Guitar tone

  • Thread starter Thread starter mwrecording
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mwrecording

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Hey guys, I don't post too much but I'm a big daily reader.
Lately I've been able to get drum sounds that I'm in love with but I haven't been able to get any guitar sounds that I would even say are passible.

I've been trying to get a modern rock/metal distorted tone and recorded, it's really just came out as fuzzy and bass-y. So what I did was turn the drive and bass down, decent tone to my ears but crappy recorded. I'm using a Line6 100 watt combo(probably my first mistake, I know) and I'm using an SM-57 to mic it.

I guess my main question is, how do you guys get good guitar tones?
what EQ'ing(in the DAW, perhaps) would you suggest?
and what are your favorite Bass-Mid-Treble-Gain settings on your amps?
I need to get this right.

thanks alot.
 
when mic'ing and amp, mic positioning is everything., turn the amp up, turn the headphones up even more, and move the mic around while you play until you hear in the headphones that tone you want.
 
Yeah, just minutes after I posted this I instant messaged my friend Trevor, who's a well known audio engineer around here and I asked him if he had any suggestions. He told me I had good mic placement but I was using an awful tone combo.
He suggested his Bass at 4, Mids at 8, Treble at 5-6 and I tried it and it was almost a dream sound for me.

I'll still leave this thread open to hear anyone elses ideas.
 
Modern rock guitars have very high gain coupled with a scooped EQ - a lot of mids pulled out.

The SM57 is perfect. As Nicole says, positioning makes a lot of difference. Aiming the mic directly at the center of the cone will result in a brighter tone, whereas pointing it at an angle at the outer part of the cone will enhance the lower-mids.
 
I like to use a small tube combo-often a 15 watt Peavey Classic 20 with the preamp at about 8 to 10 (it goes up to 12:)) and the master at about 3.5 or so. Usual mic it with a 57 or 58 Beta clone, dynamic mics work best for me and add effects on mixdown. I like to mix some direct tracks with the amp'd tracks for some variety also.
 
What I learn't from other guys here

These guys here taught me the following points:
-elevate the speaker cab/combo off the floor
-pick your room carefully (not too dead, not too boomy)
-make sure the actual sound from the amp is how you want it before you even start micing (obvious, but you'd be surprised ...). Spend a lot of time getting this right as all the eq'ing in the world won't save a sucky recorded tone
-with a 57, crank up amp up as much as you can (I get more character from my amp this way when I'm using the 57)
-don't be decieved by headphone results. If you are unsure do some testing and play back the results from different sources (mixing monitors, stereo etc etc)
-when placing mic, get some poor sod to move the mic slowly across the speaker and at different angles and pin down what position sounds best.
-eq'ing: do all that shit afterwards. You should not need to do too much if the sound is good from the start. I add a bit of treble on the mixer
-don't suck all the mids out on your amp. I did this for a while and it did not help
-spend time getting it right and don't rush it (I learnt this the hard way)
Hope this is helpful and sorry about the spelling.
Mike.
 
Don't forget the controls on the guitar, when searching for a just right tone. For some of my favorite jams (future songs), I'll max. the tone control(s) and have the volume control(s) mid-way; 5 - 6. I've gotten some interesting tones from turning the tone control(s) to 0, then fiddling with the volume control(s) a bit.

Matt
 
Yea, crank those mids, especially on cheap solid state amps. The speaker should give you the bass you need, and add treble to taste, all done using the amp's EQ.
 
Try layering different tones over each other if you can....
 
post a clip if you can.

I don't have a clue what you're after, but here's a Short Wank

this is a V30 speaker mic'd with a Trion7000 and ATM650 that were mixed. I often track with two mics and use the phasing between the two as EQ then summed to mono.
 
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