okay....sound i need guitar help again.

[Guitar4life0000]

Okay, so I got the miking thing down, and it sounds good, except now the guitar doesn't sound very full like it does in good quality recordings. How do you get your guitar sound sound so it sounds more 3-dimensional and fuller?


Thanks again!

Steve.

 

[guitar zero]

It would help if you would post your signal chain. What mic, preamp, sound card, mixer or interface, one or two mics, where placed, etc...

 

[Guitar4life0000]

alright, well i have 1 SM57 (placed on the cone of the speaker right on the cabinet) plugged into a Presonus Firepod connected to my computer which records to Cubase. I usually run my amp volume at 5 or 6.

Let me know if you need any more info.

 

[WhiteStrat]

Can you post a clip somewhere and then post the link here? I'd like to hear what kind of part your recording.

 

[Guitar4life0000]

the most recent recording ive done is here: (please keep in mind that this is still a rough recording haha)

www.myspace.com/silencetheinquisitor

 

[WhiteStrat]

the most recent recording ive done is here: (please keep in mind that this is still a rough recording haha)

www.myspace.com/silencetheinquisitor

That guitar sounds pretty good to me. A bit less distortion would make it sound thicker, and the bass needs to come up some under it.

What is it you don't like about it?

 

[Rokket]

Pointing your mic toward the cone of the speaker takes a lot of the bass out of the guitar. If you want more bass, then simply inch the mic up until you get the sound you are looking for. Keep in mind that even if you do get a tone that you like on its own, once you add it to the mix, you may not like it any longer. Try to track your guitar keeping in mind how many other mid range instruments you are going to have in the mix.

Also, a good way to fatten up your guitar tone is to double track. If you do this, I recommend playing each part twice (or three times if you like) versus just cutting and pasting the second guitar part. It will be louder, but not fuller. Does that make sense?

 

[Rokket]

A couple more tips to fatter tone:

1. Play 4 guitar tracks, pan 2 left and 2 right. On one set (L/R pair) you play the lower register of your chord shapes. On the second set, you play the upper register of the chord shape.
Another version of this is to play one set as a chord, the second set as an arppegio.
Yet another version is to play one set distorted, and play the other set clean.
Mix to taste.

Use much less gain when recording than you do live playing. Too much gain/saturation/distortion can give you a fuzzy tone.

2.Pan hard left and right with one set of tracks. The second set can be panned to 50% or even 25%. The levels should be set so that each track has it's own space in the mix. 25% panning can make this hard because the sources may blend together since they share so many like frequencies.

3. Try different amps and guitars playing the same chord patterns. This can also fatten up your tracks, and can give you a unique tone.

Have fun with it all...

 

[Rokket]

Damn double post...

 

[guitar zero]

Rokket and Strat are both right. I would just echo that it sounds pretty good already. Moving the mic toward the edge of the cone instead of the center will give it a more bassy sound. Are you unhappy with the sound coming out of your amp, or the way your recording translates to your speakers? If it's the latter, just use some of the tricks suggested above.

 

[nubsy]

Decent sounding, you can tell it's an amp. Your parts are played tightly, so you must know them well and can probably double track them as suggested. It'll be nice and huge when you're done. Double it up!

 

[Guitar4life0000]

okay, I'll experiment on all that.

thanks everybody for your help, I really appreciate it!