Recording guitar direct from FX pedal

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photoresistor

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Okay guys...

Today I recorded clean guitar tracks for my band and it went great, but trying to get the distorted guitar was a nightmare.

I've read a ton of info and techniques on recording guitar and I tried many of them... I just couldn't get a good sound out of my guitar player's 100 W Marshall half stack!

Sure it can sound good live and all but i couldn't get anything out of it recorded. With the gain up like it is for live it was way too crunchy etc. and with it down it was way too dry and dull to even play the riff.

And yes I turned the mids up, I turned the mids down, I lowered the bass and added bass, etc....

SO

He has a Digitech RP200 and a Digitech Metal Master that he is going to bring tomorrow. We'll try to mic it first but if that doesnt work do you think it may sound at least decent if sent from the FX pedals direct in (the metal master has an output specifically for this)?

I was also thinking of maybe recording a few takes direct in and then recording one over the top with just a bit of distortion to give it a more 'real guitar sound'.

Any ideas?

thanks
 
It may sound decent going direct depending on the effects pedals. I use a Roland VG-88 that sounds pretty decent as a DI but nothing seems to top micing the amp. Mixing the two also can turn out nice depending on the sound you are looking for.

It looks like you tried alot of different techniques and they all have failed you. You might want to take a look into some sound treatment for the room you are tracking in like some diffusion and absortion wall treatments. Something as simple as an acoustic partition flat may do the trick? Iso booth? Lifting the cabinet off the floor? Maybe a different mic for tracking and recording with less distortion than normal or even tracking an extra clean track for mixing the two with a little delay on one may do the trick.

It's hard to guess at improving your sound but keep experimenting and you'll find what your looking for eventually and don't forget to keep having fun :)
 
photoresistor said:
He has a Digitech RP200
Click to expand...

Hi, Photo,

The RP200 can be used like a Pod since it has cabinet voicing, so you can record direct with it.

I recorded this

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=118786

with a Digitech RP50 with the cabinet voicing on, running the stereo out directly to the inputs of my PC's box. I'd assume the RP200 to sound even better! I didn't even need an amp.

Good Luck!

PS Please leave a comment about the song. Thanks!
 
Maybe it s the guitar. (?) and not the amp thats the problem. If you have access to some other axes it might be worth a shot. Just a thought- since you mentioned the amp and not the axe.
 
photoresistor said:

He has a Digitech RP200 and a Digitech Metal Master that he is going to bring tomorrow. We'll try to mic it first but if that doesnt work do you think it may sound at least decent if sent from the FX pedals direct in (the metal master has an output specifically for this)?

I was also thinking of maybe recording a few takes direct in and then recording one over the top with just a bit of distortion to give it a more 'real guitar sound'.

Any ideas?

thanks
Click to expand...

Hi

Personnally, I like to use a DI box (Yamaha DJ Stomp) because I can record the guitar dry (through an Art pre-amp) and play with the guitar parameters at the mixing stage. I often adjust the compression and distorsion parameter so the guitar fits better in the mix. When I'm satisfied with the sound, I retrack the guitar to get the optimal sound with the new settings. Sometimes, I change the guitar sound because another one fits better. That way of working gives more flexibility although it a general concensus that miking a guitar amp will give better results.

Regards,

Jack Real.
 
check your strings picups and halfstack
could be ur not getting a good sound sound cuz the cab is pushing to much air but it shouldnt be tht much of a problem
my friend has a marshall combo amp and it sounded like crap when he hooked it up to his pedal when he took it off the sound improved
ide only record direct if the guitarist is not using ditortion or something related cuz i dont like how its processed when in direct
plus i like the tone when its miced up
goodluck
 
Strange isn't it?
You'd think if the guitar sounds great to our ears in a room then it would be a simple matter of positioning the mic where our ears are and (providing the mic is accurate) recording away. But it doesn't seem to work like that unfortunately.

Sometimes I have dropped lucky and got a great recorded distorted guitar fairly easily, other times I have failed and had to make do with something I'm not happy with. For my set up using a single condenser mic, telecaster, zoom effects pedal and Marshall 50 watt combo I find real close micing is best. When I have tried having the mic further away to capture 'air movement' as others ahve suggested it sounds crap (despite sounding good to my ears in the room itself). Usualy the problem is the guitar sounds too fuzzy on the recording which seems to accentuate the fuzz which you don't hear in the room and loose some of the warm tone which you DO hear in the room. Ho hum...
 
There's a lot more you can fiddle with than just amp settings. Try moving the microphone. Try using a different microphone. Try changing the pre-amp gain. Try using a different preamp. Try putting new strings on the guitar. Try a different pick. Different brand of strings. Different guitar. Place the amp in a different part of the room or a new room altogether.

Make sure you are monitoring correctly. Maybe you are recording something good but your monitoring situation is crap so you don't know the recording is good (happened to me before).

Stick with it. You'll get a good tone eventually.
 
The only thing I'd add to that is try to listen to the recorded guitar in a rough mix if possible. Sometimes the guitar sounds awful on its own, but good when mixed in with bass and drums etc, sometimes the reverse is true. Maybe the guitar sound is not as bad as you think when mixed in.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys... I've been away for a couple days which is why I haven't said anything yet.

Anyways we ended up getting an 'okay' sounding guitar recorded for one song. Its one of those 'itll work for now' kinda things. We actually ended up just using the amps natural distortion and then I ran some software fx on it (adding a little reverb seemed to smooth it a little).

The two pedals we tried (dod death metal & digitech metal master).... they simply had way too much gain, too much crunch and no way to turn it down. We messed w/ the RP200 for a long time but still I dont know couldn't really find what we were looking for.

He has a decent guitar... I believe its a Gibson... like Special or something like that. I mean his stack can sound good in live situations and all but when we turn down the fuzz/gain for recording it just seems to kind of die (and when its not dieing theres way too much fuzz/crack/pop distortion in it). I don't really think it was a problem with the room... we set up in our high school band room which is accoustically treated (granted not for electric distorted guitar but nonetheless).

I might try lifting the amp off the floor next time. I might try to record his 50w marshall combo amp instead of his stack next time. We recorded a practice once back when that was all he had and I just shoved a 57 up next to it and... it wasn't the best sound for sure but it sounded a whole lot better than anything we had going with his stack.

I'm right in the middle of reading that huge thread... i'm definately giong to be trying some new stuff here...


Well thanks for your help guys... eventually ill have some kind of recording put up in the mp3 clinic.
 
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