A quick reference guide for the noobie recording artist.

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paintballnsk

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There is a wide variety of simple but easy tips to give a novice recording artist trying to record his electric guitar.

I've found quite a few by experience, but more times than not, I find out that my technique tends to derail itself when someone finally just shows or tells me the right way to do it.

There's a few details that everyone should know to making their guitar track sounds as good as possible. I'd like you guys to help me.

I'm aiming for good "metal" sound.

My equiptment:
Schector Hellraiser FR, Standard tuned with 10's, and an EMG60 in the neck
Avatar 212 with V30's
Nady RSM4
MBox2, ProtoolsLE Factory Bundle

Guitar > TS808 (5,6,6) >Boss Noise Gate >Mesa

These are the areas I'm having a hard time getting good ideas on:

Amp settings: Every amp is different, the problems I've been having problems relating to the eq. I like to run my DC-10 at:
Gain: 4-6
Bass 5-7
Mid 4-5
High 5-7
Presence 3-8 (need help here)
5band:
Bass 5-7
Bass-Mid 3-4
Mid 1-4.5
Mid-High 4-7
High 5-7
Channel: 4
Master: 4
Volume pot in the effects loop: 2-4

There's not a lot you can do to make a mesa sound bad. No matter what I do in these ranges, it sounds great comming out of the cab. But when I get the thing tracked, I find myself scooping a lot of mids out with the 7band EQ.

Mic Placement:
I have a Nady RSM4 Ribbon mic. It has a very warm smooth sound to it. It can take over 160db, so I have no breakup problems involving the mic.
I've read that some ribbons need room to breathe, and a close mic isn't the best way to go. But I have no idea where to put it. It seems If I put it at about 6", off or on axis, I get a ton of pic noise compared to the close mic. Should I just can it and get a SM57? Or is there anyone out there that can tell me how to use a ribbon mic?

Effects Chain:
Once the guitar is tracked, what should I do to thicken it up. What pan settings should I use on layered rhythm tracks? How should I eq and compress, and in what order. Should I or shouldn't I add a little reverb, or will that mud up the sound?

Multitracking?:
I read that some artists use a variety of amps and amp settings to get a "wall" of guitar. If you've read the latest guitar world, it explains that some people record serveral tracks, with dramitcally different EQ settings, and mix them with a slight pan to cover the tone they want.

Does anyone have any techniques on this? I tried running the mesa at normal settings. I then tracked a very dark high scooped mid gain track, and a bright low scooped overdriven track, and then mixed the 3. The overdriven track gives a nice pick attack without giving "pick noise", the high scooped track added a lot of bass punch. My main problem with this is that it still sounds like 3 gutiars playing. I don't know if I'm panning too much or if I should try recording from a direct box instead so all of the guitar tones are identical.

It's a lot of questions to answer, but It's the little details that I can't seem to find good topics on. Nobody gives specifics, they just say "oh I run a little eq on it and compress it". OK.. so what were your eq and compression settings, that wasn't very helpful.

Thanks a lot guys.
 
Well to start, just be sure that you are happy with your guitar tone BEFORE you record, because it's not going to sound better later, in other words, don't try to fix it in the mix.

Good mic pre's are important. If you're using dynamic and ribbon mic's you need alot of gain to drive the signal. Lesser quality pre amps will only get noisy when you crank up the gain. It will be especially noticable when you start multi tracking and stacking tracks.

EQ and Compression IMO is done on a per track/per song basis. What ever it takes to make everything happy.
Here is some info on EQ
http://www.recordingwebsite.com/articles/eqprimer.php
And compression
http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/compuncomp/index.htm

Mic placement does make a big difference and that's a personal taste thing, but sound treatment also makes a HUGE difference in your recording quality, and is often overlooked. If you have good gear and you still can't get a decent sounding recorting, evaluate you room sound. More times than not, that is the culprit.

To thicken up the guitar, I personally like to record 2 or three tracks and pan one left/right 75% and leave on centered but with a lower overall volume, perhaps eq'ing each a little differently, or even using a different guitar and/or mic to record the same part. Cloning a track won't give you the same result, even if you offset a few milliseconds, but can work to some extent in tight situations. But if you play more than one track, and you don't want it to sound like more than one guitar, playing tight is key. And there is no substitution for that. Just need to practice enough to have your parts down tight.
I usually like to add reverb or any other effects after the recording instead of during, that way I have flexability, but if you have a sound dialed in just the way you want, there is no reason not to record the wet sound. You can always have the effect set up in so that you can hear/play with that particular effect, but only record the dry sound, again, that way you can experiment with things.
 
Quality post, strat500. I think my nose may have been touching the computer screen reading that. Thanks for the insight.
 
I agree with Strategy500. The room will have a lot to do with the sound, but it also depends on your micing technique. A dull room will sound...well...dull. But for guitar, you want to capture the sound of the amp, not the room. A closet makes a good guitar booth. That way you can add and subtract clothing to suit your needs.


Here's typically what I will do:

Close mic the cab with one mic. You must have a good quality pair of headphones, and find where the mic sounds best. It helps if you have someone moving the mic while you're playing, and see where that mic sounds the best.

Then I'll put a large diaphram condenser a few feet back from the cab. Once again, a helper is a good thing to find out where it sounds best.

I'll record each mic on different tracks, and mix them until I get the best sound, then I'll double up with another take on the same part. I mix one take 60% left, and the other 60% right.

The thickest guitar sound I've had was on a song that I did 4 seperate parts of the same part. I mixed 2 parts left, and the other 2 right, plus I did a guitar solo in the middle. I used two different amps. My Mesa Dual, and a solid state B52. I know, not the best choice, but it sounded good. The more parts you put in, the thicker it will sound....to the extent where it sounds butchered if you put too many in. You really have to be on top of your playing when doubling up.

Personally, I've had good experiences with an SM57 close mic'ed, and an MXL67V diaphram a few feet back, running into an ART TubeMP, into my Korg recorder. I had the MXL picking up the bassier tone and the sound of the room, and the SM to brighten everything up.

Then, I'll add EQ and compression to taste. Once again, the best thing to do is to record everything dry, and add it in later. If you record with compression and EQ, or any effects, you're stuck with them. If they don't fit well, you have to redo the whole take. If you have to, bounce tracks. I don't like to do this, but if it's a neccessity, I will.
 
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