just wondering...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kingofpain678
  • Start date Start date
Kingofpain678

Kingofpain678

Returned from the dead
when i sit and listen to polished records that were tracked at some fancy studio and professionally mixed and mastered i often wonder if the guitar tones im hearing are the result of guitar tone + processing during tracking, mixing, and mastering or if thats just the way the guitar tone sounds naturally.

anybody?
 
its so frustrating!

i listen to records and think "i could pull this off", so i get to my studio, fire everything up, strike a chord and nothing but crap comes blaring out of the monitors.

so discouraging :(
 
I have enough trouble getting the tone I want, I gave up on duplicating the tones other people get. I finally concluded that tone comes from the mind, heart and fingers of the player... yeah gear and processing help but it is largely from the player. A simple example of this would be, using the same gear and settings, I will never sound exactly like you and you will never sound exactly like me.
 
I think what you're hearing is usually a combination of expensive guitar amps EQ'd perfectly, mic'd perfectly, played perfectly, mixed perfectly.

I would doubt if theres many records out there where the guitar tone you're hearing is exactly what was mic'd though.
 
yeah but theres really no set way to mix and process something. you just work on it till everything sounds good together.
and i suppose if you mixed a song from scratch went back a week later and mixed it again from scrath the two mixes would sound pretty different.

i guess its all somewhat random. and i suppose that answers my question

weird
 
I would say 75% is in the tracking stage (electronics between the guitar and the daw). Chain = guitar / effects / amp(s) / room / mic / micpre / conversion. Mixing is a breeze if all is tracked properly. And I'm sure mastering is a breeze if the mixing is done properly.
 
Never believe what you read on the internet, or what you hear on a CD. ;)

I think you have to be familiar with the performer and producer's work to know how "honest" that guitar sound is. Most commercial pop is heavily processed and layered and there is no way in hell you or I are going to get that sound in our home studios, even if we wanted to.

But with certain artists I think you can rely on what you're hearing being pretty true. Jeff Beck, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Clapton (for better or worse :D), Eric Johnson, and I'm sure many other guitarists like them keep their rigs pretty straightforward and don't do in the studio what can't be done live.
 
chamelious said:
I think what you're hearing is usually a combination of expensive guitar amps EQ'd perfectly, mic'd perfectly, played perfectly, mixed perfectly.
Click to expand...

I agree with everything but that one word.

Sure, an "expensive" amp can help, and there are probably more good-sounding expensive amps than bad sounding ones. But even some pretty cheap gear, perfectly EQd, perfect mic'd, perfectly played, and perfectly mixed can sound pretty damned phenominal.
 
I have been reading some old articles regarding some players whose tone I admire (angus and brian setzer) and both of them surprised me.

First, Brian setzer said that he played quietly in the studio to get the twang out. Mind you this was in like 1983, when I really liked his tone. Not now. He plays too distorted now I think.

Angus said that the cleaner he plays in the studio, the louder it sounds recorded. Makes sense. Whenever I record anything with too much distortion, it sounds weak.

So, I think the idea is that you can't be setting the tone for your ears while you are recording. You need to set the tone for how the mic is going to hear it.
 
Kingofpain678 said:
when i sit and listen to polished records that were tracked at some fancy studio and professionally mixed and mastered i often wonder if the guitar tones im hearing are the result of guitar tone + processing during tracking, mixing, and mastering or if that's just the way the guitar tone sounds naturally.

anybody?
Click to expand...

The answer to your question is yes, or some combination thereof.
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
I agree with everything but that one word.

Sure, an "expensive" amp can help, and there are probably more good-sounding expensive amps than bad sounding ones. But even some pretty cheap gear, perfectly EQd, perfect mic'd, perfectly played, and perfectly mixed can sound pretty damned phenominal.
Click to expand...

Fair play, i see what you're saying, my comment was really aimed at the ones with strat knock offs, playing a marshall MG or something and wondering why they dont sound like metallica.
 
chamelious said:
Fair play, i see what you're saying, my comment was really aimed at the ones with strat knock offs, playing a marshall MG or something and wondering why they dont sound like metallica.
Click to expand...

that guy with the crap guitar and crap amp used to be me :eek:

in fact the first amp i had ever owned was a marshall mg10cd, my second amp was a marshall mg100hdfx half stack.

it was quite a jump up.
 
I think everyone needs at least one good two channel pre. Or at least the homerecording guitarist. I have a Vintech dual 72. It is the only preamp i have ever owned that sounded apart from the middle of the road gear. Most of the time when I track with it there is no further processing needed in the daw other than panning or maby some effect. I am 100% convienced that if you don't get the source right (room/mic/pre/placement/guitar amp/ guitar), before the DAW your dead in the water.
 
chamelious said:
Fair play, i see what you're saying, my comment was really aimed at the ones with strat knock offs, playing a marshall MG or something and wondering why they dont sound like metallica.
Click to expand...

Strangely, the MArshall MG was one of the amps I had in mind. :p It won't do Metallica, but I remember hearing some clips a guy I knew recorded with one where I was blown away just how good it sounded - all else equal, I don't know if I'd have been able to tell it apart from the TSL I owned at the time.

Likewise I believe Harvey Gearst is a big proponent of the Fender Frontlines around here...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top