Rounding the sound?

[Aviel]

Hey,
I got a strange problem
i am recording my guitar amp using a Dynamic mic, into the sound card,
the sound that i get into cubase or so, isn't distorted, and comes with a nice gain and volume. but its too sharp, i mean when listening to my solos, my ear is hurting a bit, and not because the volume, its just too sharp, not rounded enough i think.
I tried compressing the hell of it, but it didnt help, tried playgina bit with the EQ, but when lowering the higher freq, i lose the nice guitar sound.

Can anyone help me on how to make the sound smooth and nice?

Thanks

 

[ecktronic]

Maybe you are used to hearing so much hi end that you think it sounds dull with less of it. Try comparing your hi end to a tone that you like on a commercial CD. If you are using an SM58 then dont, and use an SM57 instead. SM58s can be pretty harsh for recording guitars. Try boosting the mid and lowering the hi. Play about with the presence knob on the amp. Adding more can bring clarity and tone but also can bring too much attack and harshness. Play about with your guitar knobs also. Only compress the guitars slightly as compression is pretty noticeable on guitars and they end up loosing their dynamic realness. If you cant get rid of the harshness at tracking then make an EQ cut at mix down at 5K abouts. Make an extreme over the top cut and then sweep through the frequencies until the harshness goes away, then find the amount of cut you need so you dont loose too much tone. Also try a slight wide cut at 1-2K which should numb the harshness.
Good luck.

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

Is the mic and cable OK? What soundcard are you using? Assuming this is all OK and you're happy with the tone coming out of the amp it could be an eq problem, probably in the high mids if it's 'sharp' to the point of being fatiguing on your ears.

Are you using the parametric eq in cubase? You'll need to make the Q good and narrow in the area you're wanting to cut, this way you shouldn't affect the overall tone too much.

Hope this helps, if not give a bit more detail on your set up and hopefully one of the pro guys might chip in.

Plenty of useful articles (including eq and mixing in general) here:

http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

 

[FALKEN]

how subtle is the effect? is it something that a non-musician would notice?

one thing you might try is that your guitar speaker has more brightness around the edge than it does in the center. move the mic more towards the center of the speaker.

digital recording in general sounds more "sharp" than the sound of tape. if it is something subtle like that, there are different preamps that can "warm" up your sound.

 

[Aviel]

Thanks all for your replies, i will try playing with the EQ, the amp i tried all i can, though from what i've tried from the EQ, i just lose the 'guitar sound.

I have a marshall 30DFX amp, connected to a zoom GFX8 effects processor,
i record with an AUdio-Technica BIte dynamic mic, which is quite good, and which should be an imitation of the SM57, but i does it quite well.
the MIC is plugged into my mic input on the soundcard (audigy 2- though i am thinking about changing it), i dont have anyy pre-amp.
(though, i dont think that this sound can come out from my amp, and even not from more expensive ones, maybe only from high end amp, not transinstors, and a very very good pre-amp.)

on cubase i am trying to boost the mids on the input channel (Stereo in EQ).
IF you ppl dont understand what i am talking about (i mean about the sound i get) i can upload some seconds of a records, and upload a professional one, so you can hear the differance for yourself.

Thanks
Aviel

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

the MIC is plugged into my mic input on the soundcard (audigy 2- though i am thinking about changing it), i dont have anyy pre-amp.

That's your problem, that soundcard isn't really suitable for serious recording.

For future reference with the eq, you need to be sweeping through the suspect frequency range and then cutting out the errant frequencies with a narrow Q. If you use a parametric correctly then it shouldn't effect the overall tone too much at all. Also you shouldn't be boosting anything if you're having problems, that'll just lead to more problems and even shittier overall sound.

 

[mattamatta]

Mic placement. As someone said, move it outward from the center of the cone toward the edge until you find the sound that's right.

Either that or turn down the highs on the amp.

When you dont have at least a solid guitar tone coming from a dynamic up against an amp, it's the amp and/or the mic placement. Every single time. If there's something else that should be changed for a better suiting tone, you'll probably know it.

 

[Aviel]

Mic placement. As someone said, move it outward from the center of the cone toward the edge until you find the sound that's right.

Either that or turn down the highs on the amp.

