How to achieve that HUGE Guitar Sound?

lost studios said:
I forget to mention the bass relationship as well. Sometimes that huge wall of guitar that your are describing that you desire is actually half the bass guitar.


I forgot to mention that too.:cool:
 
This is my dream, to find the biggest sound ever. haha. kinda like weezer - i love how most of their tracks sound (blue album and pinkerton).

anyway:

1 - i saw somebody mentioned SM57 up close, condensor a few feet away. BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU DO THIS!!! because more often than not, if you don't find the sweet spot (both how FAR from the amp you are, and left/right, and up/down, an where you aim it! it all matters!!), it sounds like a constant flange going on. really, i never do it because that sweet spot is quite a task to get. But maybe it's worth a try at the least.
2 - If there is one guitarist, i usually do about 8 o'clock/4 o'clock panning...with two different takes on guitar. Sometimes I change the tone or mic position on these too, to make a little differenter sound. (is differenter a word? i think not...ha)
3 - For 2 guitarists, i usually:
A. record one of them twice, pan them (8-4 again usually). And record this other guy's guitar track once, with the contrasting tone to what has been panned (aka, if the panned stuff has a lot of high and high mids, i record the center one more central mids, low mids).
B. record both of them twice. pan the same guitarist's tracks (8-2), then the other guitarist's tracks (10-4)...or somethin like that. mixes it up, and sounds cool. also leaves some room for vox and other things in the center. but you can definately experiment with these panning directions.
4 - BASS AND KICK DRUM ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! You want your bass and kick to align so well with your guitars. the kick should have some low end to it, and some unch that breaks through the guitars a bit. the bass should fill up all the low end space where the guitar is cut off, and where the kick isn't, and try to let some high mids shine through too. It's mass hard to do, but eventually you'll find it where it's really nice. This is usually a big mixing task - and hopefully you won't have to hugely EQ things up.
5 - as was said, (and i know, the guitarist will kill you as you start to turn down their distortion gain)...turn that shit down a little bit. That killer crunch can be achieved BETTER if the distortion is less. it just sounds bad when there is mass.

6 - Most importantly..MIC PLACEMENT! get that sm57 exactly where you want it pointed. do some 10 sec. samples at different places if you need, and pick your favorite that lines up with the bass/kick nicest. just a suggestion there...but really, make the placement good - it makes a world of a difference.


That's my general rules, and they seem to work. I've gotten some killer thick guitars. good luck.
 
If your dealing with one guitarist, add reverb, and stereo precense, or seperation. dealing with more than one guitar, pan them apart. However, some parts of the song you may want to have them jump together. Listen to 'Hell's Bells' By AC/DC for an excellent example of when guitars should be panned together or apart. aside from that, EQ the L+R differently. some folks think making an exact clone of the track and panning 100L/100R will make a difference, but in reality it wont change a thing. the more difference in the LR tracks, the bigger. Good luck.,
 
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