i need some help with my guitar recordings

O

ohmicide

New member
this is what i have so far

boomp3 dot com/listen/byyyge7en_6/behind-enemy-lines


here's a list of what im doing to make it less complicated

1. guitar is an epiphone les paul my dad bought at a pawnshop for around $300 like 4 years ago. the strings i have on it now are ok, but i've had better.im using the bridge pickup

2. im plugging this in to a firepod (fp10 firmware) with the gain at about half way up. im using a crappy cable, but it's all i have right now.

3. on the logic pro 8 track, i have amplitube metal and an eq with the cutoff at 140 hz. the guitar track is at around 12db and i have a yamaha final mix on the master channel

4. on amplitube im using a 150 watt tube amp with the gain half way up, a 4x12 cab with a dynamic microphone on axis at a close distance, and a pitch shifter on the rack to pan everything.


i keep listening to commercial cds like linkin park (because that's the kind of guitar sound im trying to get) and the first thing i notice is that the guitar sound a lot warmer and a lot clearer then when im getting.

i think my main problem is the guitar i am using and maybe i could fix this by getting it gibson humbuckers, using a better cable, and better strings.

but maybe the problem was amplitube. maybe im doing something wrong, or i just need a real tube amp with a real cab.


any ideas???


thanks in advance
 
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new gear

i used to try the way you are doing it until i got my first marshall 4 x 12 and Shure 57. That made all the difference in the world. Until then, make sure your input signal is nice and not too loud. I also recommend Guitar rig 2.
 
not trying to give you shit or anything, but everything step in your chain is going to limit your ability to get a tone like linkin park, or even something similar. that guy uses mainly(i think) PRS guitars into a mesa triple recto, and you can guarantee their tracks were cut in the finest sounding rooms, and with the highest quality mics and preamps available. on top of that, their records were mixed by andy wallace, who's like the greatest rock mixer in the history of rock mixers.

*cue the WE'RE NOT WORTHY!! scene from wayne's world*

anyways...as far as helping out, i'm guessing the guitar already has humbuckers...the ones in your guitar probably aren't the greatest, but they'll do for now

1st things 1st, you'll want new strings for recording. BRAND new. if they aren't shiny and silky smooth, get some new ones. the new cable will also help out...you don't need some $200 monster cable or anything, but a nice braided guitar cable for $15-20 will be a step up.

the DI in your firepod again probably isn't the greatest, but probably not terrible either...it sounds like you're doing ok at not overloading the input. it's extremely important that you do NOT clip the DI input!!

now comes the biggest shortcoming in your chain...amplitube. i've used this plug a lot, and it sounds decent for what it is, but it's not going to knock anyone's socks off, either. i would go over to the peavey web site and download revalver MKIII...the demo is totally free to use, but you don't get to save presets, and it makes a little blip noise every couple minutes. this can be avoided in your final mix, though, by bouncing the guitar tracks to a .wav file 2 or 3 times...the blip will be in different spots on each file, and you can copy/paste them into one clean take.

anyways, after you pick up revalver, mosey on over to the voxengo website and download boogex...it's meant to be another amp sim, but a lot of folks bypass the amp sim and use it for its ability to load impulse responses of cabinets. IR's are probably the best thing to ever happen to digital guitar recording, and will usually sound better than the cab simulation in any modeling program out there. not to mention there's 100's of them out there, some of which sound REALLY good.

now take your LP with your new strings and cable, and record 4 takes with your revalver/boogex combo. pan 2 to the left and 2 to the right...it can also help to change the gain and EQ settings on a couple of the tracks - usually in pairs(example: 2 lo-gain on each, and 2 hi-gain, or 2 mid-heavy tracks and 2 scooped). on a quick side note, if you end up doing the revalver/boogex deal, make sure that in revalver you have no cabinet module selected, and that you also load only the PREAMP of the amp you want to use...cabinet impulses also include the power amp of whatever amp they recorded from, so you don't need the power amp section of revalver.

of course the last sentence of your post summed it up best: a good tube amp and cab, with a decent mic in front of it kills all...but this is the closest you're gonna get without throwing down at least $1000 and seriously pissing off anyone who lives near or with you.
 
hey, thank you very much for taking the time to reply. you basically told me everything that i was thinking was wrong. im gonna try to upgrade my guitars humbuckers to some descent gibsons and get some very much needed new cable and new strings. im also gonna try out those programs and let you know how that goes.

one of the things im gonna go for is maybe getting a used 10 watt tube amp and record it with a sennheiser e609.

thank you for the help! you basically cleared out all my questions!
 
The pups on the Epi are probably all right for what you are trying to do. New strings and a set up will make a world of difference and should be a lot cheaper than new pups.
 
Dani Pace said:
The pups on the Epi are probably all right for what you are trying to do. New strings and a set up will make a world of difference and should be a lot cheaper than new pups.
Click to expand...

+1 on this one.

Your pickups are unlikely to be the weak link in your recordings.

Do yourself a favor. If you want to upgrade your pickups, fine, but there is a bewildering array of great replacement pickups out there for your guitar. Invest some real time researching before you make this purchase. It's not enough to upgrade your pickups You should upgrade to the best pickus for the music you play. They may well be Gibsons, but they may not.
 
Ironklad gave you some awesome advice, and I would re-iterate the part about the D.I - don't clip on the way in! Get your tracking right first.

What I've found with any amp sim is that they immediately sound better with even the tiniest splash of reverb. That's just my opinion, but you're never going to get the authentic sound of a speaker pushing air unless you mic up an amp. But a little bit of reverb is a step in the right direction.

