Need help with Guitars/Mic's

[joswil44]

I need some advice.

I am hit and miss with recording good guitar sound using Mics.

Heres my main problem.

I listen to these great Metal Recordings.

Recently Killswitch Engage. Guitar sounds like a nice Amp tone transfered strait on to a Recording.

I can get clean quiet sound with a Line 6 direct to the mixer, but I want to mic my Tube amps and get a great sound from them.

Heres what I have got:

Peavey Triple XXX Head, Ampeg VL-1002, Line 6 HDII, Madison Divinty, Krank Krankenstein. Plenty of Decent choices for a head.

I am using Marshall 1960A and 1960B Cabs, Krank Krankenstein Cabs, Vader Cabs as well as Madison Cabs. Decent selections of Cabs.

For guitar Mics, I have a Audio Technica AT4060 Tube Condensor, Audix I5, Shure SM57, Shure Beta 57.

I have a Carpeted Vocal Booth. Its sheetrocked and looks like a large telephone booth. I hang a blanket over the entrance but it essentially has a roof, three sides and one opening just like a phone booth.

I put the cabs in there to record for a more quiet dead sound.

I run all of this into a Mackie 32 Channel 8 Bus mixer. I use Nuendo RME converters into Nuendo 2 on my PowerMac G4.

I have 1 Grace Design Mic Preamp to my disposal otherwise I go strait into the Mackie 8 Bus board.

I have an Alesis 3060 stereo Compressor at my disposal but I hear that it doesnt work to well from other users. I have yet to hear what I good compressor can do other than some plugins on my Mac.

Speaking of which, I basically have standard Nuendo 2 plugins.

Now that you know what I am using and have available to use, lets get back to my problem.

I am getting a very Sizzley sound.

Very Thin and buzz saw at times.

Not so bad in the Room Mic Condesor.

But definately on the Audix I5 and SM57/Beta 57's.

I dont know if its about the room sound, the mic placement or what?

Do I need to compress or gate the guitar to get rid of it?

Are my ears being fooled? Am I trying to hard to EQ the sound on the board before tracking with bad sound treatment therefore getting inaccurate results from my monitors?

Its almost like a phasing sound or when you adjust the Q levels on mids or highs.

Anyone got some pointers for me to try out so I can get some good Mic'd guitar sound.

Thanks!

 

[joswil44]

Heres a sample link

If anyone wants to check out a recording, try the first song by Solemn Eternity on my Myspace page.

The guitar tone wasnt the greatest, nor was the playing, but I am mostly annoyed with the mic'd sound so far.

He used an Ibanez with cheap active pickups and a Crate Blue Voodoo Head.

The mics used were the AT4060 Condensor Room Mic Panned Hard Left, Shure Beta 57 on a Kustom Cab panned hard left, and the Audix I5 on another cab panned about 75% left. Right was separate guitar same process.

I had to really tweek with the mid and high EQ to get alot of the Air/Sizzle sound out. But I would have had better results if it wasnt there to start with.

www.myspace.com/metalworksrecordingstudio

If anyone can offer some things to try I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[scrubs]

http://www.badmuckingfastard.com/sound/slipperman.html

That link is required reading for tracking distorted guitar. The quality of myspace streaming files is so bad, I can't get anything from that track. Generally, though, less gain and more mids will get you a punchier, less fizzy sound.

 

[tbone36109]

it mainly sounds like a lack of tone from the guitar rigs. is there a bass guitar in that recording,if not try pull the mid bass and low mids up on the guitar some. i can probably help more if you describe mic placement and how you placed the cabs in the rooms. what could also really help if you could post some of the guitar tracks up without the other instruments.