Use of compression in recording acoustic guitars

[Tricky Fish]

I’ve never used compression for my (basic) recordings, but have recently been listening to some youtube channels demonstrating the use of compression on acoustic guitars. I’d like to learn more about it.

There’s a lot of experience here of the forum and I’d like to hear from those that have done a lot of recording of acoustic guitars:

Do you use a compressor? Why?
How important is compression for you? Why?
What advice re use of compression do you have for someone who is a beginner at recording?

For reference, I play nylon string guitars with classical and flamenco technique. Below are some examples of my recording:

[rick-slo]

Personally on solo acoustic guitar I never use compression when recording or add it post recording. I want to hear the full dynamic range as I played it.
For an unintended extra loud note I would lessen the volume at that point (volume envelope) though that is pretty infrequently needed. There are other
things you can do with light compression with such settings as attack and release time affecting mainly transients but I don't mess with it.

For your recordings I suggest recording in stereo.

[Rudy4]

Ditto rick-slo.

If you record at 24 bits then it gives you enough dynamic range that you will have the wiggle room to play with compression applied to your tracks in your DAW with a good plug in.

Some folks like to compress or limit when recording, but you have to consider you're stuck with the result once you're done recording.

I might choose to limit or compress if I had a lot of prior experience with achieving a good result, but I don't so I don't.

[KevWind]

First you recordings sound pretty good

So I would be not inclined to do much compression


One suggestion have you tried moving the mic a bit closer to the guitar ?

Second I would think about just raising the output level in the mix some before using compression and another thought would be perhaps think about another mic to get a stereo spread.

This has just come up in another thread and I would offer the same suggestion if you are going to play with compression,, think about a slower attack time and start with a medium to fast release

As to your questions
Yes I use compression most of time because I do vocal/s as well as guitar and often additional instruments (More so on the vocal than the guitar)
For me it helps me feature the vocal while still have the guitar present
But I record dry and then do any FX in the mix

Compression is a subject that could easily have short book written about it.
But in general for a beginner, (like reverb) "use it sparingly" and try to set it so you can just start to here it and then back it off slightly

[min7b5]

I’m not an expert, and certainly on my own little journey with learning all this stuff, but here’s my two cents on compression: I think of it as an automatic volume control, which can also sometimes impart a certain tone and feel as a side effect, depending on the model or emulation used.

On one end of the spectrum there’s the truly classical recording style school where you do very very little to the recording (likely no compression), things are recorded more at a distance, with the natural ambient room sound, and as much of the natural performance dynamics preserved as possible (this is not my favorite personally). Way on the other end of things, there’s a younger generation of contemporary fingerstyle (often percussive style) players today that are presenting their acoustic guitar music much more like a pop recording. Often going pretty heavy on compression to make things more loud more often -hard not to notice that they’re very popular too! Then there’s the Windham Hill school (named from the late 70's/ early 80's Bay Area record label), which I think many folks on this particular forum, including myself, seemingly gravitate towards -which I would describe as a more up-close classical stereo recording style -maybe more Eleanor Rigby than typical chamber music recorded from afar. This school definitely leans more towards classical recording, but often with a more immediate, up-close, yet defuse feeling. But obviously there’s infinite places in between these approaches. And I personally think it’s all valid. We’re making art here. Learn your tools, follow your muse..

The main thing is understanding what compression does, and then asking yourself the reason for using it. Personally I’d ignore blanket statements like people saying you should never compress acoustic guitar, or you should always do it.. Figure out what problem you personally are trying to solve, or what enhancement you’d like to accomplish, for whatever unique recording is in front of you at the moment. So I personally might just use compression just to smooth out the listening experience a bit. Some players have a very even playing style, and/or their guitars have a very even sound. Others, like yours truly, might may have a wide dynamic range in technique, really digging in at times, then pulling way back a moment later. In the actual room our ears and brains might find that exciting, and I do want that. But microphones are not ears, and in recordings that can get little lost sometimes and feel like things are coming and going too much -like a singer moving back and forth from the microphone. So here compression might make things little more consistent. You might also/or instead use clip gain and or volume automation.. You might also lean into a certain compressor because it subtly, or not so subtly, adds some saturation, thickening things up a little bit with more harmonic content.. Compression is deep topic for sure.

Again, I would try learn what compression does. One good way to that in my opinion, as with any of this stuff, is to grab a plugin and give yourself permission to go bananas and do a bunch of over-the-top moves to really hear what all these controls do. Crank the ratio and threshold until you're squashing things dramatically (it'll probably get much quieter so increase your volume so you can hear things). And then play with, say, the attack time, or the knee, or the release time.. You’ll probably really get a sense of what each does and therefore be able to hear and make more intentional adjustments when things are much more subtle.

