Freesound Forums

Hello,

i have a classical guitar, that has some pickups inside, and a female jack interface. It also has an equalizer with the following options: volume, treble, bass, middle1, middle2, presence and middle2-freq.

When i try to record the sound of it into the computer, the sound comes very strange, i can hear the fingers a LOT, and besides that, it sounds like country music: all very bright, and not very "full". This happens specially with the nylon strings, not so much with the brass ones. I would very much like it to sound soft and warm on the computer as it does in reality.

Anyone has some tips on how to improve the quality of the sound to be more soft, and less strong ?

I would suggest first working with the eq knobs on the guitar if you have not already, sounds like you need to turn the treble down, perhaps boost the low mids (probably middle 2) also turning the presence down should help as well. I don't know from you post what you are recording into on your computer, but if you are using a D.A.W. you will probably want to add some reverb to the guitar track. Most classical guitar recording are mic'd and usually in a large room or hall with good natural reverb, so when going direct as you are, it really helps to add the artificial room sound with reverb, the pickups are hearing the sound board of the guitar and not picking up any of the room sound that you are hearing as you play. It is a tricky instrument to record even with the best gear (high end mic's and mic-preamps etc..) in a great sounding room, so it may take some experimenting on your part.
good luck!

c

Sub-d gives great advice. If it's any comfort I made exactly the same mistake - I bought a good electro acoustic guitar as I thought it would be great for recording direct using the output jack - of course I got the same disappointing thin sound. What is missing, in addition to the room characteristics as Sub-d suggests, is the " sparkle" or presence coming from the strings. Nylon strings have a really special character.

It was explained to me that the pickups and output are really only for live performance where they are fine especialliy with good external eq and effects. So if you do get into a live situation you will be ok but for now, like me you will have to mix a mic'd sound with the pickup sound as Sub-d suggests.

Anyway - I hope you get it right and send some sounds up here - look forward to it!

I have achieved more than decent results recording direct with my Takamine.

When in the studio, I use relatively short-length cables to cut back on noise. I run a gold-plated Mogami cable from my Takamine's out into an ART tube pre-amp. I keep the gain on the preamp relatively low and run another gold-plated cable from the preamp into my Focusrite Saffire firewire interface. Using the Saffire's onboard DSP effects I can get a very warm natural tone. Definitely a mixture of the tube warmth and the mild from the DSP.

I currently use Cubase at the front of my DAW, and run to Reason from there for MIDI editing and final mixdown.

I'm sure it doesn't compare to simply recording with a quality mic in a quality room but for me it works excellent and allows me to sing simultaneously and keep the tracks very independent.

Good luck.

Depends what sound you are going for.

If you want an authentic classical guitar sound then you will not get it with the pick-ups unless you pay alot for it.

If you were playing something like Massive Attacks 'TearDrop' like Jose Gonzalez however the buzz and the closeness of the sound could work - especially with effects like delay and light distortion. If you ran it through a tube pre it'd be nice too.

The best idea like someone mentioned before would be to use both mic and direct in. Use the mic - a good condensor for the realism and the direct in as the presence and clarity.

If your only option is to use ur pick-ups... then try reducing the highs on the built in EQ. Try running it through a good room reverb and try either a quick compressor to contain the attack or a transient shaper. There is a free transient shaper called flux which you can get from www.kvraudio.com .
You could try tube emulation as well.

Mike

I don't like piezo pickups.

If you *had* to use them, firstly make sure your following basic recording principals to get a properly recorded signal into a decent preamp and A/D. Bypass the onboard EQ. Set it flat. Instead, work with the signal using a good quality EQ plugin on the computer. Theres no magic trick here: it just takes experience and experimentation. Try to increase the tone you want, and perhaps more importantly, decrease what tone you don't like. Filter out unneeded low end, especially if you find your attempt for "fullness" get the bottom too boomy.

Light compression and reverb will be nice touches, but aren't really the meat of what needs to be done.

I am still experimenting but I use an M-Audio Black box + and acoustic pre-amp. Also, I put an instrument mic in front of the black box (separate inputs - mix the two).

Black-Box - has noise gate function which cuts out fingers / clicks / bumps
( only problem is the higher ths gate vlaue the less sustain from the notes ), and
plenty of reverb ( + delay if you wish )

The pre-amp has ground to reduce unwanted noise / has various EQ abilities which much bettter than the guitar pre-amp.

Use a Raimundo electro Classical

In terms of warm natural classical sound - am not sure I am there yet. I have same problems with my Takamine & my Saxophone ... there's always just something missing ...

Noise gating is a good idea in most recording though I should do it within ur sequencer because you don't want to be stuck with a perfect take of audio with a gate that is too high.

Something like a gate is fairly simple and doesn't take up alot of CPU power so I should record without the gate and apply afterwards.

Mike

Gates are the work of the devil, and there's usually no use for them. IMPO, you should never take anything away from a recording. EVER! Do it after you record it, like Mike says. Be like Mike!

mr_H
Hello,

i have a classical guitar, that has some pickups inside, and a female jack interface. It also has an equalizer with the following options: volume, treble, bass, middle1, middle2, presence and middle2-freq.

