Getting better string balance live

swiveltung

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I find that often in a live duo situation that my acoustics have a bit too much bottom end and/or the high E and B get a little lost in the mix. I'm not talking about EQ so much but volume. So last night through the night I kept turning the low EQ on the guitar, and amp also, down over a couple hours to try to get a better balance. The highs seem fine when chording, but taking a lead seems a bit lacking. I guess electric guitars are typically like that too actually... at least on the high E. Somehow, the typical bass, mid, high adjustments just don't seem to get me there. Anyone else have thoughts on this? I guess it is probably just the nature of the beast.... after all, an 88 key piano is the same way on the high notes, not full and less volume. Rant over! (piezo pickups)
 

swiveltung

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I guess it's my ears. The sound is fine on the recording device I recorded last night, although it was a "hard surface" environment and the crowd noise is as loud as the music!
 

AcornHouse

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I guess it's my ears. The sound is fine on the recording device I recorded last night, although it was a "hard surface" environment and the crowd noise is as loud as the music!
That's your issue, I think. The loud crowd noise is filtering out more of the highs, so you hear the lows better. Most of the crowd noise will be highs, so that's creating a phase situation, canceling out your highs from the guitar.

That's my thought. (I'm only allowed one a day.:distracted:)
 

Nuuska

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That's your issue, I think. The loud crowd noise is filtering out more of the highs, so you hear the lows better. Most of the crowd noise will be highs, so that's creating a phase situation, canceling out your highs from the guitar.

That's my thought. (I'm only allowed one a day.:distracted:)


Hello

You are on right track thinking the audience noise is culprit. Phase cancellation it is NOT - but MASKING - phase cancellation occurs only , when you have exactly same signal in opposite polarity. Masking occurs at all frequencies independent of phase and waveform as long the cancelling noise is loud enough.
 

adorshki

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Yeah, I had that thought.
If you had Chris's thought for the day, what's he gonna use when he needs it?
:glee:
(joking aside, I agree, it must be your ears, since the recording sounds good to you.
Ears are funny that way, in fact they've got a built-in )"notch filter":
Notch of pinna[edit]

Due to its anatomy, the pinna largely eliminates a small segment of the frequency spectrum; this band is called the pinna notch. The pinna works differently for low and high frequency sounds. For low frequencies, it behaves similarly to a reflector dish, directing sounds toward the ear canal. For high frequencies, however, its value is thought to be more sophisticated. While some of the sounds that enter the ear travel directly to the canal, others reflect off the contours of the pinna first: these enter the ear canal after a very slight delay. This delay causes phase cancellation, virtually eliminating the frequency component whose wave period is twice the delay period. Neighboring frequencies also drop significantly. In the affected frequency band – the pinna notch – the pinna creates a band-stop or notch filtering effect. This filter typically affects sounds around 10 kHz, though it can affect any frequencies from 6 – 16 kHz. It also is directionally dependent, affecting sounds coming from above more than those coming from straight ahead. This aids in vertical sound localization.[3]

As well as an amplifier:
Outer ear[edit]

Main article: Outer ear

The folds of cartilage surrounding the ear canal are called the pinna. Sound waves are reflected and attenuated when they hit the pinna, and these changes provide additional information that will help the brain determine the direction from which the sounds came.

The sound waves enter the auditory canal, a deceptively simple tube. The ear canal amplifies sounds that are between 3 and 12 kHz. At the far end of the ear canal is the tympanic membrane, which marks the beginning of the middle ear.
 
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That’s one of the reasons I switched from piezo to K&K pure mini. Too many issues with UST and string-to-string volume balance.
And all my electrics have adjustable pole pieces... which I use!
 
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