Tip for recording Death Metal guitar on a Tascam 414, I discovered

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Lucifer Gabrielle

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Nothing pains me more than people complaining about recording non-death metal guitar tones.
Granted that any form of music is kinda "wussy" when compared to Death metal, but the fact remains that retaining that "crushing" tone on to a low end-414 (tascam) is the most difficult by a long shot (p.s. if your are afended by this and haven't heard/proformed/recorded death metal, please don't complain. It truely is impossible to compare true death metal to anything without hearing it)
Here are a few things i've learned from experience:
-On the 414 low freqs will constantly "fuzz"
up. When you record (guitar) make sure you turn the bass on the console it's self all the way down. I have no idea WHY this works,
but it does.
-Opt for a shure 58, rather than the 57. It handles lows better in my experience. alot of people would argue about this though.
-Turn DBX off!
-NEVER....NEVER go direct! The Line 6 POD,
while a great piece of equiptment, is suitably ONLY for "light-in-the-ass" music,
I.E. Craptallica, Pantera,slayer (hahaha) the modern wuss metal, anything from the 60-90's. A good amp (mesa boogie, of course)
driven by a Boss Metal zone,with a Shure miking it is the ONLY way to go for Death metal.
-The "head on", with a little off to the side
micing approch, is the most perferable.
-Reverb, Midrange and effects ARE your enemy
-On a stranger note: try wrapping the mic in a sock/piece of cloth, to dampen the high freqs.
- anybody else have any good tips?
 
Sure I got a tip-

Don't play Death Metal. :)

-jhe
 
In the absence of a dude who used to inhabit these parts, named S8-N, I guess I'm the resident metal "expert"... and frankly death metal is old fashioned nowadays dude... it's old news. I'm not sure whether you are familiar with what is currently coming out of Europe, but what can only be descibed as a death/power metal hybrid is being born. That's right, take Cannibal Corpse or Morbid Angel and merge them with Helloween or Iron Maidena and that's what is sounds like.

Contrary to your views they use 'verb and effects, and their tones aren't quite as heavy - this is of course suited to their more melodic approach.

Heard of a band called In Flames? If you haven't mark my words... these guys are gonna be huge... check them out at cdnow or something.

Ohh... and although I haven't tried, I'm sure it's just as hard to attain a decent sounding warm jazz tone on a 414 as it is your death tones!
 
Hey Lucifer Gabriel where's MiddleBrook? Good to see another Virgin-ann around here.

-jhe
 
That sock thing you talked about is interesting ...Also one thing thats cool is to take a empty papertowel role and tape it to the end of the mic. The reflections that happen inside the tube cause a interesting effect { kinda like a shotgun mic with a serius midrange bump}
 
"... and frankly death metal is old fashioned nowadays dude... it's old news. "

wow I thought I was the only one who was sick of that stuff (and the whole 'metal' genre. When I hear something from Skid Row I feel like I wanna puke.) I can't believe I used to be in a death metal BAND -- didn't last long though.

James: "Don't play Death Metal." LOL
 
riiight that made a lot of sense (note some *slight* sarcasm...). i'm not making fun of your music, that's up too you, hell i like the dillenger escape plan as much as satriani and miles davis... but seriously, it'd be just as hard if not harder to get a fat jazz tone, blues tone, or just about any clean tone on the 414 as distorted-to-hell stuff
 
Thank you everyone for not flaming me, well as much as I thought. Here is a, I guess, a follow up:
Cooperman: I'm not JUST a death metal head!
My solo stuff is quite like Mortician with the tech of Suffocation or Cannibal Corpse.
I also play Black Metal, though not melodic but more atonal like Darkthrone, somewhat like Cradle of Filth, Hecate Enthoroned, or At the Gates. I own Jester Race, Whoracle and Colony of In Flames, but I think they're VERY overated; alot like COF. I also know of the Death/power metal, though i'd say it sounds more like Bathory and Iced Earth.

Mr.Lip: See, this is EXACTLY what I was talking about! Skid Row? How can you compare Death/black metal to cheesy 80's pop? You obviously know nothing about metal, and with that it's impossible to fathom what death metal sounds like.

