Boomy Guitar When Recording

[IDSKoT]

Hey, guys. Currently I'm using a Digi 002 Rack with an Epiphone Standard, and I replaced the pickups with Gibsons. The one I'm currently using for the rcording is a Gibson 490R.

When I record, it sounds good to me while playing it, until I go to hear it from the computer, then it's all sorts of messed up. It sounds really boomy and bassy. I tried to EQ it, but still nothing. I'm probably doing something wrong. If necessary I can upload a chunk so you can hear it. I'd like to fix it. I've been fooling around with it for a good hour.

EDIT:: Wait, I'm pretty sure I need a pre-amp.

 

[xander.moser]

Are you just recording the DI output of the guitar, plugged into the 002 Rack? The DI signal straight from an electric guitar is very rarely used in a mix.

Are you playing into an amp at all, or using an amp simulator?

And I'm not sure what you mean by "it sounds good to me while playing it." What sounds good?

 

[IDSKoT]

I'm recording straight from the guitar to the back of the 002 Rack.

No amp, no simulator. (Although that seems like a good idea.)

And I'm not completely sure what I meant either...

 

[ocnor]

I'm recording straight from the guitar to the back of the 002 Rack.

No amp, no simulator. (Although that seems like a good idea.)

And I'm not completely sure what I meant either...

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Magnetic pickups need to be connected to something with the appropriate electrical characteristics, which the 002 does not have. You need a guitar preamp, an active direct box or a miced amp.

 

[miroslav]

Magnetic pickups need to be connected to something with the appropriate electrical characteristics, which the 002 does not have. You need a guitar preamp, an active direct box or a miced amp.

Man...WTF did you have to go and tell him that?!

This could have been a fun thread to follow!



Just kidding around, OP......

 

[miroslav]

I'm recording straight from the guitar to the back of the 002 Rack.

No amp, no simulator. (Although that seems like a good idea.)

And I'm not completely sure what I meant either...

Back up bus....no, on second thought, just put it park and take you foot off the gas.

You need to do some Guitar Recording 101 research before proceeding further and worrying about "boomy" tones.
Like mentioned already by bouldersoundguy...either put a mic in front of a guitar amp and connect the mic to the Digi (it has built in preamps)...or connect the guitar directly to a sim/pod box, and plug that into the Digi....either way will work, but not how you are currently doing it.

 

[Greg_L]

Lol. You need an actual amp, or an amp simulator. Anything else will be ass.

 

[xander.moser]

I'm recording straight from the guitar to the back of the 002 Rack.

No amp, no simulator. (Although that seems like a good idea.)

And I'm not completely sure what I meant either...

No worries, we all have to start somewhere.

The pickup of an electric guitar produces a very "raw" tone. It is not very pleasant to the ear, that is why we use distortion to turn it into something more fun to listen to.

Guitar amplifiers are nothing but distortion generators. The clean signal goes in, it gets crushed, it is distorted, and sent to the speaker. The characteristics of the speaker add a whole new aspect to the sound, due to the frequency range it is capable of producing, the distortion it adds to the signal, and the power compression from the heat in the voice coil.

So you see, there is a lot between the pickups of the guitar and what we hear in a good guitar tone.

You need either a guitar amplifier, or something that simulates the sound of a guitar amplifier. That may be a hardware device (sansamp), or one of the many, many plugin guitar amp simulators available. Some sound like crap, others will get you close to a real guitar amp sound.

One thing you can do to give it some character before it hits the computer is to get some nice guitar pedals. They will give you some control of the singal (compression and eq) and can add some nice distortion on the way in (distortion pedals). I would stay away from FX pedals, as it is often more convenient to record a dry guitar signal and then add the effects in the mix.

Let me know if you have any more questions, and have fun experimenting.