distortion screaming in my ears!!!

C

chkdrummer2006

New member
I am running a home studio with Sonar 2 XL. I am very happy with the way everything in all of my mixes sound exept for guitar distortion. I mic my marshall stack with a sm57 and then run it through a mackie 1604 vlz board without equing it and then into my sound interface to record in Sonar. The main problem i get is when i am mixing the distortion. Their is always a high pitched scream when i increase the highs. When i dont increase the highs, the guitar sounds muddy and it is hard to tell different changes in notes. Should i pull a lot of highs out of the amp itself and put more mids and lows? The scream is not feedback, it is just a high pitched scream that is painfull to listen to.
 
If you're micing the center of the speaker cone, try moving the mic more towards the edge of the speaker. If that doesn't get it try cutting @ 1-3khz.
 
Not sure about screaming -terminology being what it is...
A few things to try, maybe cut the mud freq instead of boosting high end, and use less distortion for tracking. A little cleaner gives a natural edge that high boost might not get.
 
First thing's first - Put your ear where you're putting the mic and see if the tone actually sounds "good" or not. If it sounds pretty hyped in the room, it'll likely sound thin and crappy to the mic.

Obviously, don't trash your ears...

Also, take a careful listen to a lot of good Metal guitar tones - Dream Theatre, Iced Earth, more modern acts like Godsmack and Stained...

These are crunchy, overdriven tones - Not "distorted" but "overdriven" - Probably recorded somewhat quietly through small speakers.

Back in "the day" I had a Laney endorsement (yes, back when they were "real" amps). Live, we'd use the big rigs - Modified AOR's with cascading preamps and all the bells & whistles. At LEAST 2-4 4X12 cabs per side...

In the studio, we'd get 1X12 or 1X10 combo amps - Master volume AOR models - No cascading preamps, no special EQ's, no pedals, and the pre-gain at 7 or so. The sound was HUGE in the mic, and therefore on tape. For leads, we'd bring the pre-gain up. But for huge sounding chunky fat rhythm tracks, back off on the fuzz so some of the tone can get through.

John Scrip - www.massivemastering.com
 
I agree with MassiveM, pull back the distortion a bit to give your notes more clarity. Might help the scream too, I hope. Of course, as I am finding out myself more and more.....mic placement is key. I never knew there were so many sounds in moving a mic an inch here and there. wowiezowie
 
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