I think you experiment with playing through an amp, even a half-decent solid state with a distortion pedal in front of it. It sucks when you're adherring to budget constraints, but maybe you could borrow one from a friend? Plug in sims sound very different from the real thing - that's not a criticism because I use them myself - but you really need to try both for yourself.
 
TelePaul said:
Ironklad gave you some awesome advice, and I would re-iterate the part about the D.I - don't clip on the way in! Get your tracking right first.

What I've found with any amp sim is that they immediately sound better with even the tiniest splash of reverb. That's just my opinion, but you're never going to get the authentic sound of a speaker pushing air unless you mic up an amp. But a little bit of reverb is a step in the right direction.

I think you experiment with playing through an amp, even a half-decent solid state with a distortion pedal in front of it. It sucks when you're adherring to budget constraints, but maybe you could borrow one from a friend? Plug in sims sound very different from the real thing - that's not a criticism because I use them myself - but you really need to try both for yourself.
Click to expand...

im not clipping at all on the way in. the only solid state amp i have is a 15 watt crate, and i also have that metal zone distortion pedal that a friend left at my house. i was thinking maybe i could get a 30 watt orange crush, but i really like the way tubes sound.


here's the link again:

http://boomp3.com/listen/byz10bb7d_f/behind-enemy-lines
 
There's a lot of people getting great results with the software amp sims, check out some of the product's forums and such to get some PRO TIPS.

Also, keep in mind that when you listen to a song, the guitar sound is only part of the equation. Generally, guitar is really weak and uninspiring without drums and bass kicking ass with it.
 
Ohmicide,

1st off big ups for posting links so we can hear your stuff!

The second track "Time is Running Out" sounds a lot better than thre first track. What ever changes you guys made seem to have helped.

The guitar in the first track seemed like it had too much gain. Try not to record the signal too hot.

Sometimes I have bands change the key of the song to get a warmer or darker sound. That is way cheaper than buying all kinds of new crap.

And...Yes, look into getting a small used tube amp to mike. I have used a small cheapo Kay Model 703 I bought for $60 at a guitar show miked with a SM57 with good results. So any amp will do as long as it has the tone and sound that you like and you practice good recording techniques.

For fuller single guitar sound, copy the guitar track, paste it into a new track and pan one hard left and the other hard right. It your software allows, nugde one track 10 to 20 ms to simulate track doubling - If doing that makes the mix muddy or too crowded, you can always delete the copied track.

In "Time Is Running Out" you have two guitar parts. It sounds like one guitar is low volume and panned slightly left and everything else in the mix is front and center. Try moving things left and right to give more interest. Have the two guitars play from diferent parts of the "stage" and interact with one another instead of just being there. There is no rule keeping an instrument in the same part of the stereo field the entire song or the same volume.

Adding some reverb or echo to the keyboard for example will push that track to the back of the mix and give some depth to the project.

Oh yeah, I liked the finger snaps in the beginning.

Sounds like you are having fun playing and recording.

Ohm - icide........killing ohms only leads to dead shorts my friend :p
 
D28Flatpickr said:
For fuller single guitar sound, copy the guitar track, paste it into a new track and pan one hard left and the other hard right. It your software allows, nugde one track 10 to 20 ms to simulate track doubling - If doing that makes the mix muddy or too crowded, you can always delete the copied track.
Click to expand...

Or just record it twice. It will sound a lot better.
 
D28Flatpickr said:
Ohmicide,

1st off big ups for posting links so we can hear your stuff!

The second track "Time is Running Out" sounds a lot better than thre first track. What ever changes you guys made seem to have helped.

The guitar in the first track seemed like it had too much gain. Try not to record the signal too hot.

Sometimes I have bands change the key of the song to get a warmer or darker sound. That is way cheaper than buying all kinds of new crap.

And...Yes, look into getting a small used tube amp to mike. I have used a small cheapo Kay Model 703 I bought for $60 at a guitar show miked with a SM57 with good results. So any amp will do as long as it has the tone and sound that you like and you practice good recording techniques.

For fuller single guitar sound, copy the guitar track, paste it into a new track and pan one hard left and the other hard right. It your software allows, nugde one track 10 to 20 ms to simulate track doubling - If doing that makes the mix muddy or too crowded, you can always delete the copied track.

In "Time Is Running Out" you have two guitar parts. It sounds like one guitar is low volume and panned slightly left and everything else in the mix is front and center. Try moving things left and right to give more interest. Have the two guitars play from diferent parts of the "stage" and interact with one another instead of just being there. There is no rule keeping an instrument in the same part of the stereo field the entire song or the same volume.

Adding some reverb or echo to the keyboard for example will push that track to the back of the mix and give some depth to the project.

Oh yeah, I liked the finger snaps in the beginning.

Sounds like you are having fun playing and recording.

Ohm - icide........killing ohms only leads to dead shorts my friend :p
Click to expand...


first, i am NOT clipping the inputs at all

second, on "time is running out" everything is already how you tried to explain me to do. i have reverb as a send effect on every guitar track. rythm guitars are panned left and right with the same volume and same settings on amplitube 2. the electric keyboard already has both a lot of delay and some reverb. also, all the other guitar tracks on there are panned with pitch shifter.

but anyways, here's a new with using a different amp (marshall jcm 900 or british lead 2)


http://boomp3.com/listen/bz60u995p_g/time-is-running-out


it's just one guy by the way! im trying to get this right before i start recording bands. thanks for the input on the tracks.

what i'm getting out of this is that i'm definitely gonna have to get a nice vitage combo tube amp, or something like that, and throw some distortion on top of it if i want to make some metal.

im still surprised that no one is bashing my guitar haha.
 
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