Do Some Guitars Record Better Than Others?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dani Pace
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Dani Pace

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The more I record, the more I notice the differences in the sound of certain guitars. Some guitars sound great and some sound like crap, anyone else noticed this? I'm not refering to any brand, I just mean some guitars just don't record well. I mean the ones that sound good when played live but for some reason which totally baffels me sound horrible on playback. Try a different amp, try a different mic, try different settings, rearrainge placements, beat head on wall, nothing helps! Is it just me or has anyone else noticed this? There has to be an explanation for why some guitars just don't want to be recorded. Check tuning, check intonation, check electronics, beat head on wall again, it still sounds like crap! Why? Why? Why? Surely someone knows.
 
have you ever heard of those tribes from the middle of no where who dont allow their picture to be taken because they beleive it will steal their soul or something like that?

there are guitars like that, only they dont want to be recorded and they dont run around naked on the discovery channel.
 
Lol, Casey, you might be onto something. Most of the ones which seem recorder shy are from Indonesia. Makes me wonder if it was something in the water where the trees were grown.
 
First place to look is pickup style. Single coil pickups produce hum that is quite clear when recording. Humbucker pickups tend to be quieter and record better. Both may sound good live and other band noise drounds out the hum.

Guitars like the Line6 Variax are dead quiet.

Ed
 
Dani Pace said:
The more I record, the more I notice the differences in the sound of certain guitars. Some guitars sound great and some sound like crap, anyone else noticed this? I'm not refering to any brand, I just mean some guitars just don't record well...Why? Why? Why? Surely someone knows.
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I'll have to write this off to engineering inexperience.

At least in theory, a good engineer can make anything sound like anything else -- that's what modelers do, for example. It's all just manipulating waveforms, really. You'd be surprised what an experienced board man with pro ears can do simply with EQ alone.

I know a guy who up until a couple of weeks ago was an in-house recording producer/engineer for one of the mulinational entertainment industry giants. That guy can make anything sound good. He also has a little home apartment hobby studio with consumer-grade stuff and a computer with which he turns out giant guitar sound, even running direct through a J-Station so not to bother the neighbors. A lot of guitar stuff he did at home wound up on major-release movie and TV soundtracks, for example, though he normally uses the biggest studios in Hollywood for his daily work.

People always say that "tone is in the hands," and I think that applies to recording, too.
 
bongolation said:
I'll have to write this off to engineering inexperience.

At least in theory, a good engineer can make anything sound like anything else -- that's what modelers do, for example. It's all just manipulating waveforms, really. You'd be surprised what an experienced board man with pro ears can do simply with EQ alone.

I know a guy who up until a couple of weeks ago was an in-house recording producer/engineer for one of the mulinational entertainment industry giants. That guy can make anything sound good. He also has a little home apartment hobby studio with consumer-grade stuff and a computer with which he turns out giant guitar sound, even running direct through a J-Station so not to bother the neighbors. A lot of guitar stuff he did at home wound up on major-release movie and TV soundtracks, for example, though he normally uses the biggest studios in Hollywood for his daily work.

People always say that "tone is in the hands," and I think that applies to recording, too.
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lets just not forget that "we can fix it in the mix" is one of the biggest jokes in the industry.
 
Kasey said:
lets just not forget that "we can fix it in the mix" is one of the biggest jokes in the industry.
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The reason that it's a joke in the industry is that it's pretty much what the industry consists of these days.

Seriously.
 
Without the technical wizardry available in pro studios I find out of all the guitars I own the ones made out of cheapish type woods (Indonesian hardwood etc) that have non identifiable pickups have the lowest quality sounding recordings.
I can hear the the difference big time when I play my Fender Strat unplugged against my Ibanez RX series. The resonance and amplitude between the two guitars is like chalk and cheese.
So I believe these Indonesian type produced guitars obvously were not breast fed as infants and drank to much of the local water.
 
Who would have thought that cheap, poorly made instruments wouldn't sound as good as well made instruments. I would have never guessed, not in a million years.
 
Dani Pace said:
The more I record, the more I notice the differences in the sound of certain guitars. Some guitars sound great and some sound like crap
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Maybe you are using the wrong guitar for the song or your style (not generic style, but YOUR style) of music?

Every guitar, no matter how shitty, can be made to sound good if its sound is known and used in the proper place. -and to a further extent, not using a EMG equiped guitar for bell like Fender surf cleans.

Even shitty acoustics can record good. Some might not fit some things, they they will sound good if they have the rhythm section that has a complimentary EQ(and I don't mean outboard EQ right off the bat, I mean in general frequencies). Sometimes its just not gonna work for that song, but thats just like some mics don't work for some instruments at certain times.


If you find a guitar that you play is usually bright sounding, then that one might work well in a muddy type rhythm to cut through the mix for that solo.

If its kind of drab sounding, it might make the perfect backing guitar so as not to distract from the focal point.
 
generally the problem is mismatched mic to source... the right mic can drastically improve a marginal source...
 
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