When you dont have at least a solid guitar tone coming from a dynamic up against an amp, it's the amp and/or the mic placement. Every single time. If there's something else that should be changed for a better suiting tone, you'll probably know it.

Thanks for your help,
though ive tried this before, i've moved my mic from the center a little to the left side of the amp, its better, but not good yet, more left than that i cant go.

 

[Aviel]

That's your problem, that soundcard isn't really suitable for serious recording.

For future reference with the eq, you need to be sweeping through the suspect frequency range and then cutting out the errant frequencies with a narrow Q. If you use a parametric correctly then it shouldn't effect the overall tone too much at all. Also you shouldn't be boosting anything if you're having problems, that'll just lead to more problems and even shittier overall sound.

Though do you think another sound card will help? or maybe a pre-amp?
About the EQ? shall i try to move out only some frenquencies? or all those above 5k? maybe i dont know to use it correctly, but i loose all the feel of the guitar sound

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

Though do you think another sound card will help? or maybe a pre-amp?
About the EQ? shall i try to move out only some frenquencies? or all those above 5k? maybe i dont know to use it correctly, but i loose all the feel of the guitar sound

Even if you got an external pre your signal would still be going through the crappy A-D conversion on your audigy soundcard so I'd say a better card should be your 1st priority. Some come with pres built in but if you buy one without pres you would need a standalone pre.

Sounds as if you're using the eq incorrectly. You're using it as a low pass filter which means you set it at a frequency and it cuts all frequencies above that point, no wander you're killing the guitar sound running a LPF at 5hhz! You need to read up and learn how to use that parametric to make more surgical cuts:

http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/articles6.htm

 

[FALKEN]

I have a marshall 30DFX amp, connected to a zoom GFX8 effects processor, i record with an AUdio-Technica BIte dynamic mic,
the MIC is plugged into my mic input on the soundcard (audigy 2- though i am thinking about changing it), i dont have anyy pre-amp.
(though, i dont think that this sound can come out from my amp, and even not from more expensive ones, maybe only from high end amp, not transinstors, and a very very good pre-amp.)

on cubase i am trying to boost the mids on the input channel (Stereo in EQ).
IF you ppl dont understand what i am talking about (i mean about the sound i get) i can upload some seconds of a records, and upload a professional one, so you can hear the differance for yourself.

um, yeah. your sound sounds the way it sounds because that is your sound. I would expect that setup to give you exactly what you are getting.
I would try not using any eq in Cubase, and only use the eq on the amp. Also, make sure that the "Tone" knob on your guitar isn't at 10.

Its not rocket science. you are just going to have to change the sound coming out of your amp. it is much easier than trying to eq in cubase and it will sound better. Go overboard on the amp controls.

 

[Aviel]

Even if you got an external pre your signal would still be going through the crappy A-D conversion on your audigy soundcard so I'd say a better card should be your 1st priority. Some come with pres built in but if you buy one without pres you would need a standalone pre.

Sounds as if you're using the eq incorrectly. You're using it as a low pass filter which means you set it at a frequency and it cuts all frequencies above that point, no wander you're killing the guitar sound running a LPF at 5hhz! You need to read up and learn how to use that parametric to make more surgical cuts:

http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/articles6.htm

I've tried it all, playing with freq and all, but the sound just aint curved, i attached a picture of my EQ, i really tried moving it all around.
Maybe i will try uploading a mp3 sample so you can hear

 

[guttadaj]

the MIC is plugged into my mic input on the soundcard (audigy 2- though i am thinking about changing it), i dont have anyy pre-amp.

I think this is probably the place to start. A soundcard's Mic Input is meant for those little crappy PC mics and are noisy as all hell. You should be plugging into the Line Input of the soundcard (and muting the Mic Input in your soundcard control panel), but to do that you need a preamp. I believe that you should notice a huge difference going into the Line Input even if you use a really low-end preamp unit or the built-in channel preamp of a really low-end mixer. If you upgrade your soundcard from a consumer-level soundcard to even an entry-level pro-audio soundcard, like an Audiophile 2496 or E-Mu 0404, you'll see that they don't even have mic ins on them, just line-level ins.

HTH
-Jeff