recording guitar solos

[blogwars]

i record directly to my pc.
everything sounds okay until i get to the guitar solo. drums, rhythm, bass. the guitar solo sounds out of place. im pretty sure its not a gear problem because the rhythm tracks sound fine. it just sounds like it doesnt belong with the rest of the song. my ears arent good enough to properly express what the problem is. but if i think if i knew the problem it would be easier to fix it.

 

[Farview]

is the solo sound different than the rhythm sound? If you choose something complimentary, you don't have to have it so loud in the mix to be able to hear it.

 

[andyskinner]

Solo sound

Could be a few things;

Where and how the solo is mixed.
The actual guitar sound....could be too trebly? Maybe you could put some more midrange on it?

Andy.

 

[Doombot]

Any way you can post a link to it? There are a lot of great ears here at your disposal.

 

[Dani Pace]

Don't feel alone, my guitar solos never sound quite right to me either,whether it is the tone or just my playing, or maybe just wanting to hear more.

 

[Outlaws]

Does it need delay and/or reverb?

I like a slight reverb -> a slight delay -> more reverb.

That does the trick for me.

 

[Phyl]

Hard to say from the description you gave, but here are some guesses...

Are you recording the guitar dry (no effects)? Try adding a little ambience or reverb to the track to make it sit in the mix better.

Are you recording a distorted guitar part? Maybe you need to mic a cabinet to get better tone.

Is it a timing issue - that is - does the guitar part seem to lag or lead the rest of the instruments? Maybe there is some latency in your recording chain.

 

[Outlaws]

it just sounds like it doesnt belong with the rest of the song.

I think I know what you mean.

Its a over dubbing issue.

Is the rest of the song recorded live as a group?

If so, I think I kind of know what you mean. It can seem a bit distant for a while to hear two guitars playing where there physically should be only one.

When I have tracked with a drummer and just me on guitar, I will sometimes get that feeling when I try to overdub a lead to it. It just seems kind of fake in some wierd way. I realized that it just me. Because I know where there is one guitarist and where there is studio magic.

 

[grinder]

There are lots of good guesses here, it could be anything, it's hard to tell without hearing. Can you put up a clip and more details of how it was recorded?