recording guitar to tracks

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sharic4

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Anyone out there help with dead guitar tracks.When I record... I always lay down my drum tracks then my acoustic guitar tracks ( direct and miked )then vocals . Now when I lay down an electric lead (I record direct thru the M audio Black box) or (Boss guitar pre=-amp) the track never fits the song..its sounds dead....My question is...Is there a way to make a electric guitar lead / rythmn sound decent ...alive....what do I need to purchase or am I just recording it in the wrong way? No matter what I record on its always been the same problem. I am now using Garageband but before I was using a Roland vs-880, before that the yamaha aw16.Thank you!
 
Define 'dead'. Is it disappearing in the mix? You may have too much happening in the 3-7KHz range. I can only speak to what's worked for me. I try to cut rather than boost for EQ. I find acoustic guitar to sound more 'lush' when I cut a little on the mids and let the electric guitar occupy the midrange. Try some panning as well.
 
I record thru the m audo blacbox & No matter what effect I use , no matter what distortion I use.....it just sounds crappy , lost. weak.....How do you record your electric guitar tracks?
 
Too much distortion could be the problem. Try them a little bit cleaner - maybe just with a little overdrive and then eq to fit.
 
As an aside, I use a VST plug in sometimes called Magneto to add 'warmth' to my direct recordings - I think its a Steinberg plug so I'm not sure if it's free to download or not. You could also look at tweaking the dynamics, there is a nice free plug in called Cyanide that is worth checking out. Not sure if that will add life to what you are recording or not but it will give you some new options.
 
What I do is...mic the amp and back off the distortion.

Micing the amp (to me) sounds much better than a DI'd signal. More life, clarity, bigger maybe...?

Backing off the gain makes it easier to mix and sounds bigger and fatter.

jmho, of course...:D
 
working it

if you are using garageband there are several things i would recommend.

First off, I would highly advise the use of some sort of preamp such as the ART series. They are only about $30 at musiciansfriend.com and really warm your guitar sound up (they also power your condenser mics and anything else you want to beef up).

Second, as mentioned before, pay attention to EQ. try cutting certain frequencies of other instruments and "fitting" the guitar sound in there. There are tons of resources out there about the best EQ ranges for guitar... spend some time on google and you will find plenty of tips and advice.

Third, my favorite technique for "exciting" my guitar sound in garageband is (after choosing the right guitar amp and eq settings, etc) is to record the same track twice- once in the left stereo field and once in the right stereo field. the slight discrepancies will really make the guitar sound full and alive. you can also duplicate the same track, and use the same recorded segmetn, but zoom in all the way, turn off "snap to grid", and move the second guitar track ever so slightly forward or backward.

hope this helps.
 
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