Seeking Advice On Guitar Processing

[Adrianw]

These short guitar clips are from very a basic singer/songwriter recording, just guitar and vocal. Guitar was recorded Mid-Side with two mics set to the appropriate patterns, about 14 inches from the 12th fret. I'm interested in suggestions on post production effects, particularly EQ, that might improve the overall natural sound. (I believe there may be some unpleasant ringing between 800 - 1200 HZ.) There are three tracks, one strummed and two fingerpicked, each unprocessed and under one minute long. Thanks.

001 - Fingerpicked
002 - Fingerpicked
003 - Flatpicked

https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...usp=share_link

[Doug Young]

I did a quick listen to the fingerpicking take. Sounds nice to me, I think EQ would just depend on taste and how it sounds with the vocal. There were a few boomy notes, that I'd probably try to reduce with some dynamic EQ, and there's a bit of a peak around 4K, which isn't uncommon.

One thing I do notice is that this track is really wide, and phase correlation is hovering around 0. My guess is that you went really wide with the side level when decoding the MS, or that your side mic was hotter than it should be for a natural-sounding MS. On the other hand, ultra-wide can sound nice, and at least with MS, you have the mono compatibility still there. But you might listen to this in mono and see if you still like it. It'd be interesting to see your undecoded MS track.

[Adrianw]

Thanks, Doug. Very helpful as usual.

[rick-slo]

Nice overall. A bit boxy. Mike position experimenting will help that. Personally I prefer recording regular spaced pair mikes and keeping it post recording as hard right and hard left channels.
Example of one of my recording that sounds guitar realistic to my ears:
http://dcoombsguitar.com/Misc/Blusey.mp3

[kurth]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Nice overall. A bit boxy. Mike position experimenting will help that. Personally I prefer recording regular spaced pair mikes and keeping it post recording as hard right and hard left channels.
Example of one of my recording that sounds guitar realistic to my ears:
http://dcoombsguitar.com/Misc/Blusey.mp3

you're great man...beautiful

[Joseph Hanna]

Nice playing and nice sounding. For me there's definitely a problem somewhere around 120 Hz-150 Hz. I didn't put it on the meter so that's a guess. 4K a tad more, but also (for me) it needs something at or above 8K.

That's of course being picky. Sounds great as is!

[BillyH]

Sounds great Adrian,

If you want to get rid of the "cloud" sound get it at the source instead of post. Try again with a high pass somewhere between 60 to 75. Scoop mid range at 400 to 700. Boost air slightly at 4 to 8 or to taste.

Experiment with your source until you think it sounds killer. Then record. You've got time and there's no hurry. Get the source right and then in post you just sweeten and add any spacials you may want or need.

Billy

[DupleMeter]

Just a quick listen & I felt it was too wide. A lot less of the S signal would help focus things better.

There were definite wolf tones around 150Hz & 1K (give or take, I didn't put it on an FFT). There's also a harshness in the 3k-4k range. I'd play around with mic position a little to see if you can get a more even sound before resorting to EQ.

[keith.rogers]

I always (yes, always) run a HPF on tracks, save maybe a bass or kick, big djembe, i.e., something that might have close to subsonic content. Your acoustic guitar does not (unless you're a body tapper/drummer), but there's still energy in that track below the guitar's lowest fundamental, and that can affect any processing that comes later.

I kind of agree with the "too wide" comment. I've only tried a little bit of MS recording but in my small space, I have found it really only adds complexity, or maybe it's my own confusion . But, a solo guitar is pretty much a point source, so I tend to keep it fairly centered, and let any room reverb/echo (98% of the time DAW/IR) be the primary S content, even if I do put 2 mics on. I think it's more natural for the normal listener/observer, even though it's not what we hear (as the player) with our 180° ears right above the guitar.

[Adrianw]

Thank you all. If there's one thing I've learned it's that my 75 year old ears are not to be trusted. Other than relying on the opinion of others I'm not sure how to deal with that. I've boosted a narrow section in my equalizer and scanned through the frequencies and to me these tracks seem to have an unpleasant harsh ringing between 800 - 1000 kHz. Lowering that range, even notching it out, seems to remove it but now I'm wondering if I can trust what I'm hearing. Maybe I'll post my eq'd versions as well for comparison if no one objects.

[TBman]

The 1st recording could use a high pass, too much bass for my ears. The 2nd two were better.