Distrotion Recording Problems-weak sounding

[noose]

Distortion Recording Problems-weak sounding

Greetings, this probably has been asked and I couldnt find the thread, but A patch I have made on my GT3 that sounds great in the room sounds weak when recorded, thin?..narrow like?

my way of recording is to go from the pedle straight to my sound card/mixing bord...this has worked beutifully for keys, bass, acustic and other guitar sounds...

I tried using a a sm58 to mic the amp while it was cranked but it didnt sound "bright enough?".I used a condenser and it was closer to the sound but wasnt processed sounding enough?.. I can almost get what I need while playing with the equ`s, and layering a bass like keyboard under the tin guitar track..close.... but not good enough

I would love the know the best way to get Gilmores distortion off of "momentary laps of reason", or devin townsends sound from "Ocean Machine"...even Linken Parks Dist on their recording is strong and wide, so Im guessing they did a million Guitar layers, or are being creative with Keys implanted on the guitar tracks?

any help on this issue would be great! pardon the spelling and stupid question if you have herd this a million times before *ulp*
-noose

 

[ssscientist]

I would love the know the best way to get Gilmores distortion off of "momentary laps of reason", or devin townsends sound from "Ocean Machine"...even Linken Parks Dist on their recording is strong and wide, so Im guessing they did a million Guitar layers, or are being creative with Keys implanted on the guitar tracks?

The best way to get Gilmores distortion is for you to play it and leave it to a professional to record it. Expecting specific professional, record-quality results from a GT3 is foolish at best. Don't get me wrong - there are MANY cool sounds in there, but the three you are shooting for are probably out of your current reach.

Use home recording for what it's good for - making new and creative sounds and recordings. And leave the rest of the stuff to the big studios for now.

 

[mattamatta]

Maybe try miking an amp again. If it wasn't bright enough, you can adjust the tone controls on the amp, and move the mic more toward the center of the speaker cone. When miking a guitar cab, placement of the mic is everything. I usually start with it about half way between the center and edge of the cone, and move it sideways until I find what I want.

 

[shackrock]

recording decent distortion:
a - sm57 or 58 if you dont have a 57...go ahead and take the ball off though.
b - 2inches, ish (more or less..play around)
c - if it points at the center of the cone, it's all bright as hell. hte further you go out, the more dark/muffled it'll be. be warned, pointing RIGHT at the center of the cone is usually not pleasing results. Try to find the happy medium.
d - turn your mid up on your distortion more than you would think. you need a lot of mid for the guitars to shine through the mix. brightness/treble and bass you can play with depending on what else is in the mix, etc.
e - unless you want cruchy as HELLL, go for a bit less gain that you usually would. a notch or 2 or even 3-4 if you're feelin fun.
f - record the same part twice, pan them L/R (don't have to pan all the way, it's all on you now as the mixer...ha...).

congrats, you have decent sounding distortion.
ha

layer more guitar tracks with different tones/guitars/parts/etc. pan em all over the place (evenly...ha....unless of course you're going for that kind of thing)ha. just know you gotta play those guitar parts on the money every time, or it starts sounding really muddy and kind of rediculous. ha.

holla.

 

[noose]

wow thanks for the help!

Ill be trying all you suggested, thanks for all the diffent things to try (shackrock & mattamatta)

ssscientist- I hope you are wrong about never being able to achieve that in a home studio,...Id like to think sound Tech and recording has advanced a little bit over the last oh..20 years! lol... im sure Gilmore would have KILLED to have the pedles and sound equipment we have today, back in `87,

on that note, I have had some succesfull sound clips that other folks had said I wouldnt be able to do unless I recorded it in a high end studio...sadly lack luster succes with the ol distortion bit. sythetic always sounded best on recordings?

I have mixed a patch for distortion using my GT3 for the "distortion" effect,
and I am running it into my Gr20 syth that uses its gk-3 pickup to trigger a few synths programmed into my sound canvas..then....running the distortion of the gt3 into my mixing bord on one chanel and a line from the sound canvas onto another, and recording it to one track, has got me close to what I want, but the quality Im not satisfied with apears to be from the distortion and I think you guys are right about the mid bit,...

.alas if that doesnt do it then ill do the mic test again, I have avoided mic`s as much as possible, because I live on a buisy street and the "random" car honks and peel outs were getting to me..lol vocals only after dark when it quiets down...

thanks again guys if theres anything else u suggest I try as well, I would LOVE to hear it!

-noose

 

[ssscientist]

I hope you are wrong about never being able to achieve that in a home studio,...Id like to think sound Tech and recording has advanced a little bit over the last oh..20 years! lol...

I kinda suspect you'll be the one needing LOL...

 

[noose]

some more progress

well a combo of the two worked not too shaby! mic (sm58) off center,with mids unreasonably high in room, and keys direct in and under the distotion, a fellow at a local studio suggested recording the guitar raw, (no dist) and adding the dist with pro tools or what ever program available for decent results..he left me with the quote "If its easy, it wont sound good" ...*shudder* lol

ssscientist- ? sorry missed it..

 

[ssscientist]

ssscientist- ? sorry missed it..

Probably for the best...

 

[ecktronic]

Here is a sample of my guitar recorded direct from a Boss GT6. I doulbe tracked and layered and used panning techniques to acheive a thick, full yet wide guitar sound. The tone is not very good as i recorded direct but this is just an idea of how thick you can get guitars with a bit of double tracking and panning techniques.

Sample: "STEREO FIELD" (link at bottom)

 

[mattamatta]

recording decent distortion:
e - unless you want cruchy as HELLL, go for a bit less gain that you usually would. a notch or 2 or even 3-4 if you're feelin fun.

I'd call the too high gain sound more "fuzzy as hell" than crunchy. When I think of something that's really crunchy, it tends to be with less gain rather than more..... I think it's a mistake when people equate more gain with heavier sound, as a couple tracks of lighter gain crunch can get more agressive sounding than a fully saturated hiss tone IMO.