Harp recordings, how do i mix/treat it ?

[klore 0]

hi guys, i need some nerd help here,

just got a harp recording from a friend, she recorded at her home with bad devices, the sounds isn't that bad finally but i just can't have this brightness shine, so far it's moody on 300/600hz and tried to compress a bit, doesn't seem to work well

 

first time i work on a harp recording,

anyone done this ?

 

i'd like to get close to this

but with more high end

[Guest 4OOkg]

I would recommend a few EQ's working in different hz and a tiny bit of reverb + some panning device (stereo imager) + a compressor.

 

EQ'ing harps and acoustic instruments tends to take time... lots of time. You sit there for hours and turn the knobs slightly slightly to achieve what you look for.

 

GL

[klore 0]

thx GL

 

this is basicaly what i was doin,

 

i've found that aprox 490hz is a bad range and should be cut,

as for the 3.1Khz is great

 

still lot of work to do and hard hours for me : /

[Cryptowen 157]

You should post it here so we can take a look at it

[klore 0]

yeah makes sense

 

*https://soundcloud.com/kloremusic/sets/harp-rec/s-hJEjP*

Edited August 15, 2014 by mcbpete

[mcbpete 279]

Ran it through a few meters and I think I've cracked it - there's no stereo spacing at all. As soon as I whacked in a pseudo stereo plugin and increased the spacing/haas value the clarity of the track started to come in - a slight parametric curve cutting some of the 100-500hz range and the a gentle wide boost ~7khz seems to make things a little bit sharper too. If you're feeling fruity you could whack in a transient shaper too to emphasise the plucking (http://www.fluxhome.com/products/freewares/bittersweet-v3)

 

If you have reaper, here's a quick chain of the setup I used. It's not 100% but I haven't got access to my proper soundcard/headphone setup at the mo (remove the .txt in the file name, it won't let me attach a .rfxchain file here)

 

harp chain.RfxChain.txt

[klore 0]

thx mcbpete :)

[Nil 497]

I'd try some gentle shaping with that wonderful sounding (yet free) EQ. A dB or two can go a long way with that one, and I don't think that harp needs much more than that.

 

And then I'd add a tiny, tiny bit of reverb.

 

You can also try a gate/expander with a very gentle slope in the signal chain (before or after the reverb, it's up to you), to tighten up the transients.

[Nil 497]

Ps: it might be obvious to you, but avoid any kind of surgical cuts if possible : it'll create more issues than it will solve, especially on that kind of material.