recording distorted guitars?

  • Thread starter Thread starter tylerxxx
  • Start date Start date
also, is there any special way i should isolate the sound or anything? right now its just the cab up against the wall, facing out into my room... i figure that might have something to do with it sounding like garbage.
 
Try 2 SM57's one close (6") slightly off axis from the cone and a second one ~ 4' back dead level /straight on with the middle of your cab. Try gain (post fader) at about -14 to -16 dB Pre fader gain about -10dB

This has worked well for me with my Mesa with 4 10's and a second bottom 1 - 12 and 2 - 8' (close mic on 10", far mic midway between cabs) , and sound/tone level that gives me good sustain
 
stainlessbrown said:
Try 2 SM57's one close (6") slightly off axis from the cone and a second one ~ 4' back dead level /straight on with the middle of your cab. Try gain (post fader) at about -14 to -16 dB Pre fader gain about -10dB

This has worked well for me with my Mesa with 4 10's and a second bottom 1 - 12 and 2 - 8' (close mic on 10", far mic midway between cabs) , and sound/tone level that gives me good sustain
Click to expand...

i don't have 2 sm57's. i have 1 sm57, 1 sm58, 1 sp B1, and 2 mxl 603s. anything i could do with that? i've been using the sm57 right up on the grille, angled about 35 degrees, and the sp b1 dead center of another speaker, about a foot and a half back.
 
You don't necessarily need more than one mic to get a good distorted guitar tone.

What you do need, however, is to make sure you are evaluating your tone against the mix of the other instruments. Sometimes a guitar will sound like dogshit on its own but great in the mix with drums and bass.

Here are some things you should try (some of this has already been mentioned).

-Get the amp off the ground. Put it in a chair, tilted upwards if possible. This allows the tone to be dispersed more evenly.

-Record in a closet, preferably full of clothes that help absorb some of the sound.

-Place the sm57 so that it sits at a 45 degree angle from the edge of the amp about an inch from the mesh. Then turn the mic inward so that it points about an inch from the edge of the cone.

-Back off the gain, particularly if you are playing thrash-type speed metal. Power doesn't come from the guitar or amp, but from your wrist.

-Play full chords where appropriate. Don't play two-note octave chords because it sucks out tone.

-Make sure the strings are new.

-Manually double your tracks. Good distortion comes from playing the part more than once. Simply copying the track and delaying slightly won't cut it.

-Lean towards getting more of a midrange sound to your tone than what you initially want. Overaccentuating the mids will cut better through mixes, and you can always cut back if necessary later.
 
Cyrokk said:
You don't necessarily need more than one mic to get a good distorted guitar tone.

What you do need, however, is to make sure you are evaluating your tone against the mix of the other instruments. Sometimes a guitar will sound like dogshit on its own but great in the mix with drums and bass.

Here are some things you should try (some of this has already been mentioned).

-Get the amp off the ground. Put it in a chair, tilted upwards if possible. This allows the tone to be dispersed more evenly.

-Record in a closet, preferably full of clothes that help absorb some of the sound.

-Place the sm57 so that it sits at a 45 degree angle from the edge of the amp about an inch from the mesh. Then turn the mic inward so that it points about an inch from the edge of the cone.

-Back off the gain, particularly if you are playing thrash-type speed metal. Power doesn't come from the guitar or amp, but from your wrist.

-Play full chords where appropriate. Don't play two-note octave chords because it sucks out tone.

-Make sure the strings are new.

-Manually double your tracks. Good distortion comes from playing the part more than once. Simply copying the track and delaying slightly won't cut it.

-Lean towards getting more of a midrange sound to your tone than what you initially want. Overaccentuating the mids will cut better through mixes, and you can always cut back if necessary later.
Click to expand...

i'm not mixing these tracks with anything... just simply recording guitar riffs, so that i can use DFH later and make some "one man band" type songs.

i just moved the cab into my closet, and took away the sp B1 mic. i piled up some blankets and sleeping bags right in front of the cab. although, i "borrowed" the cables from my monitors to use with my maximizer/eq for my head, so i can't listen to anything except the LEFT stereo track in my tracking cans (long story, basically the headphones jack on my DAW doesnt work, so i have the cans plugged into the left monitor output... kind of sucks)

but, it sounds a lot better already, i think. maybe tomorrow i can run out and buy some cables and blank cds and give you guys some examples of the tones i'm getting, so i can get more help.
 
tom18222 said:
one thing ive learned is that gain is the enemy. just have the gain lower, because it will just naturally become more distorted when you have 3 tracks going at once.
Click to expand...
Clips... Clips... Clips...

yeah, if you're going for a certain tone, lower gain may be called for, but not as a cure-all for an anemic gain structure...
 
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I think Cyrokk is on the right track. First of all the jcm900 probably sounds like ass turned down, and I'm guessing your room sounds like ass with the amp cranked, so you're fucked either way.

Get what tone you can at a lower volume and take the room out of the equation, then go from there.

I have a 57 and a b1 and never had overwhelming luck with "single heavy guitar track" type of stuff. If my room was better I could probably get a good sound out of the b1. The 57 is cool, but doesn't have the ass I want when there's only one guitar in the mix. Your 900 is a lot like my channel switching 800, not exactly king in the mud flaps department.
 
you do have 2 57's

a 57 has exactly the same capsule as a 58. the only difference is the grill - take it off and you have a 57.
 


that's 1 sm57 into my yamaha aw16g, 2 takes, one panned hard left, one panned hard right.

any advice to thicken that tone up? make it BEEFY?

ps, the riff is just a simple riff usually played behind a solo, i just recorded that because it was easy to record multiple takes. whenever i get the tone i want, i'll record the entire song for you guys.
 
wow, lay off the gain and the treble, i even hear a few low frequencies popping out that could be rolled off
is it a single coil pickup guitar?
 
I think think the gain is ok, but there's to much treble going on. I think this actually has a chance to sound good once you get the eq right. :)

You should tweak the amp while listening to it through mic -> monitors, not when listening to the cabinet by itself. Much easier to get it right then.
 
that's what i do!
it's an esp ltd h-1000 with an emg 81/85 set up.
 
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