my "by the book" electric guitar sound SUCKS

wes480

wes480

New member
Here is what i did, took an SM57, put it straight up against a line6 speaker...got the amp nice and loud and recorded. I ended up with a very weak and not 'in your face' sound. I am trying to get a nice clean/slightly distorted sound. like something U2, or Red Hot Chili Peppers might use. Any ideas? i can post a sound file...if anyone would like to hear what I ended up with. i tried moving the mic around, also tried recording it with a small diaphragm condensor...just never got useable results.
 
guitar sound

This is tough to answer w/o knowing more about the signal path. If you are recording through a noisy s/c or a bad pre, this may be the problem. I also usually end up rolling off some gain when tracking my guitar to make it sound fuller.

Matty
 
Definitely let us know about the preamp.

There is nothing I have heard more about here than the importance of having an adequate preamp. Its the your only as good as your weakest link analysis. You can have a great live sound through the amp/cabinet and a good standard SM 57 but if your preamp sucks your sound sucks.

The prices run from $100 to tens of thousands. I have fairly budget stuff myself. Guitar and bass Sanamps DI and an ART TubePac, 1 SM 57 and a couple rack effects and graphic EQ's nothing that reatailed over $300.

If your are using the built in preamps from a cheap mixer or your entry level 4 or 8 track cassette/digital recorders you won't like the results.

Mike placement is another issue... subtle in apprearance but can be huge in the end result...how close to speaker, angle of the mic to the speaker.
 
yeah, ill echo what these guys said....

first, are you sure you are getting the sound you want out of the amp in the first place?....

when you get that right, you have to experiment with the different speakers to see what one sounds best and experiment with position.....

proper preamp?.....good converters?....

posting a file will help.......
 
I am using the Aardvark Q10 - I know Gidge knows about this unit.

When i bought it...i thought the preamps were good...and...lots of people/reviews say they are good. i am not saying they are bad...but, they certainly arn't great..I will be looking for a new preamp for vocal/guitars etc..like, 1 mic sources..very soon. (after i pickup some behringer composer action).

Any opinions on Q10 preamps would be nice. For now I will have to use them...esp. for like recording drums. becuase, well hell I have 8 of them. And...doing the math...I'd say the preamps should be about on par with a midi man audiobuddy or something...and I can live with that.

Ok, so here is the guitar track. sounds even worse today than yesterday..i think "complete ass" sums it up nicely.



this is kinda the same prob I was referring to in my post about compressors Gidge. I am getting a hint that cheaper preamps don't like quiet signals (most of this track ended up around -8db...to avoid clipping on the louder parts). So...if I get like an AutoCom or a Composer...then I can maybe get like a -1db average singnal to the pre...and that alone might make it sound better?

Listening to this now....its just totally the wrong sound...but, all I can say is it sounded pretty good to me cranked coming out of the amp. but this...this is horid! ;)
 
I don't think it sounds that bad at all...of course I have no idea what you were aiming for.

Many times the sound you think you're going to get isn't what comes through the mic. I would tell you to continue with your song and see it it fits in the mix anyway. At this point you have nothing to lose and since you don't have to pay for studio time, you can change it at will later.

Also, as others have said, you might want to try playing with mic placement.

How loud was the amp? I'm just curious.
 
the amp was definately louder then you would normally have it in the bedroom. Have no clue as far as a db reference...but, I felt like i had it cranked to a pretty good level.
 
Put the SM57 off axis but close to the speaker,then put the condencer about 6 ft away. useing both mics will give you great results.
 
its been my experiance that most guitarists have a tendency to use too much distortion (myself included). one of the most elusive sounds is a clean sound that has alot of power. the way i get it is to run my guitar straight into a joe meek vcq6 (i think thats the model #) and then go from the meek into the amp...engage the compresser and crank it on real heavy. If you have a good clean sound on your amp this will give you a nice warm fat undistorted sound with sustain for days...ala red hot chili pepers (which is to my ears the "hendrix" clean guitar tone).
 
id say pres in the Q10 are definitely on par with a Mackie XDR....thats pretty good.....

i couldnt get the mp3...is it still up?.....

if you are recording a loud distorted tone, compression usually isnt necessary.....back off on the gain/dist a bit and record it as dry as possible.....or have you tried recording it direct?.....
 
I was finding compression neccessary because some parts like, the initial downstrum on beat 1 every 4 or so measures...was clipping...but, the rest was much quieter. maybe there is a better way to solve this.

the mp3 is still up...server may have just gone down for a bit.
 
wes480: you said you're micing a line6-speaker, right? so I guess it's from a line6 guitar-amp.

considering the fact that the smaller line6 amps do sound the way you hear guitars from your CD's (which are already mic'ed and eq'd) the result of mic'ing a line6 amp could be something that sounds like a mic'ed home-stereo.

maybe the best way to get the line6 tracked is to record it direct - I'm quite sure every line6-amp has a nice recording out. if not, throw it away ;) .

always remember: a real guitar-amp in front of you doesn't sound the same as guitars on records do.
 
Line6 amp huh? I've heard fo people having problems with the Pod amplified. I've played through a buddy's Line6 amp and wasn't impressed.

Don't know what to tell you. I think you should try to get the best sound in front of the mic as you can, but I can tell you that it isn't the mic's fault. A 57 in front of a cab is a common occurance in the recording world and you should be able to get a useable sound...amp willing. That's all I ever use and I'm getting what I believe to be a great sound.

I did notice that I can hear the room in the mic and that's why I asked you the volume of the amp. Try a different room and different placements of the mic, and different volumes of the amp. In essence...try experiment.
 
I havent heard your mp3 but a lot of guitarists cut their mids because it sounds good when playing solo but ends up sounding weak in the mix. Are you doing a lot of EQing?

Just a thought.
 
i agree with TexRoadkill. Low mids sound awesome to your ear when your practicing .. but sound like shit when live or recording cause the guitar is a midrange frequency instrument. There's a thread on the topic of mids not too far from this one.
 
thanks for all of the help guys. I think what was said about the line6 sounding like a home stereo could be very true. Becuase thats what i have noticed about it when playing with it more...somehow...no matter what settings I put on it....it already sounds kind of EQ'd, and refined..when coming through the mic.

Also tryed the direct outs..didn't really care for the sound of that...

So, I am going to haul my friends Mesa/Boogie over here and see what kind of results I get.

BTW: The most usable sound that I eventually got out of the Line6 (flextone II XL) was with a Rode NT3 pushed right against the mesh.
 
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