Somethings Not Right

[falter]

Ive been dabbling in digital recording for a little while now and one problem Ive always seem to run into is my distorted guitar tone not sounding right, I can tweek it for hours and still not get it right.

Im running a silent setup which I realize probably has something to do with this. I was previously using Native Instruments Guitar Rig on my computer which had a mic simulator. It helped tremendously but Im no longer using it. Is there any kind of hardware micsim or something that might help me with this?

 

[Dogbreath]

I don't know much about the mic sim part but what is it about the sound you're not liking?
?

One thing I learned awhile back is that for distorted guitar, turn the gain down a couple of notches lower than you would for live. Granted, I'm micing my cabs but it might be along the same lines for sim stuff.

Also, are you listening to the guitar track as it sits in the mix or by itself? By itself doesn't mean so much but how it sits in the mix is crucial.

All imho, of course.

Kel

 

[mrhotapples]

If you aren't using Guitar Rig anymore, what are you using? Perhaps you should post a sample.

 

[Rokket]

I don't know much about the mic sim part but what is it about the sound you're not liking?
?

One thing I learned awhile back is that for distorted guitar, turn the gain down a couple of notches lower than you would for live. Granted, I'm micing my cabs but it might be along the same lines for sim stuff.

Also, are you listening to the guitar track as it sits in the mix or by itself? By itself doesn't mean so much but how it sits in the mix is crucial.

All imho, of course.

Kel

You pretty much hit it on the head. It's how it sits in the mix. One thing I've learned is that DI guitar tends to be more in your face than a mic'd cab. That in mind, you should tweak whatever you are using to DI your guitars into the DAW to back off the gain, cut out some of the lows ( -250hz) and give a very slight boost in the midrange (1000 hz). Turning down the gain/saturation/distortion will keep your guitars from sounding fuzzy, and the eq adjustments I suggested will help keep the guitar from being too upfront in the mix (which, depending on the genre, might be desireable, then just boost the mids a hair and leave the low end in there).

I hope this helps you.

And do post a clip. It's easier to advise you if we can hear what is bothering you.