Recording heavy distorted guitars.

T

typecaste

New member
I am having trouble recording my guitars, they sound kind of flat and fuzzy.

I am using an sm57 about a couple of cm from the center of the cone. I am playing through a cort (emg 85)-> digitech rp12-> straight into my DIGI 001. I try to get rid off the high frequencies to reduce the "fuzzy" sound, but then they sound really dull. I want to get rid of the fuzz and have an in your face, "chunky", yet bright sound.
i will post some sound samples before and after EQ.

What would you guys recommend? any help is appreciated, thanks!

Bartek
 
If you are really gettining heavy on the grind that's cool, but sometimes you can reach a point where the tone of the ax disappears and there is nothing left but distortion, so to speak. If you have another amp, or have access to another amp and mic, sometimes it is cool to split out to a second amp and run it clean onto a second track. then you can mix as much or as little of the clean track in with the grind track to add some "body" back into your tone.

Fresh guitar strings don't hurt either. I was scratching my head for a little while last night over what my tone was missing. DOH! Strings were a bit on the worn out side.

Good luck!
 
That's exactly whats happening. the distortion seems more aparent than the actual sound of the guitar. I have brand new strings on my git. Would different mic placement help? I want the guitars VERY apparent, clear, and in-your-face chunky.

If you have another amp, or have access to another amp and mic, sometimes it is cool to split out to a second amp and run it clean onto a second track.
Click to expand...

you mean another track using undistorted clean tone?

thanks!

bartek
 
Exactly. You don't have to mix a ton of it in with the distorted tone, just enough to "flavor" it a little.

It might not hurt to move your mic out a little either, play with the placement a little bit.
 
If you are able to do the two-amp thing, I'd put the mic on the distorted amp out toward the edge of the speaker, maybe 3-4" in. out from the grille and the mic on the clean amp center cone maybe 4" or so out from the grille, as a starting point. It's really just something you have to play around with until it feels good. Guitar tone is a really personal thing. Everybody likes something different.

If you just have one amp to work with, you might try double tracking the rhythm parts in two different passes,dirty and clean. You can get some cool effects like that sometimes.
 
You might also want to try turning your distortion down half of what it is and then record a double track and mix and pan those to taste. Too many guitarists I've recorded have their distortion set to 11 and it always sounds bad.
 
my distortion is set waaaaaaay down. I rerecorded the git tracks last night, and althought they sound better, i just can't get them to sound bright and chunky enough. Once I get to the studio I shall post links to the git tracks. Thanks for all the help!!!
 
All you need to know about the subject can be found in Slipperman's thread, the link is in Moonrider's post.

If you like the sound of your amp, there are a number of mic that will do an exellent job.

Sennheiser MD421, for an open and bright sound with plenty of lows.
Sennheiser MD441, for a tad lesser bright sound with more lows.
Beyer M88, for a very tight sound with nice low end.
Beyer M69, for a little less low end.

I've never liked the SM57 on any guitar, but hey, that's just me!

There are a number of LDC's (large diaphragm condensers) that will do a great job as well, I've had pretty good sounds on amps with a SP B1, full and clear sound.
 
Han said:
All you need to know about the subject can be found in Slipperman's thread, the link is in Moonrider's post.
Click to expand...

hehehe, I've been reading it for the past few hours, great info, thanks!!!
 
just read the whole damn thing. I am going to employ his principles tonight, hopefully i can capture that "perfect" tone. thanks for the help!
 
I use a sm 57 two inches from cab. Then i put a oktava 2 foot back. I also record directly into the mix clean via direct box. The mix of it all comes out fat. On the clean tone i will throw a little amp simulation on it, then eq. It works for me and I mainly record chunky phat guitar tracks.
 
this makes perect sense to me... mixing the clean signal in with the distorted one to give it tone... SO i made a diagram of a possible guitar setup. i used a D.I. box before my distortion effects and sent both the distorted signal and the clean signal to a mini mixer board. then out from the mixer board into my amp. then for live/recording, i will mic the amp. here is a diagram of what im talking about.

CLICK HERE TO SEE DIAGRAM

do you guys see any problems with this idea?




strmkr said:
If you are really gettining heavy on the grind that's cool, but sometimes you can reach a point where the tone of the ax disappears and there is nothing left but distortion, so to speak. If you have another amp, or have access to another amp and mic, sometimes it is cool to split out to a second amp and run it clean onto a second track. then you can mix as much or as little of the clean track in with the grind track to add some "body" back into your tone.

Fresh guitar strings don't hurt either. I was scratching my head for a little while last night over what my tone was missing. DOH! Strings were a bit on the worn out side.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
 
One suggestion: remove the tuner from your recording chain. Most tuners suck tone and add noise. Go direct to the DI box when recording, and unpatch and plug into the tuner between/before tracks to tune up.

Another question: why are you running directly FROM the mixer to the amp? Why not mic the amp and record the mics???? The only line going directly to the mixer should be the DI and the mic(s).

Other than that I don't see anything fundementally wrong with what you are doing, but I'd never record like that (or at least I haven't yet).
 
Thanks for all the replies, they have REALLY come in handy the last few days!!!!
What i am currently doing is guitar->efx pedal (digitech rp12)->blue voodoo->sm 57->digi 001
The guitar sounds pretty damn good (i have tweeked the shit out of the efx pedal eqs).
I also record a seperate track with a "clean," but lightly overdriven effect. I know it isn't split in two, but rather done seperately. The quality has improved dramatically, and everyday the guitars sound better and better. Thanks for all the help!

bartek
 
Cloneboy Studio said:
One suggestion: remove the tuner from your recording chain. Most tuners suck tone and add noise. Go direct to the DI box when recording, and unpatch and plug into the tuner between/before tracks to tune up.

Another question: why are you running directly FROM the mixer to the amp? Why not mic the amp and record the mics???? The only line going directly to the mixer should be the DI and the mic(s).

Other than that I don't see anything fundementally wrong with what you are doing, but I'd never record like that (or at least I haven't yet).
Click to expand...

i appreciate the advice about the tuner... i am going to have an A/B selector that would switch between the tuner and my real setup.

also directly from the mixer to the amp? yes, and if i want sound going directly to the board, i will use the control room outs on my mixer. the amp is more or less a monitor for playing live.

also your confusing the hell outta me with the mics. there will be no mics plugged into my mixer! if i choose to mic my cabinet and/or amp... the mic will go directly to the recording console, not my mixer. my mixer is placed before my amp, and after my pedal. there is one clean untouched signal form the DI going to channel 1 of the mixer, and there is one signal coming from my fx pedal going to channel 2 of the mixer. this way i can mix in a little bit of a clean signal with my distortion (like you can do with the voodoo sparkle drive). understand?
 
chessrock said:
Bookmark it. Print it out and hang it on your wall.


Anyways. It's amazing how many twanker bozo's can't get a grip on the concept that increases in distortion MAKE DIRTY GUITARS SOUND SMALLER, NOT BIGGER. Nu-Metal guys are gonna have trouble buying into any flavor of this concept . . .
Click to expand...
that's the first thing I did. :)

that is one thing I've learned since posting this topic, my tone was saturated with distortion and extremely compressed. Now I have very little distortion gain, a healthy mix of eqs, and light compression. it sounds extremely chunky and distinct.
 
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