Taming distortion...

[poo_noodles]

I recorded some riffs to give to my band, but the distortion is very thick and has a lot of high end. I was wondering if there were any ways to "tame" the distortion, i.e. lower the gain a little bit without losing dynamics. Also, is there any way to cut high end without losing prescence? The distortion is not "focused" and has a lot of noise in it as well, maybe a parametric eq might do the trick, but I am not the master of equalizing...

 

[RAMI]

lower the gain a little bit without losing dynamics. Also, is there any way to cut high end without losing prescence?

Lowering gain shouldn't have anything to do with dynamics. If UNWANTED distortion is a product of the gain being too high, then you should definitely lower it.

Also, not to nit pick, but high end and presence are 2 different things. If you have annoying highs causing what sounds like unwanted distortion, you should definitely find the offensive frequencies and cut them.

 

[chessrock]

I recorded some riffs to give to my band, but the distortion is very thick and has a lot of high end. I was wondering if there were any ways to "tame" the distortion, i.e. lower the gain a little bit without losing dynamics.

Yea. Turn the gain down. And no, you won't lose dynamics ... you'll actually gain them. And turn the treble control on your amp down. If it has a presence knob, turn it all the way off. That stuff sounds nasty.