Recording distorted guitars

[D-drone]

I've just bought a Tascam 414MKII. Along with this I have a SM57 mic, fender strat, fender frontman 25w, a Boss DS1 distorsion pedal and an Ibanez digital delay pedal (I run my pedals through the line in on the amp).
I have been recording using this set-up which sounds fine while there is no distorsion, but when I hit the distorsion I get a very dirty kinda hissy sound on the recording. I generally record with the pedal and amp on quite deep warm tones. My guitar teacher suggested I turn down the gain on the dist. pedal and raise the level but this gave a bluesy/not very powerful distorsion. The kind of sound I am looking for is more that of Tool, Creed, A Perfect Circle etc.
Any advice on how to avoid the distorion "interference" would be much appreciated.

 

[hixmix]

My advice: If you already have one, don't quit your day job.

 

[Tapehead]

C'mon Hixmix, this is the guy's first post and he has a problem. Why the put-down?

Back to the question, it's hard to tell offhand. Some pedals are just plain noisy. Could you get/borrow/rent a different distortion pedal and try again? If it still gives you the hissy sound. then it could be something in your signal chain.

Does it sound hissy when you are just playing through the amp rather than recording? Maybe try using the guitar input rather than line input and see if that makes a difference.

Let me know how it goes. Good luck.

 

[hixmix]

Not really a put down. Just a wake up call.

cheers,
hixmix

 

[D-drone]

Hey! I'm only 15, hope to aspire to higher greatness! I have the dist. pedal in the guitar in. Go to

(it's a Smashing Pumpkins cover).
Also, here's what i already know from others - http://acapella.harmony-central.com/Forum3/HTML/000116.html

Thanks!

 

[Heero]

....

Not really a put down. Just a wake up call.

cheers,
hixmix

It was uncalled for. Just Shut your mouth next time.

 

[Wide Awake]

d-drone

You're clean sound is fine. For the distorted guitar, you should make a bunch of recordings and experiment with the gain setting on your DS-1, amp settings, mic placement, ect. Write down all of the settings so that when you find a good sound, you will know how to recreate it anytime you want.

Sometimes if you record with too much distortion, your guitar sound can become smaller and thin. Some of the artists you mentioned layered guitar parts to make them sound big like that.

Ignore hixmix, he shops for all his high-end gear at Radio Shack.

 

[Gidge]

I would sell the amp and 2 effects pedals and get a Johnson J-Station...going for $199.99 now....the effects alone are worth that much....

Note: please note that this is the opinion of the author of the post...Johnson J-Stations are not for everybody...they are not intended to take the place of micing a good guitar cab in a good room....however, in home studio applications where one might not have access to many different amp and speaker combos and great sounding rooms and great preamps and great engineer/producers with the mack daddy ears, I think they serve the purpose....

 

[hixmix]

OK. I surrender. But I'm not tellin' anyone where I shop for my low end gear.

 

[D-drone]

What about a Sansamp GT2 vs a j-station. J station doesn't have a foot switch does it?

 

[hixmix]

Tapehead-

Tell me. Please. How do I recreate "the hissy sound"? A dimension of sonic pleasure so blatantly absent from most recordings these dayz.

hixmix

 

[jrlemonz]

I couldn't hear your mp3 (didn't work), but from what I gather I think I can help. Firstly, you probably can't remove this hiss totally, the DS-1 is just noisy. Firstly, unless your using it, take the delay out of the chain. All it can do is add noise (unless your using it, then it adds delay too ) The Strat and Frontman aren't going to assist you anymore then the DS-1 in getting a sound sans-Tool, APC or Creed. Doubling/Quadrupling (NIN did 45 layered tracks on one song) your tracks will help a LOT in making your sound "bigger". Pan left/right on doubled tracks (one hard left, the other hard right). Check out a POD/J-Station or anything else like that. I like them all, and find them very useful. I use a Line 6 amp (Flex I Duo converted into a 2x50watt head through a 4x12 Peavey) and LOVE how it sounds. Everyone thats ever heard it has complimented me on my tone (even some hardcore tube amp fanatics who thought it was tube, the amp is this strange black box and you can't tell). You might just be better off with one of those things. I think the Digitech RP-100 sounds quite a bit like the J-Station Gidge pushed, and it's only $100. J-Station is better, but $100 is cheaper.

Jake

 

[jeffteel]

Well, from what I can tell...

1) A young kid is trying to noodle around and have some fun with the equipment he's got, and he probably can't afford to buy anything new right now.
2) One smart ass thinks that young kids should either spend $5000 on new gear when they're starting out or give it up completely.
3) Some people think the kid should get new gear.

I know a guy who gets GREAT recorded tone using...get this...a Peavey Rage amp. No s@#t!

D-Drone, you're not going to make a multi-million dollar record with that setup, but you can have fun and lay down some nice stuff...and most importantly learn from what you're doing. You're starting in the analog world, which will give you a great head start when you move to something more expensive in a few years.

I say, fiddle with the knobs, lay down multiple guitar tracks...you'll have to visit the Tascam forum to get the goods on doing that successfully...and move your mic away from the center of the amp's speaker. Having it right in the center will give you some nasty tone. Also, don't crank it too loud because those amps don't really sound that great cranked like a tube amp does. Nevertheless, you can do what you want to do with what you already have.

Have fun, good luck, and feel free to keep asking questions...there are some damn smart people on this board.

 

[Tapehead]

Nicely said Jeffteel.

 

[Helmut]

I only want to suggest a larger amp, not too big, maybe like 80Watt or so of a good brand (even second hand).
Why I suggest this is because the speaker size is bigger and you have a larger area to try different mic placements which I have found can have tremendous differences. Some parts of speakers are noisy and rattly and with a mic that close it could pick it up.

Stay with the pedal and guit youve got and also the mic, but try and see about a nice amp.

 

[guhlenn]

although he's an asshole ... he's right.
you cannot get a mesa rectifier sound (that's what you're looking for) from that fender. i have that fender, and it's nice enough for playin in your bedroom... what you could try are these settings

volume 2-3 not more ! gain around 6 bass 5-6 mid 4-5 treble 5-6. while the treble produces the hissy sound turning the treble down... well will sound like crap.

or borrow some cab with celestion 12" in it and see what a good speaker does for you!

good luck!

guhlenn

oh if you really don't care about your amp drill a hole inthe back side and stick the sm57 in... should give a more boomy sound... but ol;y if you really don't care.

 

[rod swollen]

d drone i think this may be your problem. i also have a strat and i too get a hiss. this was the problem...the fucking computer monitor. for some reason the frequencies conflict with my high end pick up. this is what i do, hit record turn off the monitor. no hiss. hope that helps/

 

[vox]

Rod, single coil pickups like the Strat's, are prone to picking up electromagnetic interferance, that's why the Humbucker was invented - to 'buck' the hum. You could also try playing in different parts of the room or simply facing a different direction, sometimes that helps.

 

[Tapehead]

Another thought--if you're looking for loud distortion, then you're not going to hear hum and hiss while you're playing; it's the quiter moments between. That's where (if you can buy beg borrow steal) a noise gate, it will cut the noise in the places where you're not playing.