JamesHE: Middlebrook is located about 20 miles from Stanton, which is 30 miles from Harrisonburg;roughly 4-5 hours away from Richmond.

skweeks: I disagree completly. I've recorded (on the 414) everything from gothic acoustic stuff, to classicial pieces (fur eliese -beethoven) i play piano as well,and even <gasp> popular styled songs, which I did as any hardened evil person does....for a girl,
but the fact remains; the 414 is a great piece of recording gear (for under 400) and remains my personal song writting tool, as long as it is used for "lighter" styles of music. It simply handles the super tech "make Satrani look bad" overly heavy, Death metal VERY poorly because of it's tendancy to "fuzz" low freqs.

=Until next time. one more tip:
-Turn the tape speed up even further (turn that "jog" wheel above the cassete to the right) for better sound quality. But make sure you start RECORDING on that speed, else you'll sound like "alvin and the chimpmunks".
 
Need help recording death metal...

Oh man, I'm so glad I found this post! I'm trying to record death metal at home and I've been having trouble getting a good guitar sound. Let me start out by saying that it is most likely dut to my gear that prevents me from getting that sound I am looking for. I'm using a 30W Marshall practice amp, but I'm trying to find a way to make some magic outta this baby. So I would appreciate any help as to mic placement, setting levels, effects processing, EQing, etc. Here is my setup: 30W Marshall -> Shure SM-57 or 58 -> Behringher mixer -> iMic sound input device -> G4 with Digital Performer 3. Thanks!
 
Lucifer Gabrielle said:
Nothing pains me more than people complaining about recording non-death metal guitar tones.
Granted that any form of music is kinda "wussy" when compared to Death metal, but the fact remains that retaining that "crushing" tone on to a low end-414 (tascam) is the most difficult by a long shot (p.s. if your are afended by this and haven't heard/proformed/recorded death metal, please don't complain. It truely is impossible to compare true death metal to anything without hearing it)
Here are a few things i've learned from experience:
-On the 414 low freqs will constantly "fuzz"
up. When you record (guitar) make sure you turn the bass on the console it's self all the way down. I have no idea WHY this works,
but it does.
-Opt for a shure 58, rather than the 57. It handles lows better in my experience. alot of people would argue about this though.
-Turn DBX off!
-NEVER....NEVER go direct! The Line 6 POD,
while a great piece of equiptment, is suitably ONLY for "light-in-the-ass" music,
I.E. Craptallica, Pantera,slayer (hahaha) the modern wuss metal, anything from the 60-90's. A good amp (mesa boogie, of course)
driven by a Boss Metal zone,with a Shure miking it is the ONLY way to go for Death metal.
-The "head on", with a little off to the side
micing approch, is the most perferable.
-Reverb, Midrange and effects ARE your enemy
-On a stranger note: try wrapping the mic in a sock/piece of cloth, to dampen the high freqs.
- anybody else have any good tips?
Click to expand...

Mesa Boogie and good amp in the same sentence?!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Good one!
 
Cooperman said:
Heard of a band called In Flames? If you haven't mark my words... these guys are gonna be huge... check them out at cdnow or something.
Click to expand...

Good band but will never hit it big in the US until the singer learns to SING and stop making that noise with his mouth that sounds like cookie monster. That'll never fly here.

I agree though, In Flames, when they sing, has some killer stuff.
 
Its rare that I would jump into a topic like this but since metal is my thing as well, i have a few points to make.

#1 a line 6 pod or pod pro when used right and dialed in properly CAN be used direct with amazing results.

#2 DO NOT dial out all of your midrange. If you want that brutally heavy tone that you so desire, add some in. turn DOWN the gain and record FOUR rythm tracks instead of two.

#3 From the likes of Suffocation and Cryptopsy and Blasphemy, here is a hint:

When you record your tracks, record a DI track along with it. When it comes time to mix, tuck the DI track INTO the mix under the amp tone!! If done right, you will be amazed at the attack and the tightness of the bottom end.

#4 If #2 isnt enough, add two more rythm tracks!!

The bottom line is it starts with the player. It doesnt matter how good the tone from the amp is or how good/bad the recording gear is, if the guitar player himself cant get it cleanley, you'll never find the "beef".

