My recordings of a single acoustic guitar sound like I expect them to using headphones. I'm pleased.  Even playing a CD on a boombox sounds quite good (true to the guitar). However, when I play a CD of the recordings on a regular stereo (such as my car or home system) it sounds harsh. The highs are like feedback.  I'm puzzled why there is such a difference between headphone and speaker; and not sure how to correct it. Any ideas appreciated. 

Recording setup - Collings C-10 guitar > Peluso CEMC-6 mic > M-audio interface > Guitar Tracks Pro 4 software. 

The listening environment (the room) as well as the speakers you use to monitor the mix determine to a large extent how accurately you hear the "truth" in the mix and thereby end up with a mix that either does, or does not translate well to other systems.  

So how exactly did you listen to the mix ?    

you need a good set of monitors, in a treated room, to properly mix anything.

do not use headphones, except to check mixes and do detail work.

A lot of trial and error is the answer. If you're about to continue with your present equipment, whatever it is, you simply need to make dozens of different mixes to find out how the project has to sound to adapt well to other systems.

A simple starting point could be a frequency analyzer like Voxengo Span (free dl). Then you could compare the frequency curve of a commercial recording of an acoustic guitar to that of your own recording. You may immediately spot some frequencies that you're exaggerating.

Thanks Kalle. I'll give Voxengo Span a try. It looks like it will help my situation.

You can get away with a good set of monitors in a reasonable sounding room if you listen to quality reference material as well. It is important you know how a great mix sounds in your room first. Then it is possible to match your mix to that. 

Mixing on headphones is OK only if the headphones are excellent quality. Yours had no mids and highs so you pushed the EQ in order to get that guitar sounding good in your phones. But other systems revealed what you had to do in order to get it sounding that way on your phones. How does really well produced acoustic guitar recordings sound in your phones?

Anything under $700 to $900 is sort of a waste of time on phones. You have to get serious in terms of what you spend there. A great set of open backed phones can approach excellent sounding monitors. A decent headphone amp is also required now once you get to this level. Not the crappy headphone output on most devices.

Also there is software and hardware that can put the phones into a room and transform the sound into monitor speakers. That will only bring you closer to an excellent monitoring experience. And with extra cost as well.

I agree with batsbrew on using phones for certain tasks and using speakers ultimately to mix on. I don't agree with the idea of doing dozens of mixes. You can get away with only doing one great mix if you can mix well, have reasonable speakers in a reasonable room and listen to other great mixes regularly especially in the genre you are working with. You need to switch back and forth quickly and often while you mix. Also the pro mix playback level has to be lowered to match your mix levels perfectly. 

Jeff Evans

Anything under $700 to $900 is sort of a waste of time on phones.

Headphones must be expensive in Austrailia.  In the US you can get a pair of Sennheiser 650s for ~$450.  Maybe less if you shop aggressively.

just for clarity, I'm using the sound card in the USB interface to drive the headphones. I am using two pair of phones - open air Senns and Bose. Both sound fine. I haven't pushed up the EQ at all. I've only cut some of the bass (at the mic and at the EQ). The Peloso CEMC-6 mic is giving me plenty of highs and mids. The absolutely dramatic difference between phones, portable stereo and real stereo system just has me confused. 

I am taking the files over to local recording engineer and buy a bit of his time. I'll get his input and follow up in a few days.

Thanks again for the help.

Harshness in the car may be the result of two things: emphasis on high frequencies that's built in to the stereo, and comb filtering due to poorly-placed tweeters and the inherent acoustical limitations of small spaces.

Headphones are not subject to acoustical coloration, and all but the most expensive high-end phones are severely uneven in the upper end of the frequency spectrum. In short, they lie. A general rule of thumb is that things tend to sound better on headphones, often deceptively so. Sounding good in headphones can never be considered a definitive evaluation of a mix.

You may find, using SPAN to compare against commercial recordings of solo acoustic guitar, that you're inadvertently overemphasizing the high end. 

My jeep has good speakers but I get a lot of high-end screech at certain frequencies that I don't "get" on my mains, or bookshelf speakers in the living room or on these computer speakers.  Some high voices and some synths sound like blackboard scratchings.  I try to fix that since I'm sure other speakers have the same issue, but not enough to ruin the mix on other systems.

It is a compromise - always.

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