getting good sounds

[wannaberocker]

Hello... new to the site as well as recording. I am not looking for a magic answer but just a little bit of input from other home recordists......

Doesn't seem like i can ever get a decent sound tracked in. Now my question is if you had a great guitar player with great tone and chops, then you used an industry-standard mic and preamp combination ( such as an API 512c and a sm-57) into say a digidesign 002, would the sound require you to eq it and process it to hell and back to get it to sound like a proffesional recorded guitar?

I guess what im trying to ask is.....does everyone eq and compress everything? Does everything need to be enhanced or "shaped to reproduce properly on speakers? I would think that if you used the best player,amp-tone,mic and pre, as well as mic placement, room, you should have to do nothing for it to reproduce correctly...... because the sound being recorded is the real sound of a marshall thru sm-57. Or you should change the combinations above till you get the desired result.

Sorry i might be asking the wrong question. This is out there a little but....

 

[TexRoadkill]

Usually a good player with a good tone and a good signal path is all it takes. Sometimes a bit of low cut and limiting may be standard practice for rock but it shouldn't take any drastic measures.

What usually throws off most new engineers is learning what actually sounds good or works well. Sometimes a good amp sound in the room isn't the best sound for the mix. When recording guitar you usually want more high mids and less lows then most guitar players are used to.

If you post a clip of the tracks we can give you better advice. Maybe it sounds great and your monitors suck.

 

[eyema_believer]

I guess what im trying to ask is.....does everyone eq and compress everything? Does everything need to be enhanced or "shaped to reproduce properly on speakers? I would think that if you used the best player,amp-tone,mic and pre, as well as mic placement, room, you should have to do nothing for it to reproduce correctly...... because the sound being recorded is the real sound of a marshall thru sm-57. Or you should change the combinations above till you get the desired result.

Sorry i might be asking the wrong question. This is out there a little but....

I personally think you are on the right track. EQ and compression will be the 2 most used tools in any successful engineers processing tool box. It will be the difference between slammin' tracks and something that sounds like it was recorded in your bedroom....you don't want it to sound that way, even if you did. I think way too much emphasis is put on gear. Any kid can work for a few months and save up enough cash to get started making real music. Yes, the gear has to be up to a certain level, but that is easy to accomplish these days. The most important thing is learning how to use your stuff.

Peace!

~Shawn

 

[Dani Pace]

A good musician, in a good room, with good gear and recorded on good gear should require less post recording processing. Mics do not "hear" things exactly like your ears so they may not record things quite the way they sound to your ears. Moving a mic a few inches or changing it's angle a little will alter what it "hears." Don't be afraid to try different mics ( a 57 may not be ideal for your situation) or mic a different speaker (on a multi speaker cab.) Less distortion and more mid tones may not be as pleasing to your ears but generally record better. A little EQ will help to even the guitar tone, cutting a frequency a little is usually better than boosting a weak one. Compression, used sparingly, can also help. Over compressing sometimes results in muddy sounding guitar tracks. Experiment with mic placement, when you find the "sweet spot" you will discover that you will need little or no post processing for most guitar tracks.

 

[MessianicDreams]

What usually throws off most new engineers is learning what actually sounds good or works well. Sometimes a good amp sound in the room isn't the best sound for the mix. When recording guitar you usually want more high mids and less lows then most guitar players are used to. .

I think that's spot on. What works in a mix isn't always what sounds best nor what you'd expect it to be. I would suggest against *only* EQ and compressing when the instrument is solo'd. Of course, it can be hard to find and grab that problem frequency if there's a whole mix in there, but remember what works in the mix isn't always what works on it's own.

If it sounds good in the mix, that's the most important. Quite often things on their own sound a bit shit, but once you put them in the mix they sound great!

 

[Daisy]

I'm a firm believer that the track ain't done until it's been pulverised to smitherines and EQ'd until you don't recognize it any more.

 

[Dani Pace]

I'm a firm believer that the track ain't done until it's been pulverised to smitherines and EQ'd until you don't recognize it any more.

hahaha
Yep, if that's what it takes to get the sound you are after, then go for it. It's all about getting the sound you want, sometimes it takes very little processing, sometimes it takes a lot.