Distorted Guitar question

M

Mikeeley

New member
I am using:

Fostex DMT-8VL recorder
Mackie 1642-VLZ pro mixing board

and i own the following mics:
3 Sm57s (shure)
C3000B (AKG)
C1000S (AKG)

I tried putting the Sm57 right in front of my amp and then into the mackie for mixing, but it didnt sound very good.
does anyone have any advice they could give to me to make the guitar sound really good?

also, Im getting a weird, clicking noise everytime i hit a string on the guitar with my current set-up, if that helps at all...

any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
 
57's are a really common mic for distorted guitars. I would say it is possobly an issue of microphone placement, but it is hard to say much without some info:

-What guitar/amp are you using?
-What kind of sound are you looking for?
 
The clicking noise could be a number of things, including the guitar itself, using the wrong kind of pick, improper technique, overboosting the highs on the board's eq, not using the preamp section of your board correctly, etc. Could also be the amp. What kind do you have?

As far as mic position, directly in front is often not the best place to put a mic. You will need to move it around and listen several times to find the sweet spot on your amp, which may vary based on the instruments, their parts in the song, and the song itself.

I like to have my mic placed parallel to the edge of the amp, facing inward and pointing to about an inch from the left or right of the cone.

Also, try putting your amp in a chair, but leaving some room in back to capture the flow of the signal.

Also use strings that are fairly new but broken in and use batteries in any equipment that can run on them.

Cy
 
okayy

well. i dont really know how to use the pre amp section opn the amp. (if you could help me with that, it would be greatly appreciated)

now for my amp. im using a crate GFX-60

im looking for i guess an emo, hardcore, punk sound


bands like

alexisonfire (for the hardcore/emo sound)

leftover crack (for the punk sound)

if you could give me some ideas on where to place the mic. i would appreciate it a LOT.

thanks
 
crate is the problem? hahahahahahahahaha..ok

i own the crate gfx 60......i went and bought a peavey reknown 212 and i cant stand how either one of them sound on recordings. the best sound i ever got out of an amp was a fender classic 1x12 tube amp.....it covered blues, rock, punk and everything else i could dishout. i'm really starting to believe the whole "tube" religion.....you know...god made tubes, man made digital....man gets testicular cancer. anyway ....try finding a small tube amp..kustom makes some cheap ones or try a tube preamp ....maybe that would help....or the johnson jstation or something like that...I run a Boss GT-6 directly into the mixer and its not the greatest but i gets the job done without the bass rumble and muffled distorted whine i get from using my amps
 
i like crate distortion, believe it or not.
my guitarist has a big crate, and i recorded almost our entire album with that distortion.
the mic placement is really what it's all about.
out more from the center for a deeper/muffled sound, in for a high/piercing sound. just play around with that.

also - turn down your GAIN/CRUNCH on the distortion more than where you like it at. trust me. it will be thicker when you double your parts and pan them about 4 o clock / 8 o clock.

Get some highs in there too.

also, a great kick drum and bass tone is imperitive. line all 3 parts up for a thick ass sound.
 
yeah shackrock's idea works too

i got on one way of thinking and didnt think about that....that gain/crunch/overdrive is very key to sound
 
Mikeeley said:
i meant to say "the pre amp section on the mixing board"
Click to expand...

I was referring to the preamps on your mixer. If you have to crank the crap out of the gain
to get a manageable signal, then you do not have the preamps on, making anything
coming out of the mike sound scratchy and horrid.

For excellent tips on recording distorted guitar, go here:

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=64239&highlight=guitar

Read pipelineaudio’s post.

A guitar with too much crunch tends to get lost in the mix, even when doubled or tripled. I’m not saying that it’s wrong to crank up the crunch, because it will always depend on the
song you are tracking and the style of the distortion you are trying to achieve. YMMV

I use a Crate GT80, which is a two channel tube/solid state amp. I keep it on the cleanest tube setting and use an RP-100 amp modeler. The distortion on the Crate may suck, but it drives pretty well clean.
 
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