My guitar sounds muddy, and my mixes are masked. HELP!

try 2 different mics record the same cab at the same time.
they should have different sound.....blend them to your taste.

I have my guitar tracks lifeless and muddy, when I just have a behringer mixer and 1 sm57.......but I now have a DMP3 and try to use the D112 kick mic and the sm 57 at the same time, the sound become better!!

I suggest you dont buy anything now.....keep messing up with your equipments you have, and seems they should sound good!!
 
Try moving the mic back about 2 inches... or further towards the outside of the speaker. I had some guitar tones that sounded great at home, and then total crap on club systems. Turned out my home system doesn't do much to reproduce around 80hz. Maybe your monitoring environment is an issue.

I moved those mixes into a club and identified a half dozen masking issues in 20 minutes.. the mixes sound great now on any system.
 
thexflamesxburn said:
Alright, so i do consider myself decently well acquainted with recording and the proper techniques, but my skill to get a good guitar sound recorded is terrible.

I have a mesa boogie dual rectifier head and mesa 4x12 cab, and i play a gibson les paul, so my guitar equipment is not the problem.

Whenever i record (pro tools le7, digi002 rack, sm57 microphone) my guitar tone is always muddy and sounds just terrible. it takes a hell of a lot of eq just to make sound OK. but i don't like ok!!! i want it to sound full, rich, crunchy!

can someone help me out? i would really, really appreciate it. someone told me to turn the gain down and the volume up, and double track everything, and it'll give me the sound i'm looking for, but i would like to hear everyone's ideas on this..


also, when i mix a session, i notice that EVERYTHING is being masked. all the tracks are masking each other and i really don't have a clue how to fix it. the mixes sound cluttered.

help :(
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I have been recording for 11 years and get great guitar tones even from some of the worse guitarist, 1st thing i have never had alot of luck with a sm57 for guitar in the studio, try a AKG 414, or a EV RE11, much better for getting that great tone, things that work for you live most of the time does not work in the studio, also a great peamp like a Trident s20 or Amek 9098 will also give you that great tone, preamps are so important in the studio but dont go run out and buy a cheap one because it will only make it worse.
Again i have let guitarist time after time choose which mic sounds better, the sm57 or a RE11 /AKG 414, sometimes i use 2 mics in phase and get a huge sound, my clients never pics the sm57 over the other 2 mics i mentioned ;) .... hope i have helped you a little.
 
I dont think the mic is your problem. I agree, I would use a different mic, but replacing the mic and not changing anything else will not solve the problem. A new mic should be the last thing you do, not the first thing. Plenty of people get excellent results using the SM57 for this purpose, so find out how they do it.

I've had great results going over to the MP3 forum and listening to tons of tunes. When I find a few that have the guitar sound I'm after, I ask them how they did it. Many of them will give you the kind of details you need (like Richard did up above) and that will get you a lot of mileage before you plunk down $300 or $400 bucks for the MD421.

Changing everything else will make it a lot easier to hear the sound of a new mic, much more than a new mic will make your guitar easier to mix. Starting with those new tubes you ordered......
 
did you try the mic at angles to the speakers and at different distances, pointing to the floor, up, in back, a few feet away, etc? i don't have time to mess that much with it so i use it close and then have a condensor at 4 feet and blend the 2. assuming that you already love the sound you have before you bother to try to record it...
 
i'm getting my new tubes on tuesday, so from that point i will install them, let them chill with the amp on for a good hour or two to get warmed up, and then experiment with my sm57 some more.

here is a sample:


if anyone cares to listen that, it's just me playing 2 rythem parts and a lead part, to a reason drum sample i made also.

for that i used a mesaboogie dual rect head, mesa 4x12 cab, sennheiser e609, digi 002 rack preamp, pro tools le 7.

that's the best results i've had from any of the equipment i have, but i'm not completely happy with it. i want it to sound better. comments?
 
That's your worst?? LOL I think it sounds pretty damn good too me. I'm more of an old style metal head and I'd jam along with that. The lead could be brought up some and left more in the center, panned slightly to either side. Boost a little in the highs from 15k-20k for more air. But that's my opinion. Just sounds like mixing needs more work than anything really. Add some verb to the drums and boost the highs for the cymbals a bit. Toy with each track so they mix together well instead of fighting each other. Try a tad of eq on each track so each track doesn't compete for the same frequencies. You dont need to cut or boost with eq or verb to much. Just enough to make each track stand out in the mix and sit well. Honestly I think it's great as is. Just work the mix a little more. It rocks.
 
syscrusher said:
That's your worst?? LOL I think it sounds pretty damn good too me. I'm more of an old style metal head and I'd jam along with that. The lead could be brought up some and left more in the center, panned slightly to either side. Boost a little in the highs from 15k-20k for more air. But that's my opinion. Just sounds like mixing needs more work than anything really. Add some verb to the drums and boost the highs for the cymbals a bit. Toy with each track so they mix together well instead of fighting each other. Try a tad of eq on each track so each track doesn't compete for the same frequencies. You dont need to cut or boost with eq or verb to much. Just enough to make each track stand out in the mix and sit well. Honestly I think it's great as is. Just work the mix a little more. It rocks.
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no no no thats the best results i've had lol. i can't seem to get it like that again. it still feels a little flat though.
 
