How can i make my guitar tracks sound like powerfull distortion with a cd quality???

[aqme]

How can i make my guitar tracks sound like powerfull distortion with a cd quality???
when i mean powerful distortion i talk about band, like Deftones, KoRn, Linkin Park

or mid powerfull distorition like Incubus, Blink182,puddle of mud etc...

i have :
Souncd blaster audigy platinium
Cubase
Cool edit
POD 2.0
2 Sm57
Gibson Les Paul Studio
Ibanez 7 string
etc...

which process can i follow ? ( compression, layering, effect ? )
I want to record a demo of my band which sound like all those band.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Step 1 --- get a great sounding guitar
Step 2 --- get a great sounding amp
Step 3 --- get a great player
Step 4 --- put the guitar/amp/player in a great sounding room
Step 5 --- put the right mic in front of the amp
Step 6 --- attach the mic to a great mic pre
Step 7 --- attach the pre to a great recorder
Step 8 --- get an experienced engineer behind the board to mix it

Simple!

 

[aqme]

hmm i meant... with a home studio

btw, which pre is good ?

 

[Trace]

Blue Bear we love you, man.


My advice:

Double track the guitar part. It's simple, just play it twice. If it sounds better, great.

If its not enough maybe add two more tracks.

Or

After recording the electric, you come in with an acoustic guitar. It is pretty cool how much an acoustic can fill out a guitar track.

Or

Utilize the bass to help flesh out the guitar sound. (I'm not sure you'll need this seeing as how you're playing a 7-string)


DO NOT!..... go overboard on the distortion when recording. The tracks get muddy and messy and nasty and it will come out sounding like crap. The dragon said something cool about reverb that I am going to apply here. Getting the distortion where it sounds cool (live)... then cut it back to about 1/4.

Anyway that's my .02. One newbie to another.

 

[darrin_h2000]

Off Axis with an SM57 and an LD 4' away. going to two tracks.

 

[Chris Shaeffer]

Ditto on the double tracking: Play the same part at least twice and pan them hard right and left. Instant big.

You may also have to take a little more of the bass frequencies out of the guitar than you might think. Most guitarists like a nice beefy sound when playing live, but it just gets muddy and competes with the drums and bass when recording. Try rolling off the bass freqs (below, say, 80hz) on the guitar tracks. In cubase, run all of your rythm guitars through a group channel and use the EQ on the whole group.

You've the mic of choice for distorted guitar. Play around with that 57 right up close the the grill of the amp. Point it right at the edge of the little circle in the middle of the speaker and see how that sounds. Then move it a centimeter at a time by swiveling it on its clip. That moves it off axis and will give you very different sounds. Play away! This is what recording electric guitars is all about.

Distorted electrics typically don't need to be compressed. The distortion and the speaker take care of that. You might try gating it, though. A gate cuts the signal when it gets to be too quiet- that removes the amp hum when you aren't playing. It lets you slam those power chords in hard and cuts the sound to zero when you mute the strings.

Have fun!
Chris

 

[Chris Shaeffer]

Oh, wait. Are you using the POD only? No amp? Bummer, if so... nothing beats a 57 up against a speaker, IMHO.

I have no experience with the POD, but I've heard some great recordings that used it.

Take care,
Chris

 

[chessrock]

Step 1 --- get a great sounding guitar
Step 2 --- get a great sounding amp
Step 3 --- get a great player
Step 4 --- put the guitar/amp/player in a great sounding room
Step 5 --- put the right mic in front of the amp
Step 6 --- attach the mic to a great mic pre
Step 7 --- attach the pre to a great recorder
Step 8 --- get an experienced engineer behind the board to mix it

Or just dial in a really good POD setting and do a gazillion takes untill you get it right..

Step 1 - The Les Paull will do just fine. I know of a few "pretty decent" guitarists that have used them.

Step 2 - I know of a few pretty decent guitarists who have recorded CD's using a POD, so you should be alright there.

Step 3 - We'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you play like Joe Satriani.

Step 4 - You can play while sitting on the toilet if you want. You're using a POD.

Step 5 - See steps 2 and 4.

Step 6 - See steps 2, 4, and 5.

Step 7 - Audigy Platinum? Good enough, as long as the playing is solid.

Step 8 - You visit homerecording.com on a regular basis, so you got that covered ! ! !

 

[TexRoadkill]

I play a LP Studio through a POD2 and use the Blackface and British classic for classic rock type of crunch. The Modern hi gain, British High Gain and Rectified are good for more modern sounds. Add a little of the POD compression and a little delay or flanger if you need it.

With the POD EQ I usually cut the bass almost all the way, mids around 2-3 and the highs around 8.

You should be able to get a nice assortment of sounds with your setup. Try doubling to thicken it up and smooth it out.

