Try This Next Time You Mix Acoustic Guitar

[@brownsnakestudios277]

I returned to this tutorial , just help me out on a couple acoustics! The multi band really made a difference at the end of the mix.

[@spinlightstudios]

Glad you found it helpful mate!

[@JasonGraystone]

Question: Why did you use the SSL EQ? Could you not have just cut the lows and then boosted the highs with the first EQ that you used to cut the whistle freq?

[@spinlightstudios]

I could have. But I prefer the sound of the EQ curves of the ssl. I find it more intuitive to EQ with. Digital EQ is great for those extreme notches like I did with the logic EQ. The ssl feels more musical to me. You could definitely do it all in one EQ if you wanted to though.

[@AlecBridges]

That sounds really good. So many acoustic guitar mixing tutorials have a bad sounding acoustic to begin with. This sound great and then even way better after you work your magic 👍👍

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks Alec!

[@Superdelphinus]

I think the number one thing above anything else, especially with acoustic guitars, is how they’re recorded in the first place. When you have a decent engineer who listens to the instruments and takes care to use the right microphones in the right places it then needs barely any processing later on in the chain in my experience. Same with lots of other instruments too obviously, but an acoustic guitar can change sound so much depending on how it’s recorded.

[@spinlightstudios]

Absolutely, it’s the same for anything, the source makes a biiiig difference to the quality of the mix.

[@aynekeys1404]

Thanks so much for this. I've been following you ffor a while now and I've improved, thanks once again

[@spinlightstudios]

That’s awesome. Thanks!

[@JasonGraystone]

Amazing help. Please do this for each track/instrument/male vocal/female vocal etc 🙏

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks! There will be more!

[@DaftyBoi412]

Another thing about notching out freqencies, is sometimes they mask other freqencies, so with it in you can't hear another freq as problematic, but when you remove the loudest constant tone, it reveals another one, and then another when you remove that one etc. I often find spending a few extra second dialing in by how much you're going to cut a freqency, you can find a good spot where the problem one isn't noticable, but it's not cut completely to the point other freqencies close by start popping out and start to sound like they are ringing too. I used to fully cut freqencies, but always ran into this issue, so now only rarely will I fully cut them as far as my EQ can, and will at most, often be like a max of -12db and mby -18db if it's really really bad. But more often than not It's much less and I'm just pulling them back to the point they dissapear behind everything else and then leave them there. This way close by freqencies don't start to become overly prominant by the removal of the problem freqency next to it.

[@DrProgNerd]

Great Vid. After deciding that I wasn't going to buy any more plugins for a while .....and 'really meaning it this time' .....I see the SSL X-Saturator .....and immediately go to their website. White-knuckling here. Lol !!! Sounded great, Rhys. Thanks.

[@spinlightstudios]

😂😂 ah yes it’s so hard to resist! I’ve been on the slate digital subscription for years.. I’m kinda stuck with it for now because it’s all through my projects haha so the added ssl plugins was a nice addition to the subscription. Thanks for tuning in mate :)

[@cherisecarvermusic6658]

Nicely done, the processing and the mix! We use a lot of acoustic guitar in our country releases, it's really the feature instrument, that have to cut through the drums, bass, keys, etc. You did a great job and offered very clear explanations. Great channel!

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks so much! Yes the acoustic can be a hard one to place in a dense mix, to hear it and have it present without it being too thin or muddying the mix up!

[@officialWWM]

Man, that mix sounds so good!

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks man!

[@rewind2play]

Love that drum fill

[@spinlightstudios]

Yours truly on the drums for this one!

[@steveweilhart2359]

slate all access pass has most of the SSL plugins included - nice moves there on the acoustic guitar sounds great

[@spinlightstudios]

Yep sure does! It’s actually a pretty decent deal for all the plugins you get!

[@elias_kohli]

oh man, thank you for sharing this ❤

[@spinlightstudios]

No problem!

[@ronallen2458]

Great video - I like that you start with the end goal first before any processing. BTW, a bunch of UAD plugins are on sell right now! I have been eyeing the 3A and the DB160 for a while.

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks mate! Yes I only got the LA3A from UAD in the last few months, loving it!

[@davidcostello9701]

Great video, what would you do if the acoustic was the lead instrument, examples, are Mike Dawes, Jon Gomm, Tommy Emmanuel etc. Thanks!

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks! Oh yeah it would be a bit of a different approach I think. I’m planning on doing a more singer/songwriter acoustic mix at some point!

[@FlashRocket96]

@@spinlightstudiosinteresting for me too!

[@musiclearner8634]

​@@spinlightstudiosYes , Please do a video on mixing only vocals and fingerstyle acoustic guitars type performances. It'd be a great help

[@MrKikalo]

⁠@@spinlightstudiosI’m looking forward to seeing your approach!

