Does guitar pickups influence a lot in the mix?

That's a strange question. The answer, no, not technically. Guitar pickups influence the sound you get from the guitar, but how that works in a mix is secondary. You should have your guitar tone and gain staging sorted before you press record.
 
in my opinion yes the pick ups are just dynamic microphones its like using a sm57 copy or using the sm57 the differences are not a lot but I guess SM57 original should make the job easier
 
Wait, what? Um, no. To the mix, the pickups do not matter. Pickups won't fix or ruin a mix. They do affect the guitar tone you get though, and that tone could be good or bad for the mix. In that case it's not the pickups fault if you did something wrong. So no, they don't influence the mix, a human does.

A mix doesn't care what pickups you use. You can record tracks with a single-coil equipped Strat, or a humbucking Les Paul, or an EMG equipped ESP. The sound you get from each one will be different, but it won't matter to the mix.
 
Like (I think) Greg_L, I don't really understand what the OP is asking.

The guitar (or bass) pickup affects the sound of the guitar (or bass). Depending on what you're changing, the effect could be so minor you don't notice it, or huge. It affects the sound of the instrument when you're recording pretty much the same as it affects the sound when you're playing live. It affects "the mix" (live or recorded) in that the sound of that particular instrument changes.

I'm guessing the OP is asking about switching between the bridge and neck pickup. On most electric guitars, that makes a pretty noticeable difference in the sound, which should be fairly obvious. It would typically be much more significant than switching between an SM57 and an SM57 knockoff, though that - of course - depends on just how crappy the SM57 knockoff is.

Other possibilities, among many, are that the OP:
- Is thinking about changing out the pickups in a guitar. Pretty much the same answer, though obviously it depends on what you're switching for what. Replacing a Strat (say) pickup with a pretty much identical replacement won't make a lot of difference (perhaps like replacing an SM57 with an SM57 knockoff). Replacing it with a high-output humbucker will make a lot more difference.
- Is talking about an acoustic guitar pickup. This might kind of make sense. It's very common to use a pickup (piezo or whatever) when playing acoustic guitar live, because micing the guitar poses some challenges in terms of feedback and maintaining mic position. It's more common to mic an acoustic for recording, though you could use a pickup (or both, for that matter). The choice will affect the sound of the guitar in a fairly easy-to-perceive way, which will (of course) depend on the pickup and how you're micing it.
 
I really think it does help depends on the quality of the pick ups cause obviously better pick ups make better tone and tone its transfer to the mix to make a better mix in my opinion really matters to have good pickups
 
So then why did you ask? You've already made up your mind. I'm thinking we have a language barrier happening here.
 
I ask cause I like to know other peoples opinions and thoughts in certain subject thats the point of a forum right?
 
SD88 said:
in my opinion really matters to have good pickups
Click to expand...

Why did you post a thread about this if you thought you already had the answer? :facepalm:

Like everyone is saying, a pickup doesn't affect the mix. It affects your guitar's tone. How you decide to mix that guitar's tone is up to you, not the pickup.
 
If you define:
- "better tone" to mean: the tone that fits better in the mix,
and
- "better pickups" to mean: pickups that produce "better tone",
then:
better pickups fit better in the mix.

QED.
 
It's okay to post up something like this even if you already have an opinion, good for discussion. SD88 probably worded it a little weirdly, but that's okay.

Does the pickup influence the mix? yeah, I think so. Your mix is going to sound different with humbuckers than it would with single coils. You'll have to EQ differently. Maybe compress more of the single than the humbuckers. Etc...

But really, I think this is more a debate on semantics. The pickups affect the tone of the guitar which affects the mood of the song which affects how you're gonna mix it.
 
To the OP....

First you said "different" pick-ups....then later you said "better" pickups.
I guess either/both will have an effect on your guitar tone....so yeah, indirectly, it will have an effect on the mix.

If you mean.....should you go buy better pickups in order to improve the sound of your guitar in the mix.....mmmmmmm....that's stretching it, because you would have to have some really crappy pickups to begin with, and that you couldn't dial in for the right tone at the amp.....but AFA switching to some other pickups in order to get a different tone...sure, though again, how it affects the mix is a bit further down-stream, so there's no guarantee that say....a set of Seymour Duncans (or whatever) will miraculously make you guitars sound better in the mix than some non-name brand/less expensive pups.

I don't get crazy with pickups...but when I'm recording, I know how my guitars each sound, and what flavor the pick-ups add to the overall tone...so yeah, I may choose a specific guitar for something based on how I know it sounds with whatever pups are in it.
All in all, how you play, and the amp/cab will have a much bigger impact on the tone....but pups and the wood used in the guitar, etc...also add to that, though IMO, more subtly.
So, do pick-ups influence the mix "a lot".....mmmmmm, not really a lot, but somewhat....and of course, the whole neck or bridge thing is a different topic, and would be much more noticable if you choose one over the other.
 
I agree with both miro and chili. In the big picture, everything matters to a mix. But it really just comes down to using the right tools for the job.

The pickups don't directly matter to a mix. Pickups can't ruin a mix. They're just not that different. That's like saying "these drum tracks would be better if I used 5A sticks instead of 5Bs". Like miro mentioned, switching from stock budget Epiphone pickups to 57 Classics won't miraculously fix a bad guitar sound that's jacking up a mix. Pickups matter to guitar tone, and that can matter in the mix, but it's not a direct "the pickups ruined this mix" scenario. Pickup type and model is a personal thing. I personally like a "vintage" type moderate output humbucker or single coil. Some people like their pickups hot as hell. That doesn't mean using really hot humbuckers for a surf instrumental is going to ruin the mix. The guitar sound might be all wrong, but if it's tracked properly, it will still work in the mix. All you gotta do is use the right guitar/amp for the job. If a mix is messed up because of a guitar sound, it's the player/engineer/producer's fault. In other words - a human's fault. Someone should know better. Someone should say, "hey that Strat and Fender combo isn't good for death metal" or whatever the case may be.
 
I've thought a bit about this vis-a-vis reamping. The final guitar tone is going to be colored by the guitar that was used to make the recording. I.e. I don't think I can record a Strat and Reamp it to sound like a Les Paul even though I am recording using a line input.
 
sjjohnston said:
If you define:
- "better tone" to mean: the tone that fits better in the mix,
and
- "better pickups" to mean: pickups that produce "better tone",
then:
better pickups fit better in the mix.

QED.
Click to expand...
this guy understands what im saying hahahahaha
 
That's an assumption that "better" pickups will always sit better in every mix.

Not so.

Some times a mellower pickup tone sits better in the mix....sometimes you want real hot pickup tone to make it sit better in the mix....etc...etc....
 
Language barriers abound: including the inability to recognize when someone is using an obvious rhetorical tautology.

At least SD88 can (I think) identify a joke.
 
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