TheEddo said:
I listen to bands like say, System of a Down, Disturbed, Incubus.... They all have great sounding guitar tones.
Hrm... those bands don't use 30 dollar mics for starters.
Let's take a look at what they do have that you don't:
-Probably 4-6 tube amplifiers from top manufacturers like VHT, Mesa/Boogie, Soldano, or Diezel. Average half stack cost: about 2500.
-Probably 10-30 top of the line guitars to choose from costing anywhere from 1500 to 4500 bucks like a Gibson Les Paul,
vintage Telecaster, top of the line 80's PRS and so forth. Audition all the guitars to find which one fits for which song, or choose 2 or 3 of them.
-Probably a choice of all the classic microphones to compare them to see which ones work best for the sound they want... stuff like 2500 dollar U87's, 3000 dollar U47's, MD421's, RE20's and so forth.
-Probably 3-6 weeks to find where those microphones sound best done by skilled audio engineers, followed by hours of discussion among the engineers and producers about which tone will sell more albums to teeny bops.
-Probably the choice of an acoustically sound recording space at approximately the dimensions that they want, with the ability to crank it past the Tufnel Threshold and actually hit "12" without the neighbors calling the cops.
-Probably their choice of vintage and modern preamps ranging from old tube Fairchilds, to reproduction Neve pre's. None of which you can afford or even know about.
-Probably their choice of effects processing from classic compressors and EQ's such as a 1176LN or LA2A. Or heck, why not throw on the 6 thousand dollar Manley Slam? How can it hurt?
-More than likely these guitar tones will also be making a brief stop on a 250,000 dollar SSL mixing console before being routed to either Pro-Tools, a Iz Radar or 2" analog tape... probably an Otari or Studer. All three are audiophile recording standards depending on preference.
-Of course if the signal is going to Pro-Tools or the Radar the signal will be converted by a top of the line Benchmark or Apogee AD/DA box costing somewhere around 2500 bucks per channel.
-Once the guitar sound has been captured all you need to do is repeat this from 2-10 times by overdubbing and you're done. However, there is still work to be done on the audio....
-Because where would big name bands be without big name mixers to spend a few months at 2000 dollars a day to mix the songs? After that, the mastering engineer needs to come in and run the signal thru another half million dollars of gear and a few more days of work to get everything sounding perfect for the radio.
And you *wonder* why your sound isn't close to theirs?
The closest you will get for under a few thousand dollars--or going to a real studio--is to get a direct recording device like a POD, Tonelab or J-Station.
Just get the direct device. It beats a 30 dollar microphone and whatever amplifier you are using.
