C
cantthinkofname
Active member
After reading this in Guerrilla Home Recording i thought i would post some of it in case it might help somebody, or if someone else thinks differently then i might hear the opposing opinions, or even any examples anyone would like to post who uses the same process.
From Guerrilla Home Recording Distorted Rhythm Guitar Section p.142:
"A good crunch sounds big and complex. One way to get that is to play into three $2,000 guitar amps at once, each double-miked in its own separate isolation booth, with the six mics recorded to six different tracks. But that's not feasible for us Guerrilla recordists - so we have to improvise.
You can get a decent one-guitar sound with just one amp and one mic, but if you really want a sound that's big and powerful, try layering sounds and spreading them around the stereo field a bit.
The key to layering crunch guitar is to put down slightly different tones with each pass, and playing the parts as tightly with each other as possible. A modeling device like the Line 6 POD can really come in handy here. I usually start by recording two passes of direct guitar through one amp-model setting, but i use a different cabinet model for each (perhaps a 4x12 and a 1x12), and i pan these tracks apart - say, 10:00 and 2:00.
I might also change the guitar's pickup-selector switch or the pickup-blend knob's setting between passes. When i'm finished with the direct passes, i record two miked-amp passes. Since my guitar amp doesn't have that great a crunch sound (one of these days i'll get myself a real Marshall stack), i again use the modeling device, but this time i bypass the cabinet models.
As before, i try to get a slightly different sound with each of these passes, perhaps by changing the guitar's pickup settings/blend and changing the amp's settings slightly and moving the mic an inch or two.
I pan these tracks apart as well, but not to the same exact positions as the direct tracks - perhaps 9:00 and 3:00. if i'm lucky, i'll get an enormous, powerful sound, and if i did a good job in the playing department, it'll sound like one massive performance.
Before i got into modeling devices, i used an approach similar to the one above, only i ran my guitar into a distortion pedal before the amp, and all four passes were miked-amp. (Without using amp-modeling technology, pretty much any direct distorted tone sounds flat and electronic.) I've gotten much better sounds since adding the modeling device to the chain.
Don't forget the chunk. In most applications, distorted guitar needs to be heavy and chunky. That means you should make sure there's plenty of low end - or at least low mids - getting to the multitrack. You might even need to tame the highs; excessive high end on a crunch tone can be buzzy and annoying, undermining the sound's power.
Don't let things get muddy; just make sure you're capturing the sonic equivalent of a brick house. If the tone you're getting isn't heavy enough, try beefing things up on the modeling device or amp - turn up those bass and midrange knobs before you reach for EQ at the board. If you go overboard, you can always bring down the guitar's lows a little with EQ during mixdown."
From Guerrilla Home Recording Distorted Rhythm Guitar Section p.142:
"A good crunch sounds big and complex. One way to get that is to play into three $2,000 guitar amps at once, each double-miked in its own separate isolation booth, with the six mics recorded to six different tracks. But that's not feasible for us Guerrilla recordists - so we have to improvise.
You can get a decent one-guitar sound with just one amp and one mic, but if you really want a sound that's big and powerful, try layering sounds and spreading them around the stereo field a bit.
The key to layering crunch guitar is to put down slightly different tones with each pass, and playing the parts as tightly with each other as possible. A modeling device like the Line 6 POD can really come in handy here. I usually start by recording two passes of direct guitar through one amp-model setting, but i use a different cabinet model for each (perhaps a 4x12 and a 1x12), and i pan these tracks apart - say, 10:00 and 2:00.
I might also change the guitar's pickup-selector switch or the pickup-blend knob's setting between passes. When i'm finished with the direct passes, i record two miked-amp passes. Since my guitar amp doesn't have that great a crunch sound (one of these days i'll get myself a real Marshall stack), i again use the modeling device, but this time i bypass the cabinet models.
As before, i try to get a slightly different sound with each of these passes, perhaps by changing the guitar's pickup settings/blend and changing the amp's settings slightly and moving the mic an inch or two.
I pan these tracks apart as well, but not to the same exact positions as the direct tracks - perhaps 9:00 and 3:00. if i'm lucky, i'll get an enormous, powerful sound, and if i did a good job in the playing department, it'll sound like one massive performance.
Before i got into modeling devices, i used an approach similar to the one above, only i ran my guitar into a distortion pedal before the amp, and all four passes were miked-amp. (Without using amp-modeling technology, pretty much any direct distorted tone sounds flat and electronic.) I've gotten much better sounds since adding the modeling device to the chain.
Don't forget the chunk. In most applications, distorted guitar needs to be heavy and chunky. That means you should make sure there's plenty of low end - or at least low mids - getting to the multitrack. You might even need to tame the highs; excessive high end on a crunch tone can be buzzy and annoying, undermining the sound's power.
Don't let things get muddy; just make sure you're capturing the sonic equivalent of a brick house. If the tone you're getting isn't heavy enough, try beefing things up on the modeling device or amp - turn up those bass and midrange knobs before you reach for EQ at the board. If you go overboard, you can always bring down the guitar's lows a little with EQ during mixdown."
Last edited: