Can't Get Guitar to sound right when recording

  • Thread starter Thread starter Simplex09
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The playing is a bit rough, but your tone is better than some previous clips you put up.
So, there is improvement!
Actually it was the first time I recorded that tone in particular so I had no idea how it would come out, I'm doing some more messing around with the tone / playing and seeing if I can get it better. But towards the start of the post I understand what everyone was saying about depth.
 
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Actually it was the first time I recorded that tone in particular so I had no idea how it would come out, I'm doing some more messing around with the tone / playing and seeing if I can get it better. But towards the start of the post I understand what everyone was saying about depth.
Here is a clip I did tonight with a bit more practice and messing a bit more around with the tone. Thanks for your help guys it defiantly sounds a bit better than when I started this topic.
 

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It's very sort of dark sounding - loads of energy at the bottom end, and less at the top? That's a bit unusual for this style. Playing is better - but if you don;t mind a suggestion - play with a click or a drum in your ears because you speed up and slow down quite a bit. I tapped my foot and then realised somehow I was on the off-beat. That's a really important thing for guitarists to do, because at some point you play with a drummer and need to keep up!
 
It's very sort of dark sounding - loads of energy at the bottom end, and less at the top? That's a bit unusual for this style. Playing is better - but if you don;t mind a suggestion - play with a click or a drum in your ears because you speed up and slow down quite a bit. I tapped my foot and then realised somehow I was on the off-beat. That's a really important thing for guitarists to do, because at some point you play with a drummer and need to keep up!
So would you suggest adding more trebble? Or eqing the lowend out at 90-200? I have been removing the eq at 90-120 but for this riff I left it in. Secondly I do like the suggest of the click/drum I learnt how to play this years ago but haven't touched on it for a while. I noticed when i first started to record the riff how poor the timing was. But I wanted to try something "new and different" by trying to get another tone.
 
So would you suggest adding more trebble? Or eqing the lowend out at 90-200? I have been removing the eq at 90-120 but for this riff I left it in. Secondly I do like the suggest of the click/drum I learnt how to play this years ago but haven't touched on it for a while. I noticed when i first started to record the riff how poor the timing was. But I wanted to try something "new and different" by trying to get another tone.
Finally got a chance to listen to this - I got pretty heavily into the "shred" thing over time, but Cobain was the reason I picked up a guitar in the first place. Always happy to listen to some Nirvana.

It could be some sort of a sampling rate issue, but it's happening both on my recording setup (where I have a proper set of monitors) and my work laptop (where it's just the internal speakers) so I don't think so - my biggest critique is you're significantly rushing the song. I'd say something like 30% faster than recorded, and i think that's where some of your timing issues are coming from, as the performance sounds kind of rushed. Your dynamics are a bit more heavy handed than Cobain's here too, with a firmer pick attack - the studio version has a fairly delicate touch to this part, which helps play up the contrast when the distorted stuff comes in.

The tone is actually pretty squarely in the right ballpark for this song - maybe a hair more gain than the studio version but I think that's your picking attack more than your amp. The studio version isn't really what most people would call a "nice" clean tone, but it's got this cool just-shy-of-grittiness to it that snarls a little when Kurt digs in, and I think you're a little further into that snarl territory than he is.

So, slow it down, play this with a lighter, more ethereal touch, and I think that will get you a lot farther towards getting this tone than fiddling with your amp or mic will here. In the mix, yeah I'd probably tuck back the low end a little bit, but only a little.
 
So would you suggest adding more trebble? Or eqing the lowend out at 90-200? I have been removing the eq at 90-120 but for this riff I left it in. Secondly I do like the suggest of the click/drum I learnt how to play this years ago but haven't touched on it for a while. I noticed when i first started to record the riff how poor the timing was. But I wanted to try something "new and different" by trying to get another tone.
I would suggest you tune your guitar before going any further - and lighten up a lot - your playing is really edgy - but it seems like you want smoother - as for the sound - to me it sounds like you are going direct? Are you?
 
Try a tuner, and a metronome. Practice with the metronome until you can play the notes without thinking.
Also, learning how to play in "a studio" has it's own set of issues. Try not to think about the recording, and just play.
 
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