A couple of people have mentioned the technique of recording two notionally identical tracks, then panning hard left and right.

It's a cool technique that I've used heaps of times myself, but it does have its problems.

I find that technique works really well when you are using the guitars (or whatever instruments you place at those extremes) to complement a mix and provide an extra spatial dimension.

However, I have heard mixes where the real business end of the band is sitting hard left and right, and this has left a huge hole in the centre of the mix. Admittedly, there is a bass, a kit and a vocalist there, but its kinda like "where's the rest of the band gone?" With a strong guitar-oriented sound, and a lot of energy coming from them, listening to them on the extremes is like sitting in the eye of a hurricane; you can see it all around but feel very little.

On the main topic: I've always been mildly embarassed at not having a single Shure in my mike stable, but I manage ok without. I have moderate success with an AKG D770 on a cab, and, in one session, absolutely brilliant results with it (probably more to do with the amp and guitarist).
 
thexflamesxburn said:
i'm getting my new tubes on tuesday, so from that point i will install them, let them chill with the amp on for a good hour or two to get warmed up, and then experiment with my sm57 some more.

here is a sample:


if anyone cares to listen that, it's just me playing 2 rythem parts and a lead part, to a reason drum sample i made also.

for that i used a mesaboogie dual rect head, mesa 4x12 cab, sennheiser e609, digi 002 rack preamp, pro tools le 7.

that's the best results i've had from any of the equipment i have, but i'm not completely happy with it. i want it to sound better. comments?
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Well we are listening to a MP3 , but with saying that i thought the guiitars sounded great, LOL the drum machine was chese bigtime, at least your tone is good, you can only go forward from that, make a note of all your settings, mics etc.. :p
 
Dude, that sounds awesome. I am a huge fan of bands like Quicksand Helmet, and Handsome. That shit rocks. You'll get where you want to be soom enough. Just keep your head down and plow till you get what your looking for.


Garrett
 
a tip i picked up on RAP - check out a 635a for muddy guitar sounds. at 30 bucks used - it's not a huge gamble...and it can sound amazing. :eek:

Mike
 
no one's said this, and i think this is the most obvious......does the guitar sound good to your ears when you're standing in the room playing through it?

if so, then put the mic RIGHT THERE where your head is. that should get you the exact sound you're hearing.

if it doesn't come out like you're hearing it, something's wrong--either in the settings on the amp, the room, where the amp is, mic, etc.


cheers,
wade
 
mrface2112 said:
no one's said this, and i think this is the most obvious......does the guitar sound good to your ears when you're standing in the room playing through it?

...snip...
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junplugged said:
...snip...assuming that you already love the sound you have before you bother to try to record it...
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kinda what i meant so i have to agree ;)
 
i dont think that sounds bad at all. little boxy but a pretty good in your face tone. for some reason i can never ever get dual or triple recs to sound good to tape. allways feels nasal. they sound great on a stage but i cant get em to have balls when tracking em. those tones you got sound better than my results for those heads.
 
ok, looking for a guitar cab mic

I was reading around and people are saying that it takes more than one mic to get a good sound out of recording a guitar cab. i have an es-57(copy of an sm-57). what other mic can i get that would be in the 200 dollar range that would sound best, i have a eurorack mixer that runs striaght into my stock pc card.

thanks

- Luis
 
cubanorocker316 said:
I was reading around and people are saying that it takes more than one mic to get a good sound out of recording a guitar cab. i have an es-57(copy of an sm-57). what other mic can i get that would be in the 200 dollar range that would sound best, i have a eurorack mixer that runs striaght into my stock pc card.

thanks

- Luis
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I'm sorry completely ignore my post above i was tryin to creater a thread my apologies
 
i'm a beginner to micing cabs but a couple things
that helped me...

1. whoever said get the amp off the floor, i second.
get a stool or amp-holder-thing to set it on.

2. try putting the amp in either a bathroom or garage
(if possible) the reflections can sound really good
and it will also aid top-end "bite"

3. try two mics also, maybe a dynamic or ribbon up-
close, and a condensor farther away for more room.

4. or just one mic farther away.

also, i've been having the same "everything in the mix
sounding masked" sound and i've basically come to the
conclusion that it's my soundcard, so i'm going to try
replacing the opamps to see if that helps, or buy a new
soundcard if i break it.

could be your pre or mixer too, especially if you've got
good tone live but not recorded.

hope something helps some.


.
 
junplugged said:
kinda what i meant so i have to agree ;)
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i hear ya j. ;)

you and i both know that what you get from the amp at your head is a world of difference apart from what you get with an sm57 against the cone. but since no one had actually said that in this particular thread, i figured i'd be master of the obvious...........:D


cheers,
wade
 
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