Why does my guitar sound muddy

Asked 4 years, 9 months ago. Active 4 years, 9 months ago. Viewed 3k times. Improve this question. Apurva Nandan Apurva Nandan 1 1 gold badge 4 4 silver badges 9 9 bronze badges. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. This is best adressed by Having a clear concept of what you actually want to play. Don't play notes that don't really fit in a chord, especially not open bass strings.

Jazzy variations can also be culprits. Make sure that only the notes you deliberately play actually sound. Guitar strings aren't isolated systems like the tone generators of a synthesizer; if you simply leave them open they may ring even though you've never actually played them. Similarly, make sure you stop notes after their intended duration is over typically after each chord change.

Make sure the notes you do want to play actually come out well-audibly. Good technique and dynamics go a long way here. Sometimes lo-cut at 60 isn't enough. I find cutting much higher, even up to around makes a guitar sit better. Generally, If I can't get a decent sound by highpassing the needless bottom and lowpassing the fiz, I move the mic and try again.

On occasion, boosting a fundemental a bit is the trick. In addition to these important considerations, I would recommend making EQ adjustments while listening to the guitar s in question in the mix. If you isolate instruments while EQing, you get a warped view of what's going on, often enough.

I'll solo something to listen to it and think about it -- but I tend to make my EQ changes while listening to the whole mix. Yep, as others have said your room is the problem. The room no matter what it's size will affect everything you record regardless of pickup pattern or distance to source. You cannot avoid "mud" problems by simply moving the mic closer or using a dynamic mic. Some remedies: 1. Acoustic treatment for your walls. Place the amp in another location in the room. Don't put the amp against a wall.

Put the amp on a milk crate, chair, or road case. Get the amp off the floor. John Eppstein. Doesn't work. Use proper monitors. I still dont believe the room would cause the drastic eq he has. Not with the mic that close to the speaker. I realize it has a great influence but with a close mic'd cardoid i still dont think it would change the eq that drastically. Its all a guess, mic position IS a drastic change, its the most likely culprit. I agree that you should try moving around the amp and the mic.

See what different sorts of results you can get. If you're DAW's portable, maybe try a different room. And try listening to the mix on different speakers, since one thing you already mentioned was the difference between what you heard in your headphones and in your monitors.

James Meeker. Some tips for getting a better guitar sound from yours truly in no particular order : 1. Never record in the middle of the room. This includes not only the middle of the length and width , but the middle of the ceiling to floor. Reason : room modes are strongest in the center of a space. This also helps you avoid walls, which can build up muddy low end. This also gets you in practice to elevate amps. Prep the amp and cabinet! Tighten all screws!

Remove all rattles! Decouple the cabinet from the floor! Take off the front grill! Make sure the rear panel is secure and rattle free! Make sure the cabinet isn't creating resonance with whatever you have elevated it with. The guitar strings will sound muffled or muted when there is not enough finger pressure or the fingers are placed in the wrong position on the guitar. The majority of tone production on the guitar happens with the left hand or fretting hand. There are two things that control the tone of the string: finger pressure and finger placement.

If the string is not pressed down with enough pressure or the finger is in the wrong position, the tone will not sound clear. The difference between a clear tone and a muted tone in terms of hand pressure and position is very small. On one hand this can be frustrating because a small amount of pressure change or finger movement can make a big difference; however, on the other hand, because it is such a small change that produces a muffled or clear tone, a small adjustment will also take care of the problem.

When you understand the mechanics involved, you can make these small adjustments and improve the clarity of your tone. If there is not enough pressure from the fingers being applied through the strings to the fretboard, the string will not ring out clearly. If there is too much pressure, the hand will become fatigued quickly and muscle soreness may develop. The key is to use the least amount of pressure necessary to sound the string clearly.

This takes practice and patience. Also, if the finger placement is incorrect, the string may sound muted or buzz. The best way to develop this sense of touch and correct placement is to play single string melodies or exercises.

Avoid using a high-pass filter with a very steep slope; this can sometimes sound unnatural and create an unwanted disconnect between bass instruments and other elements in your mix. Solo the low end on one track and mute the low end on the other track. Make sure the threshold level is at zero, so no gain reduction is applied. Use multiband processing to maintain clarity throughout the frequency spectrum of your electric guitar recordings while mixing.

To avoid this scenario, try using different guitars that dominate different frequency ranges. Start with a guitar that has a dominant low-end presence and then use a different guitar to occupy the mid-range and brighter frequencies. You could also try different chord voicings using a capo for a more interesting blend.