paintballnsk
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2007
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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.
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.