Recording distortion

[ulosturedge]

I'm trying to record a nice distortion sound. I've read you want your signals as hot as you can without ever redlining. So thats what I did. But my recordings come out with alot of high frequency hiss, airness, noise, rumble; and I feel like my ears are gonna start bleeding. I've tried to EQ it after but no matter where I make changes I can hear that ear killing sound in the background. I've even messed with the compressors, gates, limiters(not that I know what im doing lol) but nothin seems to help.

I'm recording into protools with 2 mics an Audix i5 upclose on the cone and a MXL condesor mic a few feet back. I have nt5 rodes I could probably use instead of that MXL lol but i'm just tryin to get started here lol.

Not sure if my problem is mic setups, gains on the protools interface, volume on amp, or my EQing and mixing..

I'm really interested in knowing if my gains should be low(protools) and volumes high(marshall amp) or vice versa.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Sloan]

Do a google search for an article written buy a guy named "SLIPPERMAN". It's like a nonsensical novel with a few tips thrown in about recording high gain guitar sounds.

 

[ermghoti]

1. "Record as loud as you can" is often interpreted wrong, and isn't really needed ever, in a digital system. If you are talking about reading a meter on your preamp, you're probably fine, but in Pro Tools, you'll want to see something more like -20dB(FS). Distorted guitar has very little dynamic range (I'm talking full-on nookyoolar distorted), so you could go a bit higher, maybe -15 or -12dBFS, but you won't really gain anything. Once again, the old +6VU on a tape machine reads about -15dBFS. Additionally, tape had maybe 95 dB of dynamic range, including those glowing red lights and needles buried to the right. A 24 bit digital system has about 120dB of dynamic range. Therefore, if your peaks are at -20dBFS, you still have more range than a good tech with a tape machine, slamming the inputs.

OTOH, if you record at -6dBFS or something, your input is running at
+14dBVU which is fine, if you like catastrophic hiss. Since there is no natural tape compression in a digital system (surprise?), there is no sonic advantage to running the signal hard. So it's a losing proposition all the way around.

2. From here on in, you can read Slipperman, I'm sure he's better in his sleep than I'll ever be. However, generally, turn your gain way down. Cranking the input gain on your amp until you get a syrupy sound in the room will sound like a baby spitting out peas every time. Turn your mids up, more than you think might be OK. It's easy to EQ out a little mid in the box, but near impossibly to record a thin guitar without sounding like Richard Simmons pleading for a warranty repair on his Miata. Take it easy on the lows. They sell electric basses for a reason.

3. Stick to the dynamic mic, there's no need for a second if you're not getting a good base sound with one. Move it around, a lot. I break with everybody else in the world by pulling the mic away from the grill about 3" or so, at least for a first try. The closer you get, the more low-mid you get. I find right on the grill is usually exagerrated too much for my tastes. Straight in, at the middle of the cone, will be obnoxiously bright, the closer to the edge, and the more angled, the more you roll off highs. You have more than one speaker? Try them all. Generally, you'll want to be away from the floor, as the proximity effect will boost the bass response unnaturally, but try 'em anyway.

4. If the dynamic still isn't working, you're doing something wrong, but try the condensor. I don't go any closer than about 6" with a c-mic, and while they tend to be great for cleans, they've never really won out for heavy distorted stuff.

5. Multi track. Four tracks for a one-part guitar line is a good start. Pan 'em around some, or a lot. You can think about using different guitars, or fiddling with amp settings if you don't already have a headache.