Making Your Music Thicker

[StanTheMan]

Hi, does anyone know any tricks for making my basement recordings sound thicker like less distant. I am using pro tools on a macbook pro. My music is sort of garage rock sounding but the guitars always seem to sound quite distant in my recordings. Hope somebody has some tips!

 

[Seafroggys]

If you mic the instruments close, they should sound close, doesn't really matter the quality of the gear. Sounds like maybe another issue?

A few tricks. If you are using reverb, tone it down or cut it out. If we're talking guitars here, boosting EQ in the high mids will bring it forward (experiment with 2-4k here, it really varies though). Did you record them with the mic in the center of the speaker cone, or toward the edge?

While I was writing this, I was also thinking too....do you want it to sound close, or thick? They're not mutual exclusive, but they are two different things to achieve. I tend to get thicker sounding guitars a little further back from the amp....its not as 'close' sounding, but it does sound bigger.

 

[Mo Facta]

The "thick" or "warmth" region is around 200 - 400Hz. I'm not saying boost this relentlessly but pay attention to what's going on down there. if your guitars are thin you may want to boost in this region and balance it out with a boost in the upper mid regions that Seafroggys pointed out. And yeah, go easy on the reverb, particularly wispy sounding ones.

Cheers

 

[DrewPeterson7]

Hi, does anyone know any tricks for making my basement recordings sound thicker like less distant. I am using pro tools on a macbook pro. My music is sort of garage rock sounding but the guitars always seem to sound quite distant in my recordings. Hope somebody has some tips!

This is likely all mic technique. How are you micing your guitars?

 

[Thurgood]

If you are using reverb you may try using mono reverb returns panned to the same location as the dry signal. Reverb and delay will push the source back so be careful. Washing out gtr's with verb is a sure fire way to make things distant. Multiple takes of the same passage will thicken things up, then eq the different passes differently. By doing that you can really adjust the highs, mids etc. to achieve a fat sound. as mentioned above close micing and selective eq will "warm" present your gtr sounds. I frequently wrestle with gtr sounds too close and then have to move them to fit the overall soundstage to get it all to gel. Hope that helps. Be Well All.

 

[Greg_L]

This is likely all mic technique. How are you micing your guitars?

Yup, and source sound. Bad sound + bad mic technique = bad. You don't need layers, you don't need reverb. You need good sounds mic'd properly. That's it.

 

[Thurgood]

Hey Greg, I was not trying to de-rail the guy by encouraging verb, just thought if is using verb he should try that. Good mic tech is really where it is at. Good sounding room with ambient mic and close mic no need for verb. Slap a 57 in front of the cab and it is in your face!.

 

[Greg_L]

Hey Greg, I was not trying to de-rail the guy by encouraging verb, just thought if is using verb he should try that. Good mic tech is really where it is at. Good sounding room with ambient mic and close mic no need for verb. Slap a 57 in front of the cab and it is in your face!.

No need to explain yourself. I'm just coming at it from the very basics. Once you have a good clean track of a good appropriate guitar sound, the rest is gravy. It's easier said than done, but the best results come from proper technique and fundamentals. Then you can start adding stuff to make it larger than life.

 

[Thurgood]

You are correct sir! You know that the smallest movement of the mic capsule in close mic situations can make a HUGE difference. Since I have a pretty average room I close mic a lot; hence I have to tweak away to get distance. I do use a room mic with appropriate distance (phase stuff) and do use that too. I think that with folks who are new to this have not spent enough time experimenting with mic tech. I was fortunate to be taught by some great engineers and have been at this for a long time. Doesn't mean my recordings are always spot on but one thing I did learn was to experiment and ask lots of questions (with eyes too). I encourage folks like the OP to keep on doing the same. Best. PS like your stuff.

 

[miroslav]

.... the rest is gravy.

Is it a thicker kind of gravy...or that watery stuff?