One thing that bums me out is when you’ve recorded a great acoustic guitar track that then disappears in the mix. That’s not what you want. You want a punchy acoustic that cuts through to the listener with clarity. The way to get it? Compression.
It’s All In The Attack And Release
Compression is your friend when it comes to acoustic guitars, but it can also suck the life out of them. The key is to play around with the attack and release settings of the compressor so you’re not cutting off the transients. Once you get this right, you’ll get a nice upfront acoustic sound.
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Hi, Graham =) Nice tip, very useful) Never thought I could treat acoustic guitars this way! I have a question for you. Why don’t you use a stereotrack for panned things like this guitar? Instead you use 2 mono tracks with same inserts.
Having them on separate tracks is more logical because they are separate parts that might need separate processing, automation, etc. I only use stereo tracks on things that are “one instrument” (i.e. piano, keyboards, drum overheads, etc) Hope that makes sense.
Thank you! Yeah, very logical approach! My English teacher used to say “Logic is important!” =)
even without comp those guitars are silky smooth. Comp really helps, and only needs around 3db i guess because they’re already very even.