[@precisionsoundworksstudio]

This type of video would be great!

[@precisionsoundworksstudio]

Fantastic video. Thank you.

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks mate!

[@komobabo]

WOW! That is a big difference. I always take so long mixing guitars, which is weird considering I am a guitar player mainly LOL.

[@yigit_kuru]

thats what happens mostly because what you want to hear when playing is different from what should be heard in a mix tonewise

[@komobabo]

@@yigit_kuru agreed friend.

[@spinlightstudios]

Yeah guitar tones are definitely tricky!

[@ciantar60]

I hate tracking acoustics, need consistency and a player who doesn't move about too much as the tone can change a lot haha.. I love the LA3A though! Great compressor for a lot!

[@ciantar60]

Of course we could remedy this using the pickup, but I rather mic up for these!

[@spinlightstudios]

I loathe recording acoustic guitars haha way too many things to think about to make sure it’s done right 😂 I mean, I’m pretty good at it now. But when people come into the studio… man it’s always a challenge haha

[@DaftyBoi412]

Yeah the SSL bus + looks like a killer comp. I built myself a DIY stereo G bus from the old G consols with some mods where I have a S/C hpf, a mix feature and transformer saturation on a switch and it's such a dope compressor. The bus + looks insane for features though and is one of the few compressors I might eventually actually buy (as I normally build most of my gear myself). I've always wanted 2 of these g bus comps and was planning on eventually building another so I could have one on mix bus and one on drum bus for them times I wanted to use it on both, but if I mange to win the lottory before then, I'll religate this one I have to drum bus, and buy a bus + for the mix bus xD..

[@spinlightstudios]

Sounds awesome man! Yes the Bus+ is one I have wanted for a long time so know it’s not just the GAS 😂 but I’m due for a new Mac so that’s going to eat that budget up lol

[@DaftyBoi412]

@@spinlightstudios Yeah Mac's/good PCs are not cheap in the slightest! Although bang for buck, it's easily 100 fold more useful than a single bit of gear these days!...

[@jeffsstuff6575]

Excellent!

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks legend!

[@selahestudiomusic]

simply sensational!!! I would like to know more about which reverbs you used on these acoustic guitars, could you show us? or just reply right here. Thank you in advance, your content is incredible.

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks legend! Hmm I don’t recall putting any reverb on this guitar. Perhaps there is a touch of “guitar plate” from the relabs essential - it’s just a reverb I have set up as part of my template :)

[@franciskwekuosei9510]

amazing tutorial. my question is can you replace the multyband compressor with a dynamic eq

[@spinlightstudios]

You could, but I’m not sure if it would be fast enough to catch those transients, you could definitely try! ProMB is so fast, that’s why I like it so much for these kinds of tasks.

[@WaBoo78]

great as always ☺️🤟🏻 thx

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks mate! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@johnviera3884]

awesome video

[@spinlightstudios]

Cheers man!

[@b.7944]

what whistle freq? God I don't hear anything whistly. That sounded very fine to my ears :(

[@spinlightstudios]

Ah, it’s just a resonance that was annoying me!

[@azur2346]

Hello, great video! One question, doubling with same position always causes phase issues in mono. How do you deal with that?

[@nicok5630]

Really great lesson - I replicated it all in Cubase Pro, instead of the SSL Saturator I used Waves Kramer Tape, also does the trick.

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks mate! Kramer tape does something pretty special too 👍🏻

[@easternsouvenirs]

The real question: why did you get rid of your Audioscape 3A's? and have you seen their new 2 channel LA3A rack unit?

[@spinlightstudios]

I just looked and really shouldn’t have 😅 looks amazing! I get fickle with gear, if I’m not using it enough I sell it. The V3As were lovely, but I just get sick of recall and they didn’t have stepped pots, makes it hard to get the same levels/compression if you’re not printing through them. , which I don’t always want to commit compression on guitars while tracking. I was also looking to downsize my 500 series set up.

[@Rhuggins]

@@spinlightstudios Why are you motived to downside 500 series stuff? I agree, when you don't have a lot of outboard - its a PITA to use it. Might as well just keep it all ITB at that point, on some level. The sound is undoubtably better with good gear though though. Its easier when you have more stuff, to go through the trouble of using it especially since the advantages really stack up over the course of the mix and one can arrive at a significantly better place than ITB imo

[@easternsouvenirs]

@@spinlightstudios yeah that totally makes sense. I only really have patience to recall my mix bus and drum bus comp and then I selectively print stuff if I want to do more analog processing on individual channels

[@wickstorm_records]

I prefer the raw sound

[@spinlightstudios]

Each to their own