I have a Taylor 214CE that I've tried recording/mixing on a few songs but it always sounds a bit too bright and somewhat harsh. Can anyone suggest how to best record this (strings, plugs, effects) and which plugs could help soften it up and bring it to life during mixing?

 

I'd say firstly try a different mic if you have one and try a couple of different mic positions.

As far as plugins go, I'd clean it up with Pro-Q3, light compression (preferably a tube comp) and a tube or transformer based EQ for boosting after compression.
Also, multiband compression (like Pro-MB) is your friend.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Dec 1, 2020

In my opinion the key factors to recording acoustic guitar are:
1- the guitar (type, set-up, tone)
2- the strings chosen accordingly to 1
3- the player (know your instrument and make it sound as you want it to be well before you start recording)
When all the above is sorted the choice of mic and it's placement would have an effect to the recorded sound. Some say you can do a good recording of ac.gtr with a dynamic mic.
Well... perhaps, but it would never EVER be the first choice in a pro studio, that's for sure. Small diaphragm (pencil) condensers are the norm, here.
Placement. The (usual) starting point would be 20/40cm away from guitar, somewhere over the 12th fret pointing at the sound hole.
Get closer if your room's acoustics are bad and move further away (up to 1metre) if your rooms sounds good. If your instrument is naturally lacking bottom end you can augment that by taking advantage of the proximity effect when using condenser mics (the closest you get the more bottom end is heard in the recording).
Personally, if I had to record a (new to me) ac. gtr I would record 4 or 5 small takes, each time moving the mic to a different position. Closer to the sound hole, further away, over to the side of the picking hand, above the guitar body pointing down... you get the idea.
If the guitar shares the mix with other instruments it would most likely benefit from a high-pass filter (starting at 100Hz, but could be less if the guitar has a thin sound or alot more if it is a boomy one).
Compress only the peaks if you want to preserve most of the dynamics (a fast compressor with no more than 3DB of compression in the loudest peaks) but much depends on the performance (solo with a pick, strumming with pick, bare fingers, fingerstyle...).
If after all the above the guitar still sound too bright cut a few DBs between 3 and 4 Khz (difficult to give advice without a listen to the recording).
A slight boost in the 300/500Hz region might help to thicken the sound a bit but you risk to bring out the boxiness of the instrument.

DISCLAMER:
All the above is my personal opinion only and it is in no way meant to be a guide to how to record acoustic guitars

 

Thank you for all the advice, I'll record a few samples using your suggestions as a guide and include them here for further feedback.

 

Impossible! You need a plectrum to strum, not a pick!

 

Ahah - that explains where else I've been going wrong

 

No, no. That's definitely a pick situation!

 

Not a pig??

 

Which one's best for playing the Booger Woogie ?