Finding the right balance for metal guitar.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Winterlock
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Winterlock

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Hi!

I'm currently trying to record my band and I can't seem to get a good eq for the distorted guitar part. Whatever I do I keep getting to much what sounds like mid but maybe my ears are just not experienced enough. And yes, I did turn the mid down on both the pedal (Korg AX1500) and the rercorder (Korg D888). But when I turn it down too much it just sounds awful. Any EQ/effect suggestions? I'm looking for a sound like Killswitch Engage or Mudvayne. Thank you!
 
At what stage of the signal chain does your guitar actually sound "correct"? Headphones? Monitors? Amplifier? Are you not capturing the sound that is actually coming from these, or is the recorded sound different from what you hear?

Keep in mind that the bands you mentioned played through some pretty expensive gear, recorded into some pretty expensive mics, which were processed by some pretty expensive.......
 
mikemorgan said:
At what stage of the signal chain does your guitar actually sound "correct"? Headphones? Monitors? Amplifier? Are you not capturing the sound that is actually coming from these, or is the recorded sound different from what you hear?

Keep in mind that the bands you mentioned played through some pretty expensive gear, recorded into some pretty expensive mics, which were processed by some pretty expensive.......


It sounds right when coming from my amp but I was trying to aleviate the use of my amp by just going direct in from my pedal using its Amp modeling features. Should I be micing the amp or is my method acceptable?

And I understand that I wont get it like those guys with their big fancy shmancy equipment but I figure I could get it close.
 
Sounds like you should be micing your amp. The best part is, you'll just need an sm57 for this gig. The real trick is mic placement. A few centimeters here or there, a little different angle makes all the difference. Have someone else move the mic around, while you listen in the control room or through the cans, until you get what you want to hear. Should be a lot easier to EQ that track later.
 
There's really no right answer to how many mics. Experiment, record, close mic, room mic, whatever. Usually a 57 right up on the grille in the best speaker will do the job. Don't play so loud as to cause speaker or microphone damage. Play as loud as you need to get the sound you're after. Maybe add some 4:1 compression on the way in to limit some peaks.
 
Winterlock said:
And yes, I did turn the mid down on both the pedal (Korg AX1500) and the rercorder (Korg D888).

Guitars occupy mostly midrange frequencies. It's all fine to do the 'death scoop' mid cut thing if you are playing on your own. But with everything else in a tune playing, it won't cut through the mix properly. Crank those mids!

But yes. Miking an amp if you can will improve things dramatically. Make sure you keep the mids up there too! :)

If you need to record direct, and you are getting a little too much fizz, try an EQ sweep....just do a really narrow band boost of about 6db somewhere on a parametric EQ, and sweep it from high to low/low to high. It will help locate any problem frequencies, which you can then cut. I used to have to record direct from my amp as I had no other option, and this helped a fair bit. I think I found fizz at around 35khz, although my memory is very poor so I may be wrong. That said, if you can mic an amp it will help far more.

Also, turn your gain down a bit if you aren't already. you don't need so much when you are recording, it might make things bit too fizzy. Double tracking/layering will give you the crunch you need

In addition, I personally wouldn't compress distorted guitar on the way in. It's already pretty well compressed anyway, and your better leaving it raw so you have the option of compressing (or not) later. Shouldn't have to worry about peaks with distorted guitar on the way in if you aren't tracking too hot, because if you are tracking at the right volume, you won't come anywhere near clipping anyway. But that's just my opinion. I personally very rarely compress distorted guitars at all unless I am looking for a specific sound or if I feel I really need to.

Hope this is of some help.
 
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Thanks for the help and I am currently trying the "turn down the gain" method and it's sounding quite delicious! I think I found the right mid balance and amp volume so we'll see!
 
Don't forget mic placement, you can do a great deal of "eq" work jsut moving the mic around.

Daav
 
Not sure why nobody asked this: what kind of amp are you using?
 
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