Can anyone tell me whats wrong?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Winds Of Thor
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Winds Of Thor

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Here's two of our songs in a rough copy...
Just guitar and bass, mainly because those two need the most work. It just doesn't have that clear sound to it.
Today we are going to rerecord, but I'm going to run my bass mic'ed and direct in also.

This is how I usualy run the bass. '78 Jazz -> Swr La-15 -> Sensheisser Mic.(spelling) -> Berhinger mixer -> Boss BR-532 Digital Studio

Then after the recording, I'll run it onto the computer in Sound Forge 7.0 and simulate it in stero delay, and normalize it. Thats about it... Any tips?

http://cornerband.com/html/bandPage/bandPage.asp?band_id=1017541
 
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Yeah - why are you normalizing? Why aren't you tracking it at the level you want (thereby avoiding any unnecessary DSP that ever-so-slightly degrades the signal)????
 
What Bruce said, and I wouldn't use any delay or reverb on it.
 
Winds Of Thor said:
It just doesn't have that clear sound to it.
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Getting a clearer, more intelligable sound is going to require some experimentation on your part -- perhaps even several hours / days / years worth untill you get it the way you want it. You just have to develop your ears and know what to listen for . . . and the bulk of it has to be done before tracking. Too often, people just seem to shut their critical ears off before / during the tracking phase . . . and then they listen back to the results and say: "Hey, this doesn't sound right."

When if they would have listened critically before they began tracking . . . they probably would have realized that it basically sounded like dog shit from the beginning. :D

Try turning your critical ears on before you track. If your guitar doesn't have "that clear sound to it," then mess with it untill it does. Change the pickup. Tweak the tone knobs. Mess with your amp's settings, point the mic a little different, change the strings, plug in a different guitar, etc. etc. etc.

There are no clear-cut answers to this, and there are no shortcuts (no magic boxes to plug in to) to get around the fact that you simply have to experiment.
 
I listened to both of those pieces, here's an idea to get your guitar tone in shape from a different angle.

Play along with a good sounding drum machine or drum loops. That way you can get your guitar to sit where you want it to based on where the kick, snare and cymbols sit. It will also give the timing and pulse of the piece a boost !

I don't think Soundforge is a mult-tracker so you'll have to get everything live while you're recording like folks are suggesting. It will be pretty tricky to monitor all that stuff unless you have some isolation away from the guitar amps somewhere in the control room.

Keep on rockin !
 
Forgive me and correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you're putting your guitar through a Marshall Valvestate amp, and that you're cranking the gain.

The sound you're getting is way too "smooth" for recording. There is such a thing as TOO MUCH GAIN when you're recording. The less gain/distortion you use, up to a point, the more clear and powerful the guitar will sound. Think "crunchy" instead of "fuzzy," which is what you have now.
 
thanks for the replies, i'm goign to try a few different things and will let you all know how it works out
 
bleyrad said:
Forgive me and correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you're putting your guitar through a Marshall Valvestate amp, and that you're cranking the gain.
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No I use a Crate MX-120r but i had the shape all the way up so maybe thats why...the gains (2) were up half way..Iknow i shouldn't crank the gain but i really want that heavy sound
 
if you want heavy, double track the rhythm...and heavy to me, is more highs anyways...think...angus young...not...max cavalera from soulfly.

I usually run direct from a pandoras box, and...its a decent amp modeller...my live setup i have a valvestate 150avt head, with enough tinkering...you can get pretty much anything to sound okay...you definitely need more presence in the guitar
 
So, More high(treble) and less bass? I was told to always cut before boosting!
 
Yeah, I've listened to your stuff too and I agree with Chessrock - there's no magic formula, no double-tracking or anything else that's going to give you the results that you're after...you just have to make small adjustments that will add up to a big change in sound quality.

I would advise you, though, to get away from the Boss recorder ASAP. Isn't that one of those that stores your music @ 33khz on a SmartMedia card?
 
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