Mixing Acoustic Guitars – Luke Williams Session

We’re going to record and mix the acoustic guitar for the Luke Williams Session we’ve been covering. I recorded the acoustic guitar in mono using one channel without doubling it, but I’m going to explain a trick to make it sound stereo instead. I’ll get to that later.

What equipment did we use?

• AKG 414 Microphone
• API 512 Preamp
• 1176 Universal Audio Compressor
• API 550A EQ

In this case I compressed the acoustic guitar moderately due to the guitarists playing style. When watching the video you’ll notice the wave form has many peaks. For this reason it was important to compress before hand so that we would avoid issues while mixing.

Here are some production and mixing ideas I used for the song…

So in the beginning I used some automation on the panning to give the introduction something unique and interesting. I played around with the settings and ended up liking it so I kept it. Then I continued by cutting out the low frequencies below 7ohertz and boosted the mid and mid-high frequencies to give the acoustic guitar more clarity. It does not change the sound much but it does make it a bit more clear.

Cool Tip – Making a mono sound seem stereo:
So, I have a stereo delay and on the mix setting on the left I set it to zero, and on the right I set it to 14% which generated a spacious feeling. I played around with the right side and if you move it any further there would be more of a delay, which would give the sound a chorus effect and for this session that was not our goal.

I also added some reverb to give the acoustic guitar a sense of space. Just like the EQ its a minimal difference, but collectively it makes everything come together rather well. Make sure to watch the video above to listen! Comments your thoughts below!