#5 dont be afraid to use a combonation of amps and use filters.

Case: Current recording.....Line 6 pod pro thru an old sunn bass amp into a mesa cab miced with a 57. Full range tone. Parrallel out to a randall 1x12 cab with a MD421 all highs filtered out from about 500hz. Parrallel out of the DI into a Marshall mode four into a Peavy 4x12 cab miced with a 57. The amp had all of its low dialed OUT!!

That combination gave us the tone we were after. Four rythm tracks later and it is HUGE!!!!! by far one of the best guitar tones Ive acheived on a recording of this type and ive worked on some pretty heavy weight bands.
 
James HE said:
Sure I got a tip-

Don't play Death Metal. :)

-jhe
Click to expand...

Good tip!

Also just remove all of the mid's and turn the distortion all the way up along with the bass and treble and you've got that Death Metal Bumble Bee guitar tone.
 
Lucifer Gabrielle said:
Nothing pains me more than people complaining about recording non-death metal guitar tones.
Granted that any form of music is kinda "wussy" when compared to Death metal,


I.E. Craptallica, Pantera,slayer (hahaha) the modern wuss metal, anything from the 60-90's. A good amp (mesa boogie, of course)
Click to expand...

Small penis syndrome. Death metal is a over the top novelty act.
 
molocono said:
Oh man, I'm so glad I found this post! I'm trying to record death metal at home and I've been having trouble getting a good guitar sound. Let me start out by saying that it is most likely dut to my gear that prevents me from getting that sound I am looking for. I'm using a 30W Marshall practice amp, but I'm trying to find a way to make some magic outta this baby. So I would appreciate any help as to mic placement, setting levels, effects processing, EQing, etc. Here is my setup: 30W Marshall -> Shure SM-57 or 58 -> Behringher mixer -> iMic sound input device -> G4 with Digital Performer 3. Thanks!
Click to expand...

You are multi-tracking into DP3, or recording the band "live"?

If you had a smaller amp, I'd use it for multi-tracking. Set your SM 57 up about 10" from your cone, set at an angle of say 45 degrees and off-center. Get your average level at about -3 dB on DP3s input meter. Fire away.
 
when recording: gain is the enemy. dont have the gain all the way up, or it will sound like fucking balls.
 
I'm gonna be multitracking in DP3. Thanks for the tip! I'll try posting some of my material later this week.
 
Lucifer- Here is my take on things.

The bass knob on the console is set to roll off at a certain frequency. Chances are its somewhere in the 70-80hz area. Anything below that you really don't need for guitar. So basically turning all the low down is just getting rid of alot of Sub-sonic crap. If your running your metal zone how every other death metal guitarist does, then I assure you, there is ALOT of sub-sonic stuff going on.

I won't argue about the 58 and the 57. Chances are, your liking the fact that it has the ball/windscreen which acts sort of like the sock trick you mentioned, to some extent.

The midrange is going to be where most of your Clarity is at guitarwise, but who needs clarity for a death metal recording?

Though probably not a true Death Metal band, I would claim Bloodbath's Resurrection through Carnage to be one of the most Brutal sounding albums in terms of tones in the last 5 years. The guitar sounds like it sat under water for 10 years, they let everything in rust to hell and back and then broke it out and recorded the album.

Cooperman I hate to sound like an asshole, but In Flames has only been around since the early 90s. They are at an all time career low in my opinion. Listen to Jester Race if you want to hear "THE REAL" In Flames and not some Korn sounding Nu-metal shit that they are doing now to get a paycheck in the US.
 
Btw. I guess if im going to condem you for lack of knowledge I should at least steer you in the right direction.

Early In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Vintersorg, Borknagar, and Emperor are all excellent European metal bands that deserve to be heard by the masses in America but unfortunately never will because all of the metal guys here would rather listen to some 40 year old whine about how their dad beat them while being dressed up in their "Bling Bling" and showing their "crib" on MTV.
 
SilverSurfer said:
In Flames...has some killer stuff.
Click to expand...
Could you give me the names of a few cuts that you feel are representative and exhibit the guitar sound you refer to?

Thanks!
 
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