo pickup and you're using that to record?

Piezo pickups have a problem known as piezo quack which can be brought about by picking too hard. Also piezo's tend to be sensitive to loading.

Is it even distorting? Might be fret buzz or a cracked brace inside the guitar. I know the latter because my old Gibson B25 has a crack in one of the braces and sometimes a mic picks that up. It might even be strings bottoming out on the frets which would mean the truss rod might need adjustment.


I think the problem is picking too hard and maybe is not technically distorting but creating a bit of an unfavorable sound, I am having some luck with some compressors suggested before so I think this one is remedied. Thanks for all the info I will definitely pay more attention to all the nuances next time recording an acoustic, sometimes I’m so worried about other things and aspects of recording I think “ acoustic guitar isn’t in the red, I’m sure it’s fine”
Thanks again for your time


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Old 03-14-2019, 08:02 AM
musicman691 musicman691 is offline
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Default Re: Acoustic guitar mixing

Quote:
Originally Posted by amscheme View Post
I think the problem is picking too hard and maybe is not technically distorting but creating a bit of an unfavorable sound, I am having some luck with some compressors suggested before so I think this one is remedied. Thanks for all the info I will definitely pay more attention to all the nuances next time recording an acoustic, sometimes I’m so worried about other things and aspects of recording I think “ acoustic guitar isn’t in the red, I’m sure it’s fine”
Thanks again for your time


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Something that would help is to answer the question I asked that you ignored: how are you recording the guitar - microphone or via a built-in piezo pickup? This would have an effect on the sound and could possibly point to a bit of a good answer so it doesn't happen again.
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