Can't Get Guitar to sound right when recording

  • Thread starter Thread starter Simplex09
  • Start date Start date
Hi Simplex09 and welcome. The terms "phase" and "polarity" are often used interchangeably in forums but strictly speaking, when referring to microphone or speaker connections (and power supplies! MOST important to get that right!) "polarity" is the correct one.

If you cannot find either term on your DAW it might be hidden as the Greek letter Phi, an 'O' with a vertical line through it.

And, if you put "Recording guitar amps sound on sound Aug 07" into Google you will find what I still consider THE most comprehensive dissertation on the subject
 
I'm personally using cakewalk just because it was the first program i started with. And i found this tutorial
 
Simplex09 said:
I'm personally using cakewalk just because it was the first program i started with. And i found this tutorial
Click to expand...

Aha! My son uses the free Cakewalk software as well as Samplitude and Reaper. There is a post in the Cakewalk section here titled "Marvelous" of his cover of an AC/DC song. And yes, that YT shows the Phi logo.

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Aha! My son uses the free Cakewalk software as well as Samplitude and Reaper. There is a post in the Cakewalk section here titled "Marvelous" of his cover of an AC/DC song. And yes, that YT shows the Phi logo.

Dave.
Click to expand...
So its cakewalk doing it?
 
Thanks for the feedback! I don't think it sounds right but its a bit better. I have uploaded some clean/distorted riffs and labeled them accordingly.

I recorded them on the left and right channel then in cakewalk used the center channel.
 

Attachments

OK, all of those samples sound exactly the same... extremely distorted and thin.

Lets go to basics. Plug the microphone in and record your voice. 10 seconds of talking is plenty. That will eliminate the placement of the mics on the speakers, or phase/polarity issues. One mic, one voice.

Also, I'm not sure how you are using two microphones with a Scarlett Solo. It only has one mic input. Can you explain that?
 
Steenamaroo said:
Agreed. There's something strange going on here.
Click to expand...
Agree. Starting to question cables and/or xlr connectors. Which I don't think we've seen him say he has switched out to alternates.

And I also think you're correct, steenamaroo, that I don't think mic placement phase issue could cause that level of thinness unless it was deliberate. I finally listened on a better set of speakers as opposed to my phone and I seriously doubt that's the issue.
 
Last edited:
PorterhouseMusic said:
Agree. Starting to question cables and/or xlr connectors. Which I don't think we've seen him say he has switched out to alternates.

And I also think you're correct, steenamaroo, that I don't think mic placement phase issue could cause that level of thinness unless it was deliberate. I finally listened on a better set of speakers as opposed to my phone and I seriously doubt that's the issue.
Click to expand...
So could it be the recording settings in cakewalk maybe?

Or the XLR cables?
 
I think @TalismanRich is right - Posting a short recording of yourself speaking into a single microphone will be helpful in ruling a few things out.

A full description of your setup would be good too because, as Rich pointed out, you've got a solo interface but you say you're recording with two microphones.
 
Steenamaroo said:
I think @TalismanRich is right - Posting a short recording of yourself speaking into a single microphone will be helpful in ruling a few things out.

A full description of your setup would be good too because, as Rich pointed out, you've got a solo interface but you say you're recording with two microphones.
Click to expand...
Sorry should have said that in the first post I have a Kmise 6 channel mixer as well as a solo interface.
 
Thanks for doing that.
Only one file has audio but it's clear from that file that there's no problem with your mic or cable.
Plenty of bass.

I think as a next step I'd recommend just going with one mic, one XLR to XLR cable, and your Solo interface.
Leave the mixer out of the equation completely, for now.

Just get the amp sounding how you like, pull the amp gain back quite a bit against your better judgement,
put the mic an inch or two, at most, from the cone,
and make sure that the interface doesn't indicate overload/clipping (red ring instead of green) while you're playing.

That, hopefully, should give us some idea of how your amp sounds.
 
Ok excellent thanks! So just use the

solo interface
1 mic

And record the results
 
Bingo. Take out anything that's not necessary. 1 Mic, Interface, amp and guitar. Nothing else is necessary.

And I think Steen has the right idea about cutting back on the distortion.
 
That does sound much fuller.
Gain could still come down further but yes, that definitely sounds better.

I'd suggest doing the same thing again, then, but through your mixer this time.
One mic, one cable. Ideally the result should sound the same.


If it does then proceed to two mics, two cables but be sure to pan one of them hard left on your mixer and the other one hard right.
Doing so will ensure that they remain separated in your recording software.

See how that goes. If it sounds thin and crappy pls dump the stereo mp3 (or two mono mp3s depending how you record) here. (y)
 
Steenamaroo said:
That does sound much fuller.
Gain could still come down further but yes, that definitely sounds better.

I'd suggest doing the same thing again, then, but through your mixer this time.
One mic, one cable. Ideally the result should sound the same.


If it does then proceed to two mics, two cables but be sure to pan one of them hard left on your mixer and the other one hard right.
Doing so will ensure that they remain separated in your recording software.

See how that goes. If it sounds thin and crappy pls dump the stereo mp3 (or two mono mp3s depending how you record) here. (y)
Click to expand...
Thanks! yeah this again is c75 > sm57 > solo.

So from my understand and what you just said you should really record your guitar not loud then add in eq and gain in the DAW?

If you do that gives you more headroom?
 

Attachments

It's not so much the volume as the gain - the amount of distortion.
Distorted guitar generally sounds more distorted in the recording than in real life,
presumably due to the proximity of the microphone to the speaker, so it's very common to have to pull the gain back to get the recorded tone you want.

Volume is good, though. Moving air is good. (y)

I think in your original recordings the very high gain isn't helping but there's a more serious fundamental reason why it sounds so thin.
If you follow the last steps I gave, hopefully, we'll figure it out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top