Tone Matching an Acoustic...To an Acoustic

[Cooper Carter]

Everyone is always talking about how great it is to be able to tone match an electric to an acoustic and a piezo in an electric to an acoustic.

But how about for getting great acoustic tone when you don't want to mic the acoustic and instead want/need to use just the mediocre sound of an acoustic-electric's pickup?

Here's how well it works...

First part is the album recording of "Strange Fire" by Indigo Girls. Second part is me playing my Taylor 710-CE with Taylor's "Onboard Blender" by Fishman set to pickup only, straight into the Axe-Fx. Third part is the resulting tone match.



Give it a shot to get great acoustic tone in live or recording situations where you want to use just a pickup instead of blending in an internal body mic because there is too much external noise in the environment.

 

[dpeterson]

sexy

 

[boltrecords]

What type of file did you use to Tonematch? I've always tried to use wav files but in this case I don't have one for this particular song.

 

[Cooper Carter]

What type of file did you use to Tonematch? I've always tried to use wav files but in this case I don't have one for this particular song.

Normal ole' MP3. Well, not normal. 320kbps.

 

[theo]

Your tonematch sounds much fuller in the low mid range to me than the original.

 

[Rex]

Cool stuff, Cooper! I've had great luck tone-matching my mid-level Alvarez (which sounds good...for an AE ) to recordings that I liked. It's a quick and easy way to make an okay acoustic sound good.

 

[Rex]

Your tonematch sounds much fuller in the low mid range to me than the original.

A lot of the difference you're hearing is the lower level and higher compression of the original.

 

[Cooper Carter]

Yep.

 

[Scott Peterson]

Sounds great. I do this for a LOT of clients I work with; they have a recording of their guitar that they need to match, I use it to do a ToneMatch and viola - killer stuff inside of a few seconds of setting it up.

FWIW, I use the Black Crowe's "She Talks To Angels" as a reference all the time for my own acoustic tones (I use the Jumbo model in the Variax). Works GREAT!

 

[Cooper Carter]

Sounds great. I do this for a LOT of clients I work with; they have a recording of their guitar that they need to match, I use it to do a ToneMatch and viola - killer stuff inside of a few seconds of setting it up.

FWIW, I use the Black Crowe's "She Talks To Angels" as a reference all the time for my own acoustic tones (I use the Jumbo model in the Variax). Works GREAT!

I've heard of some other players using "She Talks to Angels" as well. I like the acoustic break in DT's "The Count of Tuscany" and Tommy Emmanuel's "Blue Moon," too, though with the latter, you have to make sure it's not a part where he's humming in the background!

 

[Izzy]

I use it to do a ToneMatch and viola - killer stuff inside of a few seconds of setting it up.

Mon ami, le viola est un instrument! Vous voulez dire - VOILA ! ! !

;-)

 

[jesusinjesusin]

Mon ami, le viola est un instrument! Vous voulez dire - VOILA ! ! !

;-)

Lol

I'd better not say to you what "le viola" means in Spanish...:lol

 

[boltrecords]

Normal ole' MP3. Well, not normal. 320kbps.

Sorry I don't know much about this. Can you explain how you get 320kbps of a particular song? Do you convert with iTunes or buy it in that format or do you have the original on disk?
I pm'd you earlier if you prefer i dont hijack the thread anymore

 

[Rex]

I'd better not to say to you what "le viola" means in Spanish...:lol

Le viola la viola. Aaaiiieeee!

Lends a new meaning to the phrase "F-hole."

 

[Cooper Carter]

Sorry I don't know much about this. Can you explain how you get 320kbps of a particular song? Do you convert with iTunes or buy it in that format or do you have the original on disk?
I pm'd you earlier if you prefer i dont hijack the thread anymore

I think my PM box is full. Let me check. I'll just answer here, though. I have the original disc. I think iTunes may have upgraded their downloads from 128 to 256, though.

 

[Loquenau]

A lot of the difference you're hearing is the lower level and higher compression of the original.

Really? I was gonna say the same as theo..... The match doesn't necessarily sound better, but it does have some added umph.

Le viola la viola. Aaaiiieeee!

Lends a new meaning to the phrase "F-hole."

You boys! Just filth, and falth, and filth this, and falth!.......

 

[Rex]

Really? I was gonna say the same as theo..... The match doesn't necessarily sound better, but it does have some added umph.

The added "umph" comes from the higher level (Fletcher-Munson brings up the lows—play your guitar while tweaking the Output Level knob, and you'll see what I mean) and the added dynamics that come from less compression.

You boys! Just filth, and falth, and filth this, and falth!.......

Faith, it's a filthy life!