[Glennwillow]

I almost always use compression on each of my stereo guitar tracks, but these days I generally use guitar for vocal accompaniment, so my approach may be different from someone recording for solo guitar.

I don't use compression during recording, but I do use compression for mixdown on each guitar track (and also on the vocal track). However, I do not record any of my signals at a particularly high level, so I leave a lot of headroom in my recordings. Also, I use a fairly mild 2:1 compression ratio with compression kicking in at about -15 db. The truth is, not much of my guitar signal is compressed. I can hear no audio difference between monitoring my tracks compressed or uncompressed, so my approach to compression is pretty gentle.

- Glenn

[Tricky Fish]

Thanks for everyone’s feedback. Lots for me to consider here.

[phcorrigan]

I use a slight bit of compression for Zoom online music, and I also use compression when I host in-person open mics. This latter is mostly a defensive move for players that cannot (or will not) control their dynamics).

For recording, unless you're clipping, I wouldn't use it. You can always add it later, but it's difficult to remove it.

[b1j]

For recording one of my songs, I tried to emulate the Wall of Acoustic Guitar sound on the Traveling Wilburys’ Handle with Care. Three stereo guitar performances (six tracks), same chords but different positions with no capo, capo 3rd, capo 5th. Strum, strum, strum. Lots of sound. I used selective EQ and pretty strong compression to give each of the six tracks its own home in the mix.

Of course, that was a highly specific objective, and a sonic experiment at that. But it showed me that compression can help an instrument occupy a distinct location in the stereo field by building a little cocoon around it.

This is almost certainly wrongheaded bunk by the standards of those here with authentic knowledge. I just add it to spice up the thread.

[b1j]

On another song, all I wanted was clean fingerpicking in unison on the J-45 and the Nashville-strung Gurian. The goal here was to simulate a 12-string. I took a much lighter touch with compression on this one, but even that might have been more than good taste would require.

I view compression as a long-term study topic with no pat slogans or simple recipes. I’m on the verge of rudimentary insight.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by b1j

On another song, all I wanted was clean fingerpicking in unison on the J-45 and the Nashville-strung Gurian. The goal here was to simulate a 12-string. I took a much lighter touch with compression on this one, but even that might have been more than good taste would require.

I view compression as a long-term study topic with no pat slogans or simple recipes.

I’m on the verge of rudimentary insight.

I feel that way all the time! I should use it for my tagline...

[b1j]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

I feel that way all the time! I should use it for my tagline...

It’s my general philosophy where building new skills is involved.

But your tag line would use the word Rudymentary.

[j3ffr0]

A lot of my solo guitar stuff is pretty mellow finger style overall with some strums thrown in during higher energy sections. In those cases it makes a ton of sense for me to limit those peaks on the way in, and there is no downside I can discern from doing it. It makes it SO MUCH easier to achieve a decent overall loudness level during mix down.

I've got a few finger style tracks in the queue that I'm going to be recording in the next few weeks and I'm going to experiment with a little additional outboard compression beyond my usual peak limiting.

So yeah, I like compression almost always when some sort of strumming or other percussive attack is involved. I don't feel like I need it on finger style, but a lot of times I'll use a little anyway to achieve a little better overall loudness/sound.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by j3ffr0

A lot of my solo guitar stuff is pretty mellow finger style overall with some strums thrown in during higher energy sections. In those cases it makes a ton of sense for me to limit those peaks on the way in, and there is no downside I can discern from doing it. It makes it SO MUCH easier to achieve a decent overall loudness level during mix down.

I've got a few finger style tracks in the queue that I'm going to be recording in the next few weeks and I'm going to experiment with a little additional outboard compression beyond my usual peak limiting.

So yeah, I like compression almost always when some sort of strumming or other percussive attack is involved. I don't feel like I need it on finger style, but a lot of times I'll use a little anyway to achieve a little better overall loudness/sound.

That sounds like a limiter would be a far better choice than overall compression. Evidently your limiter isn't doing what you want it to, though. I've experienced the occasional high transient when recording and just knocked them down using volume automation. A few peaks are easy to handle with automation, but a limiter is obviously a better choice if there's a lot of that going on during the recording of a track.

My problem with compression is if it's applied to the point where I can actually hear it then it tends to dull the dynamics, and that's not a sound I'd personally prefer.

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I'm on the verge of Rudymentary insight...

[SprintBob]

I've been reading this thread and also believe the OP might want to consider having a limiter plug-in in his tool box.