When i try to record the sound of it into the computer, the sound comes very strange, i can hear the fingers a LOT, and besides that, it sounds like country music: all very bright, and not very "full". This happens specially with the nylon strings, not so much with the brass ones. I would very much like it to sound soft and warm on the computer as it does in reality.

Anyone has some tips on how to improve the quality of the sound to be more soft, and less strong ?

I'd recommend that you spend more money

These were recorded with a Rode NT4 (stereo mic)

http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/packsViewSingle.php?id=2383

...you will need a preamp that supplies Phantom power $60 gets you a Behringer Xenyx 802 that would do the trick. The problem with internal mics is they have to (by design) be located in less than ideal places on the guitar AND reject all that conduction vibration...

digifish

tweeterdj
Gates are the work of the devil, and there's usually no use for them. IMPO, you should never take anything away from a recording. EVER!

Thats a nice idea and in a top notch room with top notch equipment i'd agree with you.. but not in a home studio enviroment. There's going to be computers humming etc.

a microphone whit condenser

mike-t3

tweeterdj
Gates are the work of the devil, and there's usually no use for them. IMPO, you should never take anything away from a recording. EVER!

Thats a nice idea and in a top notch room with top notch equipment i'd agree with you.. but not in a home studio enviroment. There's going to be computers humming etc.

You know what, that's exactly the kind of thinking that prevents people from making good recordings at home. You don't need to eliminate every single noise that you hear, you need to discriminate between "noise" and "sounds". If you use filters, gates or anything similar in the signal path of your recording, you will lose quality, even if you think you're making things sound nicer. I by no means have a top notch room, nor do I have top notch equipment, but I can make nice sounding recordings without filters or gates because I know what will sound like noise and what might just be a sound. Sometimes a little extra sound can make it more human, though admittedly you might not want it TOO apparent!
Anyway, I just think if you start trying to have the cleanest recording in the world with gates and filters you will end up with a lifeless mess of a recording, so why not just record clean and worry about things afterwards?

Demonsurf
a microphone whit condenser

Honestly, haven't heard of a single person using an acoustic guitars pickup for a recording.

I would mic it. While someone else is playing it move your ear around and try to find the sound you like the best. Put the mic on that spot.

Start by the 12th fret.

Use whatever mic you have, don't go crazy, though I like the inexpensive SM57.

Please post your results.

tweeterdj

You know what, that's exactly the kind of thinking that prevents people from making good recordings at home. You don't need to eliminate every single noise that you hear, you need to discriminate between "noise" and "sounds". If you use filters, gates or anything similar in the signal path of your recording, you will lose quality, even if you think you're making things sound nicer. I by no means have a top notch room, nor do I have top notch equipment, but I can make nice sounding recordings without filters or gates because I know what will sound like noise and what might just be a sound. Sometimes a little extra sound can make it more human, though admittedly you might not want it TOO apparent!
Anyway, I just think if you start trying to have the cleanest recording in the world with gates and filters you will end up with a lifeless mess of a recording, so why not just record clean and worry about things afterwards?

Don't a agree. Using a gate will not mean thats your audio loses quality.

Using EQ etc might add some issues - but really, the average guy is not going to hear the tiniest of phase issues - they might however hear (or at least appreciate) the benifit of removing the gunk below 120Hz of a vocal. But it really is the lesser of two evils.

EQ it, compress it, gate it, do whatever you want to it. If you want purity... go to a nice expensive recording studio and use some nice expensive mics, desks and recording rooms.

You can't leave room noise on a recording when your room has not been treated. It'll sound crap - it won't translate well on tinny systems and people will point at laugh :wink:

mike-t3

tweeterdj

You know what, that's exactly the kind of thinking that prevents people from making good recordings at home. You don't need to eliminate every single noise that you hear, you need to discriminate between "noise" and "sounds". If you use filters, gates or anything similar in the signal path of your recording, you will lose quality, even if you think you're making things sound nicer. I by no means have a top notch room, nor do I have top notch equipment, but I can make nice sounding recordings without filters or gates because I know what will sound like noise and what might just be a sound. Sometimes a little extra sound can make it more human, though admittedly you might not want it TOO apparent!
Anyway, I just think if you start trying to have the cleanest recording in the world with gates and filters you will end up with a lifeless mess of a recording, so why not just record clean and worry about things afterwards?

Don't a agree. Using a gate will not mean thats your audio loses quality.

Using EQ etc might add some issues - but really, the average guy is not going to hear the tiniest of phase issues - they might however hear (or at least appreciate) the benifit of removing the gunk below 120Hz of a vocal. But it really is the lesser of two evils.

EQ it, compress it, gate it, do whatever you want to it. If you want purity... go to a nice expensive recording studio and use some nice expensive mics, desks and recording rooms.

You can't leave room noise on a recording when your room has not been treated. It'll sound crap - it won't translate well on tinny systems and people will point at laugh :wink:

Mike, I agreed with you before, about gating AFTER recording. I was just worried about the fact that the original poster had a gate IN the signal chain (on his M-Audio Black Box). At any rate, there's some room noise on the recordings I've made (and sold) and nobody's pointed and laughed at me yet!

lol ok.

Yea, def don't use the gate in the Black box.