Hi folks,
As the title suggests I'm having trouble a strummed acoustic. There is an awful harsh frequency that occurs around the 9k frequency. The quiet parts of his playing sound fine but the problem occurs during certain parts of the heavy strumming parts. I've tried soothe2, RESO, NOVA and Proq3 but can't seem to tame it. Re-recording the track would obviously be best but that's not an option unfortunately. Any tips on how to tame this?

Thanks in advance

 

Last edited: Jul 9, 2023

I do not have Soothe, but based on your description alone; I would normally use Fabfilter Pro-DS. You probably already have it installed or maybe DSeq, if not. The uploaded file is an mp3. but from what i hear (at low volume right now), i'm not sure I would do much/anything with it, because there is no context.

https://hyperbits.com/de-essing-guide-its-not-just-for-vocals-anymore/

 

Thanks for the reply, I will try Pro-DS!

 

Maybe this way?

 

I'm liking this. May I ask what you used?

 

DSEQ, digital bell to cover 6 -10kHz, cause there's another spike at ~ 6.8kHz.

 

To me, it does not sound harsh. Quite the opposite to be honest.

 

Thank you so much

 

I guess i just can’t unhear it

 

Yes, this is indeed a problem a lot of people have. It is advisable to concentrate on fundamental tonal aspects and not on searching for errors. For apppearances like this it may be possible to use a frequency analyzer to check if there really are resonances like ringing and such (which does not mean you should concentrate on the behavior of this in general).
I can not spot any.

 

Just do a narrow dip at 9k with any EQ. Then I'm more concerned about the 190 thickness/muddiness and the 745 ringing.
It's not harsh overall anyway. Maybe you have Audio-Technica ATH-M50x headphones which has an annoying boost at this 9k area?

 

Last edited: Jul 9, 2023

Oh my goodness you have a perfect hearing! I could only hear it when I emphasized that specific frequencies 936 en 9k.....

 

I think i ended up boosting some fundamentals too, it felt good soo

 

What did you do here?

 

Actually using Slate VSX

 

I think there's something wrong with the guitar. Bad setup maybe? There's something rattling (probably one of the high strings) that makes it sound like a tiny sharp bell is ringing (for a lack of a better description). It's especially noticeable around 5-8kHz range. If there will be a lot of other instruments in the song that will mask that region of the guitar, it might not be a problem. If it's just guitar and vocals, and nothing else, it could be very obvious. Aside from this problem, the recording sounds fine.

If you have the possibility to record the guitar part again, try a different guitar, or maybe get a professional setup done on it beforehand. Don't forget that 90% of the finished sound/mix should be done in the recording stage. "Fix it in the mix" is the most counterproductive approach/mindset to recording you can have. It should only be a last resort solution when you literally can't fix the problem at the source (like mixing recordings of a dead musician and other similar cases).

 

Here's after de-resonating with Melda's MAutoDynamicEQ. Much less honky/squeaky/muddy but also sucks quite a bit of life out of it. I guess you can't have your cake and eat it.

 

I don't mean this offensive:
are you familiar with the many ways Soothe2 lets you address such a problem?
Did you try it with different sharpness and / or selectivity, and with the possibility to narrow the area where Soothe2 should work?

I use Soothe2 for years now very very often - and very often to solve sometimes nasty problems I have with speaking voices -
and for now I always found a good sounding solution with it.
Sometimes two instances does the trick: one with a wider area and less sharpness & selectiviy - the other one with a narrow area and greater sharpness & selectiviy.
And with very problematic sources, it often helps to let Soothe2 do the soothing a bit too much, and then bring back the high end and shine with an EQ. The best for this for me is Clariphonic from Kush. An incredible tool, that can give back / boost high frequencies in so many different ways you wouldn't believe they exist beforehand.

And concerning acoustic guitars I had to learn that very often they also have a very unpleasant ringing between 2-3kHz -
which took me some time to grasp, because this ringing seemed to be higher.
For this I find (besides or in combination with Soothe2) bx-refinement from Plugin Alliances very helpful (it is designed especially for that area), although mostly a refreshment afterwards is needed. bx-refinement has a "presence"-knob for that, which sometimes works ok - but often sounds to mellow and I use Clariphonic for that.

 

two cuts, i think 5.8k and 4.2k, unfortunately havent saved the file , i think i boosted wide bell around 300hz
i used TB Sibilance v2 also, something similar to Soothe so my vote for Soothe too

i also react pretty quick, i dont play longer than 3 secs if i dont feel the sound, all these analyzers are messed me up for so long...

 

I concur. I looked at the original file with PURE and also did an analyze and a 3D model in wavelab. I found no glaring frequency anomalies at all. Very easy to apply a notch that has a semi narrow Q in the 8.8k - ~9.3k region that subdues the pick strumming against the strings and resultant harmonics that brings about. However, doing that sort of eviscerates the presence of the track and makes it sound dull. There also seems to be a lot of energy happening in the guitar body portion of the spectrum (around like 1.5k - ~3/4k or so. Smoothing that frequency area a little makes the over all track sound more balanced.

 

Last edited: Jul 14, 2023