Compressing acoustic guitar

Use FET compression or Optical compression. CLA uses an LA3A (which is solid state, not tube, and quicker than an LA2A).1

Ed Cherney (Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Sting, Bonnie Raitt) says, “the 1176 was made for acoustic guitars.”2

Warren Huart recommends using parallel compression on a fingerpicked guitar part, crushing it with a FET.3

Marc Daniel Nelson uses MJUC MkII with a 4:1 ratio and a medium-slow attack and fast release, only compressing about .5dB.4

I really like using Presswerk on acoustic guitar, using a topology similar to a dbx160.

A limiter after light compression can help tame peaks.5 For more, see Softening digital transients.

Adding a little tube saturation can help thicken up acoustic guitars too.6

  1. [Chris Lord-Alge Acoustic Guitar Processing CLA’s Simple Moves for Acoustic Compression and EQ - YouTube](https://youtu.be/bUN_bz-0FaA)

    ↩

  2. Acoustic Guitar Recording Techniques of the Pros ↩

  3. Analog Hardware Gear For Any Budget – Building A Home Studio - YouTube ↩

  4. 4 Steps To Amazing Sounding Acoustic Guitar ITB! with Marc Daniel Nelson ↩

  5. Effectively Using Compressors to Catch Peaks - YouTube ↩

  6. Michael Brauer Acoustic Guitar Saturation - YouTube ↩

Notes mentioning this note

Mixing acoustic guitar
Mixing acoustic guitar [[Acoustic guitar EQ guide]] [[Compressing acoustic guitar]] [[Softening digital transients]] [[How to revitalize acoustic DI signals]] [[Use...
Presswerk
Presswerk