Capturing the attack for heavy guitars?

[rwpattie11]

I've followed a lot of the steps posted in this forum and on the "slipperman" page about getting a great tone while recording high gain guitars, but the one thing I'm really missing is the percussive pick attack. I'm using a Sm57 about 4" off the dust cover of the speaker directly into a Line6 UX-8. Is not having a quality preamp the issue?

 

[Ronan]

A good pre amp will certainly help. Also if you want guitars to sound heavier, it usually helps to use less gain (heavy distortion softens the attack) also try moving the mic a little closer to the center of the cone.

 

[mewsician2]

A good pre amp will certainly help. Also if you want guitars to sound heavier, it usually helps to use less gain (heavy distortion softens the attack) also try moving the mic a little closer to the center of the cone.

That's real good advice, you could also try a bass roll off at around 200hz, I do that sometimes when my guitar tracks start to muddy up, also experiment with a little EQ boost in the midrange starting at around 750 hz, and go up depending on what you're looking for, but be conservative when boosting EQ, not more than a few db, also, if you're using compression do so in moderation, it can kill the attack if it's too much.

Good luck.