Recording western guitar and making it sound HUGE

[Roman Empire]

Dear All,

I just bought an amplied western guitar of the brand Morgan, which outputs a pretty decent signal into my mic/instr. amplifier that connects to the soundcard in my DAW.
If throw an amp plugin on it and a bit of delay, I get a nice jazz guitar sound, but I´d really like to achieve a bright big guitar sound like in for example ABBAs "When I kissed the teacher".
I know that layering the same being played is a step on the way, but what else should I think of? I´m not really pleased with the default outcome that sounds very flat to me. Tried playing with comp, eq and delay a bit but none of it got me even close.
Is there perhaps a magical plugin with exciters and stuff in it for this particular purpose?

Best Regards

Roman Empire

[BDeep]

A nice big reverb perhaps? And maybe add some compression to tidy the sound up a bit.

I'm just giving ideas, not really an expert in this area, but those two are the first options I would try if I wanted a guitar to sound big.

Good luck

[BertKoor]

Some ideas:

* Use EQ (and tone control on the guitar's pre amp) to shape the sound: cut bass & mid, boost 6-12kHz
but if the guitar doesn't output those frequencies you're basically out of luck
* Fresh strings: maybe use a bit lighter gauge than usual
* Use a capo with open chords rather than index finger barré
* Strum close to the bridge, not close to the neck, use a flexible thin pick
* ABBA used Double-Tracking for sure (as usual...)

[Roman Empire]

Some ideas:

* Use EQ (and tone control on the guitar's pre amp) to shape the sound: cut bass & mid, boost 6-12kHz
but if the guitar doesn't output those frequencies you're basically out of luck
* Fresh strings: maybe use a bit lighter gauge than usual
* Use a capo with open chords rather than index finger barré
* Strum close to the bridge, not close to the neck, use a flexible thin pick
* ABBA used Double-Tracking for sure (as usual...)

Awesome, let me try those at home later, and much later fresh strings !

Best Regards

Roman Empire

[Roman Empire]

A nice big reverb perhaps? And maybe add some compression to tidy the sound up a bit.

I'm just giving ideas, not really an expert in this area, but those two are the first options I would try if I wanted a guitar to sound big.

Good luck

Thanks BDeep, also in Amsterdam area btw!
You a guitar player, or..?


Best Regards


Roman Empire

[BERFAB]

Doubler, perhaps? The Waves doubler is my go-to. Simple to use and won't break the bank.

[offthewall]

If you can still find this anywhere it does exactly what you want:
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/hue-x-by-mildon-studios

[thecontrolcentre]

New strings and good mic placement will help. Set up good headphone monitoring and move around til it sounds good to you.

[Roman Empire]

Doubler, perhaps? The Waves doubler is my go-to. Simple to use and won't break the bank.

Thanks, I think I do have some doubler plugin somewhere - gotta check if that´s coming close to double tracking the guitar myself.

Best Regards

Roman Empire

[Roman Empire]

If you can still find this anywhere it does exactly what you want:
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/hue-x-by-mildon-studios

Interesting concept!

Best Regards

Roman Empire

[Roman Empire]

New strings and good mic placement will help. Set up good headphone monitoring and move around til it sounds good to you.

The thing is that it´s a guitar with a builtin piezo microphone, so (un-) luckily I won´t need to think about mic placement.

Best Regards

Roman Empire

[BertKoor]

The thing is that it´s a guitar with a builtin piezo microphone, so (un-) luckily I won´t need to think about mic placement.

Yes, you have a guitar with a piezo mic. But if that can't get you the sound you're after, I agree with thecontrolcentre that the fallback scenario of using mic placement should be considered again. To be honoust, when I listened to the ABBA track my first thought was: use a real mic instead of the piezo.

[Chandlerhimself]

I'd try scooping out the low mids and see if that helps. A lot of times all the mud in the 200hz-800hz area can stop you from achieving that sparkling bright acoustic sound. If that's still not enough check this vid I made a few months back. Although I'm using an electric guitar the tips will work even better for an actual acoustic. I won't make any promises, but it should change the sound of your guitar. It doesn't cost anything, so giving it a try won't hurt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaWM8Ou8zw8

[Roman Empire]

The thing is that it´s a guitar with a builtin piezo microphone, so (un-) luckily I won´t need to think about mic placement.

Yes, you have a guitar with a piezo mic. But if that can't get you the sound you're after, I agree with thecontrolcentre that the fallback scenario of using mic placement should be considered again. To be honoust, when I listened to the ABBA track my first thought was: use a real mic instead of the piezo.

Thanks, I´ll try anything else before that though - love the convenience of just plugging in the guitar without worrying about noise. Another idea I have is to layer different inversions of the same chords / play in two different octaves using a capo / use Cubases pitch shifter to layer an octave up with what´s being played - plus some doubler, chorus etc.


Best Regards

Roman Empire

[Roman Empire]

I'd try scooping out the low mids and see if that helps. A lot of times all the mud in the 200hz-800hz area can stop you from achieving that sparkling bright acoustic sound. If that's still not enough check this vid I made a few months back. Although I'm using an electric guitar the tips will work even better for an actual acoustic. I won't make any promises, but it should change the sound of your guitar. It doesn't cost anything, so giving it a try won't hurt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaWM8Ou8zw8

Cheers, will have a look at your vid when I get the time!