my electric guitars sound like junk...

[minofifa]

sorry if this question has been answered a billion tines already but i did a search and found nothing.

Basically i'm wondering how to record a good sounding overdriven guitar. I have a fender deluxe strate so i know it is not this that has bad tone. Do i set my amp to distortion and record with a condensor mic? or do i record a clean sound and then apply digital distorttions and what not? Thanks for the hlep.

Dar

 

[Massive Master]

Careful... This is dangerous...

Get a tone that sounds good in the room and then get your ear where the mic is going to be - The tone will probably sound horrible.

You need to make a tone that sounds good to the microphone - not to the room.

Normally, this would equal cutting low end considerably and actually turning the overdrive / distortion / preamp DOWN to something more acceptable.

If you really listen closely to most distorted guitar recordings, you'll probably notice that they're really not "that" distorted after all. "Crunch" is one thing - "Fuzz" is another, normally more irritating thing.

John Scrip - www.massivemastering.com

 

[Chibi Nappa]

Mic selection is a big part of it, but there is no "correct" mic. I've had success with small diaphragm dynamics, small diaphragm condensers, large diaphragm condensers.....I'm sure if I owned a ribbon mic I could have success with that as well. So don't get it in your head that you need "X" type of mic to record guitars....but do keep in mind that every mic will sound vastly different.

Recording guitars requires lots of carful listening. For one, I wouldn't record any guitar tracks until the bass and drums are done at the very least. Guitar tracks will sound very different in the context of a bass guitar track, so be sure you are listening in the propper context when you chose your guitar tone.

A few things to keep in mind:

As was said above, you probably don't need as much gain as you think you do.

Be sure to choose the right "type" of gain. If you have a long, singing, hyper sustain type gain (hit a chord and it rings forever with no loss of volume) you might want to change your strumming pattern to something less busy.

Use new guitar strings.

You might be strumming too hard, even for heavy songs.

Keep moving that microphone until you find the exact right position.

 

[Chibi Nappa]

Careful... This is dangerous...

Get a tone that sounds good in the room and then get your ear where the mic is going to be - The tone will probably sound horrible.

Personally I wouldn't trust most guitar players enough to put my ear right up to an amp with them playing. But yes, take the man's word for it. The sound is much different up there.

Here's what I do:
Find the "sweet spot" of the speaker cabinet. Unplug the guitar and turn the amp way up so you get plenty of noise (hiss or whatever) coming out of the speaker. Now you can put your ear right up to the cabinet without any fear of the guitar player taking your head off. Move your ear around right in front of the speaker cones and you will hear one specific point that is much "hotter" than the rest. Put the mic there.

Now, this isn't nessisarily where the mic goes. This is a starting point. It is up to you to really learn the sound properties at that sweet spot. You have to also learn the sound properties away from the sweet spot closer to the edge of the speaker cone. Listen to a recording of the guitar with the mic right at the sweet spot. After enough tries experiance will tell you if it needs to stay there or if it needs to move out to the edge a bit. Trial and error will get it if nothing else.

 

[chessrock]

What kind of amp are you using?

Brand and model?

 

[minofifa]

cool, thanks guys

I'm using a Line 6 Flextone II right now and i hate it with all of my heart. It truely is a piece of crap. I've just changed from a Gibson LP to a Fender strat... there is a big difference in tone between the two. My choice of microphones i pretty limited. i have a dynamic mic (ikinof like a shure 57) and an Audio Technic AT3035 condensor mic. I think my problem is more general than finding sweets spots and what not. I will definately try that when i get the sound i want but i'm finding that the tones i like to play with live do not sound good in recordings. It's almost like how you sound good to yourself singing but when you hear yourself on a tape, it sounds wierd.

fior my backup powerchords i'm just looking for a gneral rock guitar sound (any 3 doors down, creed, or anything else generic like that).

 

[c7sus]

Get your amp up off the floor. Set it on a chair or something. That should help reduce muddiness. If you've got it set in a corner get it out of there, too. Keep at least 3-4 feet away from walls if possible.

 

[chessrock]

Re: cool, thanks guys

I'm using a Line 6 Flextone II right now and i hate it with all of my heart. It truely is a piece of crap.

Well . . . um . . . call me crazy, but I'm going to go waaay out on a limb here and suggest that the amp might be your problem, then.


Some suggestions for overdriven guitar would be the usual suspects: Mesa, Mesa Boogie, Marshall JCM, Fender Bassman, Peavey 5150, or the THD Univalve (which I've been hearing some really good things about). Some others that I can't think of off the top of my head, but you get the idea.

 

[minofifa]

ahhh yes a new amp....

Yes a new amp would be nice, but on a student's budget it is a dream for now. I prolly couldn't even sell my line 6 right now. Afer giging with it for a few years it has lost it's power button and the foot controllor does wierd stuff alll the time. NO i'm stuck with this curse for a while so i'll ahve to make due.

Should i try to use a room that is completey dry? as in no echo from wood floors or hard walls and roofs?

 

[Jotosuds]

that would help i imagine. just try puttin the mic straight on the grill, pointed into the cone. you get the least room reverb that way and should get a nice heavy distortion sound. you probably don't need a condensor, cuz people have been micing amps with SM57's forever.

good luck

 

[HangDawg]

The best recorded guitar tracks I have done sound the worst in the room. Just the way it is I guess. But it doesn't matter what it sounds like in the room because I listen in the control room and that is the mic sound.


I use a Mesa Dual recto. 57 on the grille. Bass control (off). Mid(9 o'clock) Treb(9 to 12 o'clock depending) Presence(also 9 to 12) Gain can be set anywhere between 12 and 2:30 depending on the song, guitar used and tone desired. Don't laugh because the difference between 2 and 2:30 is very obvious. Remember too that 1" movement of the mic can have drastic effects.

Listen to the song RUN. It's a pretty decent guitar sound I think.


http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1577&alid=-1

 

[minofifa]

ya that's a good sound!

Ya that sounds good for sure. I bit heaveir than i am looking for but i see what you mean. I can notice a lot of diffrent things you have to do to get your sound the way you want. Like panning and whatnot even.

 

[btr31]

yeah, most guitars sound good in a room but, in my opinion. if you get down in front of a mesa cab being driven by a rectifier....best distortion you'll hear. doesn't neccisarily get worse when you get in front of it unless you dont have the tone. depends on what kind of distortion you are looking for. if you are talking about really mild distortion. then the deluxe SHOULD work. but, if you are really overdriving it....those new fenders sound like crap. and by NO MEANS use clean guitar and distort it in the computer. doesn't help things at all.

 

[mojew]

Tone is where it all starts off. You can't make a bad tone sound good with mic placement. If you're that unhappy with your amp, chances are that is the major problem. Maybe I'm just not picky, but with my fender bandmaster head I can place a mic anywhere about two inches away from the speaker and have an awesome sound. I'd definitely suggest ditching the amp and investing in some sort of fender combo. Maybe a hotrod deluxe?