 

[Beezoboy]

I am about to post a hella dirstortion song...Maybe tonite if we get it mixed. I'll tell you what we do is double the guitar and pan it, but also use a different distortion on each side. On left is a Metal Zone pedal and on right is a Tube King. Also the pickups on your guitar and your guitar make a difference.

Beezoboy

 

[UberGawkman]

Yeah, if you use a POD, it puts out a LOT of low end. You'll definitely want to do some serious low end-cutting after getting it to tape. I usually just do a rolloff.

 

[UberGawkman]

I have your answer.

How can i make my guitar tracks sound like powerfull distortion with a cd quality???
when i mean powerful distortion i talk about band, like Deftones, KoRn, Linkin Park

Wait, I just saw that part. This is my cup of tea... I've gotten some serious mileage out of my POD going for this type of sound. Listen to Scrotal Torment, Stupid Ifs on http://www.mp3.com/psychostick

Here's how I got it:

First, find the the "Line 6 Insane" setting. Use presence boost (hold tap then turn "treble", I THINK). Make sure the "distortion" is on (hold "tap" while turning the "drive" knob... you should see a letter light up, I forget which one). Now, turn the drive knob itself (without holding tap) to just a little bit left of 12:00. To fine-tweak it, do good palm muted chugs, and adjust the knob until the low end hum holds out just as long as you want it to. If you go much farther past 12:00, you will have TOO MUCH gain, and it will turn to mud (trust me, I learned this the hard way).

Now select 2 speaker sims that you like (hold tap and turn the "effects" knob). Put it on the first one. EQ it to taste, and record a track using one of the speaker simulators. Now, record a second track using the other speaker sim that you like, eqing it first and all that. Pan one hard right, pan the other hard left. Should be sounding pretty good at this point.

From here, you can either record two more using the line 6 Insane setting again, or do what I did:

I was finding that I was getting enough attack or crunch in the palm mutes, so I picked up a couple of pedals that I liked (I have a metal zone and a DOD death metal). Run that into the POD, put the pod on the clean channel, and turn the drive knob to zero. Record two tracks using two different speaker sims again, and pan those hard right and left.

You can double the tracks as many times as you want. The two songs I record on there used a total of 8.... 4 using insane and different speaker sims, and 4 using the DOD death metal. I think that was overkill though... I recently used 6 and still got the same thickness.

ADDITIONAL TWEAKS:
Since I recorded those songs, I've learned a few more post eq tweaks that really tame the sound.

-Rolloff eq somewhere between 100-150 hz, then boost between 150-300ish hz.
-Cut a lot at around 2-3khz. The "treble" knob I think is centered around this frequency, and it can be really peircing (it kinda was on those recordings). Cut that, and let 4-6khz be your crunch. This opens up room for vocals, bass guitar attack, and kick drum attack.
-You really don't have to do much midrange cutting, because the speaker sim pretty much do that already (just open up a spectrum analyzer... there's hardly anything at 800-1000 hz).

Ummm.... yeah. Have fun!!!

 

[chessrock]

Psychostick !

I am normally not a fan of that kind of sound . . . but that is pretty damn cool. You have a new fan.

 

[UberGawkman]

Thanks!

Hey, thanks a lot Chessrock.... hang on a bit, we're recording a full length right now that's going to rule... we're re-recording all those songs, so for fun you can download those right now then later compare them the old recordings to the new to see how far I've come in learning to track/mix.

Our full length is going to be incredibly entertaining as well, but I'll spare you the details, I've said enough about us already... I'm just trying to help aqme get a good sound with his POD... because it can be done if you do it just right.

It's fun to look at POD sounds through a spectrum analyzer, turn the knobs and see what happens... what goes up, what goes down. You can get a good idea where you may have to add/take away eq to get it to fit your mix properly. Oh yeah, and midrange knob doesn't do much when you're on the Line 6 insane setting....

 

[aqme]

Thx everyone for all ur help !
i ll test all those things
any other trick or tips are welcome !!!

 

[Gidge]

it is very unlikely that someone can get pro sounding guitar tracks like you mentioned in a home studio.......especially with a soundblaster and a Pod......

dont get me wrong.....i love my J-Station and Audiophile soundcard....but i respect the limitations of my gear, engineering skills, and my suck-ass guitar playing.....

 

[aqme]

another question, how have i to record this, which volume ? which effect ? compression ? Eq ?
thx

 

[skaterjac91]

???

hey i was wonderin i havea fender squire and a fender amp how do u make ur guitar have distorion

 

[7string]

hey i was wonderin i havea fender squire and a fender amp how do u make ur guitar have distorion

Sell the Fender Squire and the Fender amp.

Buy a Gibson Les Paul and a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier.

Sorry... not much help...

 

[thajeremy]

dude...where did you dig up this thread...and why did you post that kind of question in it????


but anyway...to answer your question. turn up the gain on your amp if it has it, or get a distortion pedal...you can get some of them pretty cheap...even cheaper used...