Hey scotty,
I'm at work so I haven't been able to listen to the youtube clip (even on my iPhone =() but I've searched hard for many years to achieve a good professional unique metal tone without spending 20k. I have a couple suggestions that made a huge difference for me.
-What guitar are you using? Pickups on the guitar make a HUGE difference. I prefer EMG-81 at the bridge and that keeps things very tight and punchy.
-make sure your using thick gauge strings. I use ernie ball not even slinkies that have a gauge set of 012 .016 .024p .032 .044 .056
- A lot of people will tell refer certain amps because they work good in certain situations. It really matter what your application is. For example, Marshall JCM900 sounds pretty badass when cranked, but when using them anything below 4 volume they sound like ass to me. To be honest I've never liked marshall tone for metal. They have more of a hard rock tone than metal IMO. I actually just sold a JCM2000 tsl 100 on ebay which might be a good option for your amp
-A rule of thumb I use is to limit the effects as much as possible for the core tone with the exception of eq and compression (I compress rhythm guitar VERY rarely). A lot of people like adding tubescreamers and overdrive pedals to tweak tone a bit but I've always thought they make the tone muddy and not as clear.
-I've had much better success record DI than I have with micing (mainly due to my enviroment and not being able to crank it)
-When recording direct input make sure you gain going in is as close to clipping as possible without clipping
-My experience with amp modeling SOFTWARE is that its close but never good enough. Surprisingly enough I just bought a Peavey VYPYR 120h and absolutely love it! It is a digital modeling amp (I HATE line 6 BTW) with a real tube power section and diode clipping distortion (the real thing). I know go from line out on my head to the line in on the interface.
-A lot of people overlook proper equalization. When figuring out a new guitar tone i will usually spend at least an hour on a graphic EQ dialing in tone. A couple of tips I've learned when EQing:
1. Only eq for about 20 mins MAX at a time than walk away and stop listening for 3-5 mins. Keep repeating this so your ears dont get fatigued.
2. Make sure your listening to reference monitors or at least know very well how music sounds on your speakers
3. Save your presets on your DAW and come back to them. Catalog and keep track of your preset EQ. Bouncing around with different EQ's that you have set can save a lot of time as opposed to trying to perfect your EQ every time.
4. NEVER underestimate the power of EQing, it is CRITICAL in coloring your tone.
GOOD LUCK MAN!!!!!!! \\nn//
check out
www.myspace.com/guitardedmark
This is outdate by quite a bit and the file sounds like shit when it got compressed down to put on myspace but i recorded that ALL DI with guitar>boss metal zone>interface>lots of EQ
