XR18 / X Air Acoustic Guitar starting point
Beginner Skill level for the five steps below.
Dial these in, then adjust by ear in the full mix. Feedback with pickups shows up as a low 'hum-swell' around 100-250 Hz. Cut that narrow-ish band rather than turning the whole channel down.
1High-pass filter
80-120 Hz (full band), ~60 Hz (solo/duo)
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) low cut / HPF, not a screenshot. Drawn at 12 dB/oct; the shaded area is what gets cut. Drawn at 100 Hz, the middle of the card's 80-120 Hz. The card also lists ~60 Hz (solo.
In a band, the bass covers the lows; in a sparse set, keep more body.
On the XR18 / X Air: No surface: in X Air Edit (or Mixing Station), open the channel and use the Low Cut switch/frequency in the Config / Preamp area.
2Gate
- Use
- No
Not needed.
On the XR18 / X Air: Channel > Gate tab: enable, then Threshold, Range, Attack, Hold, Release. A key filter is available for frequency-conscious triggering.
3EQ
- LC 100 Hz, 12 dB/oct
- 1 Bell 175 Hz, -3.0 dB, Q 1.5
- 2 Bell 1 kHz, -2.0 dB, Q 2.5
- 3 Bell 4 kHz, +0.0 dB, Q 0.9
- 4 High shelf 11 kHz, +1.5 dB
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) EQ screen, not a screenshot. Curve shows the midpoint of the suggested ranges; HPF drawn at 12 dB/oct; where the card lists alternatives, the first is drawn; a band whose range runs from cut to boost sits at 0 dB.
| Frequency | Gain | Q / width | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100-250 Hz | -2 to -4 dB | Medium | Boom/body build-up; also where feedback often starts with pickups. |
| ~1 kHz | -1 to -3 dB | Medium-narrow | Piezo 'quack'. Sweep to find it. |
| 3-5 kHz | 0 dB (up to +3 dB if it lacks presence) | Wide | Presence/strum definition. Start flat and add only if it lacks presence; too much makes it harsh. |
| 10-12 kHz shelf | +1 to +2 dB | Shelf | Sparkle/air. |
On the XR18 / X Air: Channel > EQ tab: 4 parametric bands per input channel (shelf/peq modes on the outer bands).
4Compression
Attack 10-20 ms · Release 100-250 ms (timing, not shown on graph)
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) compressor screen, not a screenshot. The threshold is an example only: it is set so a −6 dB peak gets about 3.5 dB of gain reduction, the middle of the card's target. Set yours by ear while watching the gain reduction (GR) meter. Drawn hard-knee with no makeup gain. Attack and release shape timing and don't change this curve.
- Ratio
- 3:1
- Attack
- 10-20 ms
- Release
- 100-250 ms
- Gain reduction
- 3-4 dB
Strummed vs fingerpicked parts vary a lot in level.
On the XR18 / X Air: Channel > Dynamics tab: Threshold, Ratio, Knee, Attack, Hold, Release, makeup Gain and Mix (parallel).
5FX send
Small reverb send
Plate / small hall, about 1.4 s decay, send around -18 to -12 dB.
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) sends view, not a screenshot. Bus numbering depends on how the venue file is patched; set the level by ear.
Pickups sound dry and boxy; a little reverb helps.
On the XR18 / X Air: X Air has 4 internal FX slots fed by dedicated FX sends (FX1-4) on every channel; set the send level on the channel's Sends tab and bring FX returns up on the FX return faders.
🎧 What to listen for
Feedback with pickups shows up as a low 'hum-swell' around 100-250 Hz. Cut that narrow-ish band rather than turning the whole channel down.
Common gear for Acoustic Guitar
- Radial ProDI · Passive DI box
- LR Baggs Venue DI · Acoustic preamp/DI
Scene / preset file
Coming later: downloadable XR18 / X Air channel preset for this card.
Sources
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