Cubase Studio 5 acoustic guitar recording help

Using a Zoom R16 track recorder for acoustic guitar line in and mic’d then transferring it over to computer. I’ve tried every way I can figure out and no matter what I do this is the best acoustic guitar I can get either line in or mic’d.
Any suggestions of how to make it less metally or tin can like

Honestly it’s not bad sounding. It sounded fine on my studio monitors and using headphones there was maybe a bit of upper mid-range that could be lowered a slight amount.

If it is sounding ‘tin can like’ then I’d be more suspicious of your listening space based on this example. A small room can have phase cancellation that eats up some lower frequencies which could make it sound tinny even if its not. The way to double check is on headphones - but ones made for studio monitoring and not ones for general listening (which likely won’t have a very flat frequency response).

Thanks Raino. Do things more by ear so not sure how to get the higher end sharpness out without losing some tone. Reckon i should just play with the frequencies more. Also, yes my room is small and i don’t really have the proper monitors… only Sony MDR7506 Headphones, some Altec lansing PC Speakers, my car, an old boom box… ya see where am going lol. Appreciate you taking a listen on actual Studio Monitors and giving feedback. May i ask what studio monitors you like? May save up for a set since am going to keep attempting this. :slight_smile: Thanks again, CL

That’s the point, the sharpness may only be the result of your listening environment and not intrinsic to the actual recording.

That’s kind of a moving target as technology evolves and new products are introduced. My current & previous monitors were JBL’s - but there are a ton of good monitors out there. There is a recent thread on the forum on recommending monitors that is probably worth a search to find.

If I were in your situation I’d prioritize getting a good pair of monitor headphones. I’m using a pair of Sony MDR-7506 - but again there are a lot of good choices. Search for “stereo monitor headphones”

I concur. This is a useable recording. You should be able to adjust the EQ to get what you’re looking for. Sounds AOK in my MDR7506’s.

Joe Gilder has some good advice on getting good acoustic recordings. Try him at:

[https://www.homestudiocorner.com/]

Thank you. How would you adjust the EQ?

Thank you for the monitor suggestion and I am using Sony MDR -7506 headphones :slight_smile: :smiley:

and thank you for the home studio corner link

Assuming you can trust your listening environment. The classic method is to take a parametric band on the EQ and set its Q as high as it will go, so the bandwidth is narrow. Then set its gain fairly high (4-10dB-ish depending on the source). Now slowly sweep the frequency over the range where the ‘problem sound’ lives until whatever sounds wrong is at its loudest and worst sounding. This is the frequency you want to cut. Set the gain back to 0dB and the Q around 0.5-1.0 to start. Now lower the gain slowly until it starts to cut into the sound you want to reduce. Now you can fine tune the Q and gain to get what sounds best to you.

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It doesn’t sound too bad to me. What is the end result you are looking for? A “solo” type of performance, or a mix with other instruments and/or vocals, or … ?

If you are looking to incorporate the guitar into a mix, things can change in a hurry depending on what other elements are fighting for the same frequency space.

Thank you Raino. Will try to figure out how to do that for sure. Mix & Eq by ear and the seat of my pants up till now but am trying to understand more about how to handle frequencies etc now. Appreciate the help

Hi S_Pickens. Am trying to Do a mix of Solo & some other parts depending on song. Mostly want the Acoustic Guitar & Vox to be the Main Thing to be more like what i do performing live. Reckon can mess with a mix containing other things by ear until I figure out more proper ways of doing that… so the main thing I would like to have happen is for the Acoustic Guitar to be as nice as it can be if it’s the Main or Only Instrument.

You haven’t mentioned which version of Cubase you are using. That might also give someone an idea of what “tools” you have to work with, plugin wise. A lot can be done with basic EQ/compression. Then you can enter the world of reverb and things change drastically again … :scream:.

Cubase 5. but then i also have a pet Dinosaur lol. Yes rvb changes things & at times even for the better :slight_smile: I experiment with all that by moving knobs, faders,sliders,picking things etc … and go by ear. But as for technically knowing what am doing and why… am learning but it’s a huge curve.

Well there are a fair amount of resources out there to help.
This search
audio eq frequency chart - Google Search

turned up several charts like this one

And while the info on the chart will help get you in the right neighborhood, only your ears can make the final decisions.

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Yes, I trust the ears ultimately. Thanks for the resource. Will def read. It helped that y’all took a listen in Headphones & Monitors and let me know how it came out. I only have the Sony Can’s & random desktop speakers etc and hoped it was turning out ok. Much obliged !

This is a quick reference guide from: Free Resources - Bobby Owsinski
6-Frequency-ebook.zip (1009.2 KB)

Yes, it is!

[quote=“C_Lynne_Smith, post:18, topic:774261”]
Cubase 5.

Wow, that’s getting back a little. Studio 5 was my first “real” Cubase. I dabbled with LE4 before that. Realistically, I could probably still do most of what I do with Studio 5.

Anyway, I opened your file in a project and a simple high/low pass filter did wonders to start with. Definitely a little thick and muddy on the far low end.

Then I put a 3rd party eq into the equation and things started to shape up in a hurry.

Don’t expect miracles. This stuff takes a lot of time and effort.