Distorted guitar mids

  • Thread starter Thread starter ecktronic
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ecktronic

ecktronic

Mixing and Mastering.
The main thing I usually seem to notice between professional recordings and less professional recordings is the high mids in distorted guitars.
In professional mixes the guitars sound real smooth in the high mids (1k-5k) and aren't harsh, but in alot of less professional recordings the high mids are harsher and not so smooth.

Yeah you can notch out the problem frequencies at mix down, but that can leave the guitars sounding a bit lifeless.

So what I'm getting at is, does anyone have any tips on how to get the high mids in a distorted guitar recording to sound smooth without having to resort to EQ at mix down?

Cheers,
Eck
 
I'd say it's mostly a matter of mic placement. I'm no expert, but whenever I want a smoother top end from the guitars I put the mic off axis a bit or pull it more out of center.
Maybe try a ribbon mic. I hear they deliver a much smoother top end.
 
Good advice from Mr. MH. I would set up 3 or 4 mics at some different places.

I have ran into some similar problems. I think your solution could be one of two things. Either back up the mic off the speaker or turn your amp volume down a bit. I you like the tone I wouldn't touch the volume on the amp. I would either try some different placement or a different mic. I like the Audix I5 for this app. I have had good results even having the mic (dynamic) a foot away from the speaker with the amp cranked.
 
Cheers guys.
Seems mic placement is pretty important in this case.
Ive never spent much time with mic placement on guitars, so I think Ill take my time and experiment with different mics and placement.

I cant afford a ribbon mic, but Im thinking of getting the Beta57A.

Anyone used this mic, or have any other suggestions of mic for recording distorted guitar?

Cheers,
Eck
 
I would echo what the guys say there about mic placement. I find mic placement on a guitar speaker cone to be one of the most crucial placements in a whole mix. That nasty harshness usually comes from sticking the mic up close right in the middle pointed at the dust cap. Slide it an inch to the side and point the mic towards the outer edge of the cone and try that.

The easiest way to see how different placement affects the sound is to turn the amp down really low, put on some good isolation headphones and crank them, then gradually move the mic from one side of the speaker to the other and on and off axis.

You can usually find something that works this way.
 
elementary said:
The easiest way to see how different placement affects the sound is to turn the amp down really low, put on some good isolation headphones and crank them, then gradually move the mic from one side of the speaker to the other and on and off axis.

You can usually find something that works this way.
Click to expand...

Yeah Ive heard of that method but never got round to trying it.
I know that a low volume of the amp is going to have a different tone from a loud amp, but its definetly a good way to start getting those smooth high mids.
Im definetly going to try that though.
Cheers,
Eck
 
One trick I use with guitar recordings is to use a resonant filter instead of EQ.
Starting with 100% wet signal I'll tune the filter down to remove the harshness on the 12dB/Oct range and then turn the Resonance up a few notches to bring back the sizzle at the cutoff frequency. Then adjust the wet/dry mix to balance it out - usually I'll have it between 70% - 85% wet but this depends on how hot the recording is.
 
Somnium7 said:
One trick I use with guitar recordings is to use a resonant filter instead of EQ.
Starting with 100% wet signal I'll tune the filter down to remove the harshness on the 12dB/Oct range and then turn the Resonance up a few notches to bring back the sizzle at the cutoff frequency. Then adjust the wet/dry mix to balance it out - usually I'll have it between 70% - 85% wet but this depends on how hot the recording is.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that tip.
Do you know any decent resonant filter plug-ins that I can have a look at?
I am really looking to solve the problem at tracking not at the mixing stage though.

Eck
 
I use the filters for both ends. I use analog Voltage Controlled Filters on the actual guitar signal and plugins for the recording. It all depends on when I notice the problem.

For a hardware unit you can try the MoogerFooger MF-101.
http://www.moogmusic.com/detail.php?main_product_id=5
It's pretty handy being in the stompbox and all but there are a good number of competing products that do the same thing by Akai, Waldorf, Peavey, JoMox, Sony and Line 6 among others.

The plugin I use is the one that ships with Sound Forge.
 
Cheers man.
Had a listen to your music. Strange stuff! not bad. But the style is way far away from the style of guitars I'm looking to achieve. :)

Eck
 
I struggle with the same thing that you do. on the latest stuff ive been working on I used the antress modern analoger which really fattens the body of, and cleans up the upper end of a guitar track.

http://antress.myweb.hinet.net/

theres the link with all of the modern plugins, some are good, most are cpu hogs, but the analoger really helps in this situation.

heres a thread I started in the mp3 section that I used the analoger on the guitars for.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=242657
 
I cant afford a ribbon mic, but Im thinking of getting the Beta57A.
Click to expand...

there's a lot of cheap ribbon models floating around now...many no more expensive than the beta57

and you'd probably be better with a standard sm57
 
ecktronic said:
Cheers man.
Had a listen to your music. Strange stuff! not bad. But the style is way far away from the style of guitars I'm looking to achieve. :)

Eck
Click to expand...

Thanks I think. I don't have any songs online done with our new guitarist yet. All you heard was some guitar samples I twisted and warped in strange ways.
 
Somnium7 said:
Thanks I think. I don't have any songs online done with our new guitarist yet. All you heard was some guitar samples I twisted and warped in strange ways.
Click to expand...

Gotcha.
Let us know when you have some guitar recordings up, id be interested to listen.

Eck
 
Source Tone... (PUP, AMP, Cab, Speaker)

Mic Selection...

Mic Placement...
 
I think the guitar, amp, cab and room are all more important then mic choice or placement. No amount of clever mic placement will fix a shitty tone.
 
i find that a nice EQ to use on distorted guitars is the Nyquist EQ plugin. for some reason, i always find myself reaching for that one. it's easy to sweep and adjust to find problem frequencies, and the EQ itself sounds flattering to distorted guitar for whatever reason (although it could just be my imagination).


it's awesome for snare drum too when trying to dial out a ring.
 
zed32 said:
i find that a nice EQ to use on distorted guitars is the Nyquist EQ plugin. for some reason, i always find myself reaching for that one. it's easy to sweep and adjust to find problem frequencies, and the EQ itself sounds flattering to distorted guitar for whatever reason (although it could just be my imagination).


it's awesome for snare drum too when trying to dial out a ring.
Click to expand...

Cheers all.
Keep em coming. :)
But remember Im looking to get high mids at the recording stage, I dont want to have to use much EQ to fix the problem frequnecies in the high mids.

Eck
 
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