FOH Pro Tips for a Great Live Acoustic Guitar Sound

Acoustic guitars are at the heart of many live performances, but making them sound good through a PA isn’t as easy as you might think. Even if they have a built-in pickup system, getting a great live acoustic guitar sound goes way beyond merely plugging it in. So what’s the secret? Sweetwater asked 12 seasoned live sound professionals for their tips and tricks, and this is what they told us.
Peter Keppler
David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Bonnie Raitt, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj
A combination of a pickup and an actual live mic (usually mounted on or in the guitar). Phase alignment is crucial when doing this. Sometimes the pickup will need to be delayed a very small amount (sometimes less than a millisecond). Also, important to check polarity — sometimes reversing polarity on one of the inputs will make everything line up very easily. In general, I find the mic input tends to sound more natural for the high frequencies, and the pickup will be much more stable for the low frequencies in the battle for gain before feedback.
Scott Cameron
Greta Van Fleet, Jason Bonham, The Black Angels, Taking Back Sunday
Start with a great DI box, and don’t set the highpass filter too high. I see so many people do it and lose all the bottom end and warmth in the guitar.
Steve Wilson
The Kentucky Headhunters
It’s a very “guitar specific” process as they’re all different, but in general, make sure the DI has a really high input impedance if you’re using a piezo pickup. That’ll usually keep the duck from quacking. I’ll usually make a pretty deep but narrow notch between 800Hz and 1kHz. Highpass about 80Hz and lowpass around 10kHz.
Jeff Sandstrom
Chris Tomlin, Steven Curtis Chapman, North Point Community Church
Obviously, it starts with a good instrument and a good player. Fresh strings and a well-worn tuner are musts as well. There’s not much I can do to help it if it’s not in tune. Have a sound in your head that you’re trying to achieve, and stand in front of the guitar itself while it’s being played (without a DI or a mic). Does the guitar itself come close to the sound in your head? If so, and the pickup isn’t replicating it well, then that might need to change. The pickup may make it sound a little boxy, so try an EQ cut between 400Hz–500Hz. You may add a little top end to get some more sparkle as well. Compression can help inconsistent strumming and make the sound more even. Pay close attention to how the acoustic guitar plays with the hi-hat. If they’re conflicting (because your guitar player is racing the drummer to every downbeat), you may need to turn it down.
Russ Long
Amy Grant, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael McDonald
A great guitar is a start! If the instrument doesn’t sound great, there’s no way to make it work.
Brian Pomp

Macklemore, Macy Gray, Avenged Sevenfold
Rupert Neve Designs RNDI. I’m using one right now, and it just sounds the way it’s supposed to. Minimal EQ. Not sure if that’s a secret. It just really works.
Kent Morris
Peavey, First Baptist Church Atlanta
Think about the body of the guitar and how its size and shape create the resonance. Reduce that frequency, which will be between 400Hz–700Hz.
Doug Gould
WorshipMD.com
Use the pickup. If the guitar is playing solo — no highpass. If playing with a bass player and drummer, use the highpass. Consider what other instruments/voices will be in the mix when you alter the EQ. Don’t touch EQ or dynamics if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Eddie Mapp
Paramore, Stone Temple Pilots, Papa Roach, Evanescence
The Rupert Neve Designs RNDI is an incredible-sounding DI for a variety of instruments and is very solid in the bottom end while also maintaining all the detail up top! If you’ve got good low-end control in the PA system, try not to neuter the acoustic with a highpass filter too much, and maybe sneak a little into the subs, which gives a great wonderful feel as if you were sitting behind it.
Josh Fisher
Jesus Culture
I rely on EQ mainly. First off, we’re dealing with an acoustic pickup, which sounds terrible 90% of the time. So I find my sweet spots in the highs, mids, and lows. The low band sits around 100Hz, and I’m usually adding enough to keep up with the amount of unbearable mids from the DI. If I’m having to add a lot of low end, I might start to dip the mids at 1k to help get some lows. Then I work on the high end with a lowpass filter, trying to make the DI tone fuller/warmer by taking out some highs. It’s always a balance of highs, mids, and lows. Each movement affects the others.
Shawn Dealey
Counting Crows, Production Manager/FOH Audio at The Clyde Theatre
I use plenty of subtractive EQ to carve out as much of the mud and harshness that come from the piezo pickup. High and lowpass to taste. Slight compression with some kind of opto-style compressor plug-in, or when available a tube-based opto compressor. Tasteful amounts of reverb that give the guitar a sense of space and allow it to blend into the mix.
Rick Naqvi
PreSonus Electronics
If it’s the context of a full band, I start with a highpass filter on the acoustic. That eliminates tons of low end you don’t need and will help the acoustic to sit better in the mix before even touching any additional EQ.

We hope these tips help you out at your next gig. If you have any questions about achieving a great live acoustic sound (or live sound in general), give your Sweetwater Sales Engineer a call at (800) 222-4700.

For more insights about getting a great guitar tone onstage, check out Don Carr’s article called Getting a Great Live Acoustic Guitar Tone.

The post FOH Pro Tips for a Great Live Acoustic Guitar Sound appeared first on inSync.