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Can you help me mix my guitar?
Dear Fellow Mix geniuses,
I’m just following up on a post I made a couple weeks ago about how to eq and process an acoustic guitar when recording with multiple mics and a DI! I’ve attached a rough mix of a song I’m currently working on called “Knitting.” It’s a duet of myself playing acoustic guitar and my friend, Nadje, who is playing Flugelhorn. We recorded it in the woods, which is why you will hear the sound of a babbling brook! (I did re-track the guitar in my home studio)I would very much appreciate if anyone could give me feedback on the mix, and specifically any ideas for the guitar sound.
I used a large diaphragm condenser on the body of the guitar, a small diaphragm condenser on the neck (near my fretting hand) and took a DI as well. In my mix I put the DI in the center of the mix and hard panned the two mics left and right. I also kept the DI dry but added reverb to the two mics on the L and R. I eq’d all the sources with pulteq compression and added some LA-2 and 1176 plugins for compression. The guitars seemed out of phase maybe? so i flipped the polarity on a couple of the sources and I think it helped? 😂
I’m wondering how it hits you? and also – if there is a better, smarter way to approach mixing these 3 sources together?
For any of you who really want to get in and see what I was working with I have also included the stems for the 2 mics and DI in case you want to experiment with trying to mix them too…
I’m so thankful for this community and having a place where I can learn from you all!
Thanks in advance!
Best,
Jesse
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14 Replies
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Hi Jesse, thanks for sharing,
Note, I’m not the residential mix expert here! ha.
So…
Love the babbling brook!
The horn sounds really lovely (including the delay).
As for the guitar, it sounds very nice, crisp, and clean to me; maybe wouldn’t mind hearing more warmth (a smidge of low-mid) – yet I feel like some of the lower end was just a smidge strong near the end.
Halfway through listening and I wouldn’t mind hearing a little less babbling brook, like some modest filtering or just slightly quieter and then bring it back up for the beginning and the end.
All together, sounds 99% there to me!
Lovely vibe and performance. Beautiful track, sincerely.
Thanks,
Jeremy
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Love these thoughts, @shimmerisland, and can’t wait to dive in to all this myself, @JLEW!
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Hey Jeremy!
Thanks so much! I appreciate you taking the time to listen. Yes! I agree with all the stuff you are hearing too and I’m going to try to address all of your comments in my my next mix! Thank you again! Best, Jesse
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Jesse,
I’m wondering if starting the song with the babbling brook isn’t an idea to explore more deeply. Instantly we know where we are. It’s green with trees and flora and it’s damp. What if when the guitar enters the arrangement, it comes into the space from the distance, be it up from the water or from the woods. A decreasing reverb to dry signal ratio on the guitar could give it the sense of movement and “join” the scene. After the guitar settles into the arrangement it’s the horn’s turn. That horn sounds delicious. I love the verb and oddly for me, I’d ask for more.
(Having spent time mixing in the live sound market I’ve always viewed reverb caused by the room to be the devil. I want all the control!)
The horn playing is the area of concern. I’d suggest it’s too dynamic. It has a gentle, calming environment to work within, but when it oversteps that boundary, it reminds me of a guitar player who is demanding attention rather than playing within the ensemble. You probably have heard that guy before.
In short, all the musical parts are there, some more of the story could be told via the ambience of each element.
Wordy, but I hope it’s helpful.
PT
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Hey Paul!
Thanks for listening! You comments are very helpful. I LOVE your idea of the guitar coming into focus and “joining” the scene. Thats a really cool production idea. There will be a video (of our live recording in the woods) accompanying this track so I need to make sure that it won’t seem strange with the video, but I really hope it works. That’s such a cool idea that I never would have thought of. Thank you!
Best,
Jesse
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Teamwork!
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Jesse,
I have a bunch of free time in January when I’m taking time off work to rehab a new knee.
Provided the painkillers aren’t in the way of me thinking correctly, I’d take a stab at mixing and mastering your song. No points involved, I just want complete artistic freedom to explore it. You game?
PT
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Hey Paul!
What a super cool offer man! Thanks so much..and those painkillers might take the mix just where it needs to go! haha
I’m going to be mixing and mastering a “final” version this weekend and uploading it on Monday for streaming, the video that I made is all finished and I’m hoping to share it in a couple of weeks!
That being said, if you want to mix it just for fun I’d love to see where you take it, especially all those cool ideas you were talking about! Happy to send you the stems if you want. Just let me know!
Thanks again!
Jesse
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Jesse,
Awaiting your tracks…..
PT
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Hey Paul! Sorry for the delay! Here’s the stems. Can’t wait to hear what you cook up! Have fun!
(if there’s any issue accessing it, just send your email and I’ll try to send that way! Best – Jessehttps://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/xispyl9cjagmq7qp5k83d/h?rlkey=1thfegty4cj2fk60v9puw9h5f&dl=0
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Hey Paul – It looks like the dropbox isn’t going to work so send me your email and I’ll try it that way.
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Contrare senore! Already loaded into my DAW. Thx
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Awesome! Can’t wait to hear it! I tried your idea of having the guitar creep into focus from the distance but it didn’t really work out with the video I made, but I’d love to hear what you had in mind with that. Musically, that seems like a very cool idea. Best, Jesse
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I definitely want a shot at it for the sheer fun of where it might could go. It will be an exploration of space and ambience. WAV or mp3 files? Download or mail them? What’s the plan?
PT
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