how do YOU get a great electric guitar sound? (clean)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Terra
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Terra

Scholarly Gentleman
hey all, i'm wondering how YOU do it. I'm not too happy with my recording, its clean, but i want more fullness to it.

Here's my setup, from the starting point to end. PLEASE tell me something i'm doing wrong/ put your insight into it, i'm not an expert :)


-I have a mesa boogie express 5:50 on the clean channel. (with the grille removed, sitting on carpet in a small soundproof enclosure.

-I have an audio technica AT2020 ($100 mic), i have the mic at about 4 in away from speaker (depth wise) and 2 in from the edge of the speaker.

-The mic runs into a tube MP mic pre, then into my Onyx 400F interface.

I'm running logic, and an American strat (single-coil p/u's, thin-sounding already, i know).

My question is, what is a good compression setting for the guitar? Would moving the amp to tile floor make any difference? Could putting it into a different room make any difference to get some body out of it?

When i record, it ends up in mono, and just thin-sounding.

thanks in advance for the help, any and all is appreciated.

Tyler :)
 
It would be easier with a sound clip, but I'd start with double tracking the part, playing it VERY tight, and pan the two tracks apart to taste.
 
Terra said:
...When i record, it ends up in mono, and just thin-sounding.
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Well, of COURSE it's gonna be mono. One amp, no stereo effect like delay or chorus, one mic, one pre, etc. I may have missed something, but I can't imagine getting anything other than a mono track with that setup. Mentioning the mono signal and the thin sound implies that they are somehow related, and I don't see where one necessarily follows the other.
 
Seidy said:
i would say skip the tube MP <- these things are noisy as hell. you could try also another mic and/or other positions. here's a good tutorial to amp micing:
http://www.imperialmastering.com/guitartonevid/
Click to expand...

I agree with this...those MP's don't do you much in the way of good tone, at least IMO.

Try putting the mic a bit further out, or in general moving it around a bit till you get something you might like a bit better. I have a 2020 and have gotten some great tones with it. Patience and a little movement is all it should take you, you're playing a great instrument into a good quality amp.
 
I usually go to a LDC on clean guitars , but I mic 'em 1 to 3 feet back. Gets a little room in the sound, not so crispy.
 
A lot is on the guitar and amp and how you dial it in (I never played your model and can't give you specifics). Get your ear down where the mic is and then dial it in. (Don't blow out your hearing).

I also agree that you need to move the mic back at least a couple of feet from the amp. Up close, all the HF is going to be at it's strongest, and while you have your head down by the mic...move it around, dry different positions. Find the sweet spot.

If you want it real dry instead of a bigger room sound, use a "tent" over the amp & mic setup. Set up a couple of chairs/rods and drop a couple of large quilts over the entire rig.
 
I almost never mic up at the grill anymore (unless I'm using a two mic set up). I just set up my ribbon mic at least 2-3 feet back. Better, stronger tone for sure.
 
miroslav said:
A lot is on the guitar and amp and how you dial it in (I never played your model and can't give you specifics). Get your ear down where the mic is and then dial it in. (Don't blow out your hearing).
Click to expand...

Ironically, i just ruptured my eardrum. (not by putting my ear next to the amp, but a drunken belly flop contest. fml.
 
but in all seriousness, thanks for all the replies. I just switched the mic for a sennheiser e609, and it already made a warmer difference.

I'm going to pass through the Tube MP, I bought a behringer denoiser, but for some reason, i can't get it to work... new thread time.

thanks to all for the insight!!

Tyler
 
This is something I've been having a bit of a problem with. I can record an okay sound, one that sounds alright in the mix but I can't get the sound I actually really want. I'm currently recording my band's E.P. and I want a guitar sound like on 'Happy Hour' by the Housemartins. A really bright, thin, non muddy sound. I've got a Tele, a Strat, a Fender Blues Deluxe, a Sessionette 75, an SM57 and a couple of Oktava MK219s.

Any ideas?
 
Dittos on the Tube MP. Lose it.

I might suggest getting your vocal condenser, setting it back a ways and letting the amp sit out in the room.
 
What is this "small soundproof enclosure" you say you put the amp in?

I would just lose the enclosure, most likely its not helping you out. Use the room you have and if the room sounds like crap try another room. Make sure your gear sounds good, get up close to the amp, like a foot or two away from the speaker and then make your tweaks, switch around heads, cabs, or guitars to find a combo you like best. If you don't have that much gear at your disposal buy, borrow or steal some better stuff!

Hope this helps, and just experiment with every variable you'll learn a lot this way,
-Barrett
 
Bguzaldo said:
What is this "small soundproof enclosure" you say you put the amp in?

I would just lose the enclosure, most likely its not helping you out. Use the room you have and if the room sounds like crap try another room. Make sure your gear sounds good, get up close to the amp, like a foot or two away from the speaker and then make your tweaks, switch around heads, cabs, or guitars to find a combo you like best. If you don't have that much gear at your disposal buy, borrow or steal some better stuff!

Hope this helps, and just experiment with every variable you'll learn a lot this way,
-Barrett
Click to expand...

Yeah i'm thinking about moving the amp into my bathroom, maybe it would help. The small soundproof enclosure is some makeshift-shish-kabobed soundproofing foam that is on the front of the amp...I just need to start experimenting. been.....too............lazy......:rolleyes:
 
Bguzaldo said:
What is this "small soundproof enclosure" you say you put the amp in?
Click to expand...

Imagine a box that you put the amp in, along with a microphone, close the lid and no matter how much the amp is cranked, you hear no sound coming from the box. That is a perfect (and non-existant) SP box.
 
Another option that needs no building...is to stick the amp in a smaller closet that is full of clothes-n -stuff".

If you pick a closet that is stratigically located and well packed...you can probably crank up the amp some without pissing off the neighbors.
 
I record a lot of my cleans (and I mean absolute clean) using the line out from my AVT150h direct into my pre. This might not be ideal for everyone but I'm pretty happy with the sound. Of course, it's not a rule of thumb by any means, and it's one of the few examples I can think of where I'd record guitars without a mic. I have many examples of where I've recorded cleans with a mic also. It's horses for courses.

Double tracking and panning the guitars equal left/right will broaden their stereo field. How tight you need to play depends what you're doing. If you're just strumming clean chords, you can probably relax it a bit. Also, it might help to have a couple of tracks of acoustic guitar panned left and right, mixed a little lower than the clean electric tracks.

Any other complexities at all, and you are either going to have to be tight as hell with clean guitars, or think about deliberately doing something a little different with the second guitar track.

These are just ideas, and entirely circumstantial. Without hearing exactly what sound you're going for, it would be hard to offer specific advice.

As for compression settings, the first question is 'do you really need compression?' followed by 'why?'. Personally I would say that any decision regarding compression you'd probably want to make once you have a recorded guitar sound that you are for the most part happy with. I can understand that you may want to level out the dynamics a little in mixing, but I can't see that it's going to be any great help in shaping the actual sound itself.
 
Position of your mike on speaker will make a difference You might try taking the mike from the edge and moving it to the 1st position center on the cone, next track a second take, pan left right, if this is still not good enough copy tracks 1 and 2 place a slight delay on these tracks and set in the mix. Hope this helps
Tim
 
stevieb said:
Imagine a box that you put the amp in, along with a microphone, close the lid and no matter how much the amp is cranked, you hear no sound coming from the box. That is a perfect (and non-existant) SP box.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know what it is, thanks for the clarification though. :D I just figured it was something he rigged up and it could have been a box made of sheet rock or a plastic storage container which in both cases would probably be doin somethin funky to the sound ( maybe itd sound pretty cool though)
 
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