need help recording guitar!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter xfatalherox
  • Start date Start date
X

xfatalherox

New member
hey everyone. im having a really hard time getting my guitar with distortion to sound good after i record it. it seems that after i record it, i just can't seem to get that "live" sound to go away. I only have this problem with the distortion, with the clean it sounds great. when i compare my distortion guitar sound to the sound of distortion guitars on other bands' cd's, mine sounds way more "live". how do i get that professional studio type guitar sound? i am only recording guitar by itself, so could it be that it sounds "live" because it doesn't have the other instruments there for it to blend in with? or could it be because i am recording my guitar in an open room? I record mostly hardcore and metal type stuff, and i am recording with a crate gx212 amp. please help. thx

By the way, heres a sound clip of one of my recordings so you can hear what i'm talking about:
 
Not sure what "live" means. When recording guitar though, you should always make any judgements to tone in the context of the other instruments.

It sounds like what you are describing is the background of hiss that accompanies distortion. This is created by the gain of the amp. The less gain, the less hiss (which is why it is absent on clean guitar sounds). Although that also means less distortion, the guitars you hear on professional cds most likely have far less gain than you think, much of it compensated with palm muting.
 
how far away do you have your mic? if it's too far away you may be picking up unwanted room ambience...you should have the mic right up o the speaker...
 
i ususally mic the amp with the mic about 2 feet away. thanx for your feedback, i'll try it. do you also think it would help to record it in a closet or some type of isolation box?
 
recording in a small enclosed space may make the recording sound boxy....

i just reccomend getting the mic as close to the speaker as possible, make sure the amp isn't on the floor, and reduce the gain a bit because it will usually sound more distorted "on-tape" (ok i'm old school i still use tape..)
 
I guess it depends on what sort of sound you want. I usually record guitars with an SM57 touching the grill of the amp pointing somewhere between the middle and outside of the cone. That will give you a real upfront modern metal guitar sound.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top