New to recording and frustrated.

[kristal150]

i agree with this bloak..or just crank the sound up and skoot the mic back a bit.or try putting the line 6 amp into the mixer from the recording slot and have thr guitar in the amp normally...thats what i do and it sounds great

 

[miroslav]

IMHO...I think a good part of your problem are the "monitors" you're playing back on. Those look like typical computer speakers...and they will tend to sound rather unexciting and one dimensional in most cases.

You need some decent monitors.

 

[mattr]

Listening to that clip and just throwing my $0.02 in here, I'd say you're pushing the gain too much. Imagine what the mic is picking up from the speaker. In fact, put your ear where the mic is, and that should explain a lot to you (not in terms of volume - its obvious it will be quite loud and I wouldn't recommend doing it for too long! - but in terms of what the speaker actually sounds like up close in one spot).

Its seems counterintuitive, but less gain is sometimes more if you're looking for a distorted but clear and 'pro-sounding' guitar tone.

With a mic up against a highly-gained amp, the 'tone' can just get reduced to a fizzy mush. Dial it back a bit, layer a few tracks up; hard panned L & R. Try it and experiment...

 

[Sonixx]

Its seems counterintuitive, but less gain is sometimes more if you're looking for a distorted but clear and 'pro-sounding' guitar tone.

With a mic up against a highly-gained amp, the 'tone' can just get reduced to a fizzy mush. Dial it back a bit, layer a few tracks up; hard panned L & R. Try it and experiment...

if the distortion is poor quality then reducing the gain is a work around. high quality amps with low IMD do not suffer from this issue and can deliver extremely saturated tones with clarity... back to the better amp recommendation.

 

[timodell7]

The recording sounds really good. It has nice tone to it. I also have the same amp, and the way i get good tone is to put the microphone in between the middle and the edge of the cone. I keep the amp level pretty low, low enough so the bass tone stays with it. And you should put the amp on the ground and maybe cover it, with maybe some of that foam stuff you have in the picture or make a box around it and put a blanket, it will help a lot.

Sounds like a room problem. Your going to have to put some work into finding the best place for the amp. And I agree with covering it up to stop some of the room from bleeding into the mic. If you can record a track with the mic, then do your next with it plugged direct, and then mabey another track with eq and heavy compression for some thickness. Then pan the tracks so they blend nice. Good luck.

If you get a chance try plugging your guitar right in to your recording input and add some effects. I don't know what adobe has to offer but I know some metal engineers who use it with great results. In the end follow your ears and be don't get frustrated.

 

[dressner]

Thanks for the tips guys. All things to think about. I want monitors bad, can't wait til I can get some.

As per the suggestion to upgrade the amp, I totally agree. The Peavey was a budget choice mainly. I got a decently loud amp with tubes at likely the lowest cost possible, and I have never regretted the purchase. The amp doesn't perform exactly as I'd like but I do think it has serviceable tone and I've learned the amp well enough to make it do what I want with little struggle. I'd recommend the ValveKing to anyone on a budget without qualification. That being said, of course there are way better amps and I'd love to own them too .

That marshall head with 4 channels and 3 different sub channels per is pretty neat aside from the shit reverb, I'd love that one! That or any mesa boogie would be well welcomed into my guitarsenal. Any of you guys that suggested equipment upgrades, if you feel christmasy, I'd accept an early delivery from Mr. Claus!

As far as the tone I'm going for (never figured I'd say this but) mega distorted! I mainly have a blues background, but I have been corrupted by a metal shredder old roomate. I learned how to handle the mega gain and i havent looked back since. its all fun and aweasome at this end

 

[miroslav]

I got a decently loud amp....

Unless you also use it for live playing...you really don't need a very loud amp for recording.

For about $100-$150....get yourself an Epi Valve Jr head or one of those Blackheart Little Giants which has even more tone-tuning options.
You will have plenty of great crunch to work with for recording.

And if you like a beefy/chunky tone...grab a Cascade Fat Head ribbon mic...it will vastly improve on that SM57.
With the Fat Head...you CAN stick it right at the cone, and there will not be any harsh/spikey highs.

 

[Sonixx]

As far as the tone I'm going for (never figured I'd say this but) mega distorted!

then look at a RevJrPro. It's a great recording amp and excellent amp period. it can produce a very saturated and thick distortion, a very nice clean and just about anything in between... and at a very reasonable price.