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[unbroken]

+1 (mac is the winner)

[Taylor_dB]

Well, to be fair, we recorded a song and thought the guitar sounded gash, so we went and played about with the settings (engineer included) and then in the studio it sounded pretty fucking beefy. Once we got it home that beef seemed to have gone off - probably should have wrapped it in tin-foil and put it in the fridge. So what happened in between I don't actually know.

Ach well, "My baby all gone..." still makes me chuckle quietly inside at least. Heh.

[Mac Atom]

Originally Posted by Taylor_dB

Well, to be fair, we recorded a song and thought the guitar sounded gash, so we went and played about with the settings (engineer included) and then in the studio it sounded pretty fucking beefy. Once we got it home that beef seemed to have gone off - probably should have wrapped it in tin-foil and put it in the fridge. So what happened in between I don't actually know.

Ach well, "My baby all gone..." still makes me chuckle quietly inside at least. Heh.

Was the playing with settings done after the recording or did you record again? i.e. did you do the best you could by tweaking eq etc?

In that case its ALWAYS best to go back to source, the guitar has to sound close to what you want the end product to sound like. In my experience, trying to tinker with eq and compression etc at the end is pretty pointless (and can be absolutely infuriating) unless the source is nice and meaty.

Just a thought, did you try different mic placements and configurations? Try this thread on the Andy Sneap forum for HEAPS of advice on recording metal guitars: Recording Metal Guitars

A lot of the time the phase or placement of the mics can completely change your tone. Its something I've only recently played a round with but by following some of the tips on that forum I've improved my results loads. Especially for combatting that trademark hissy/fizzy crap that plagues metal guitars.

[Hogisbald]

My favouite metal tone....

ESP guitars with EMG 81's, 5150, not too high on the gain and let the right hand do the work (fnar fnar)

[Chi 666]

yeh check out the new mix of the songs, i think it sounds pretty good like. please no more about the guitars please coment on the songs

[sr_guitar]

Originally Posted by Mac Atom

Was the playing with settings done after the recording or did you record again? i.e. did you do the best you could by tweaking eq etc?

In that case its ALWAYS best to go back to source, the guitar has to sound close to what you want the end product to sound like. In my experience, trying to tinker with eq and compression etc at the end is pretty pointless (and can be absolutely infuriating) unless the source is nice and meaty.

Just a thought, did you try different mic placements and configurations? Try this thread on the Andy Sneap forum for HEAPS of advice on recording metal guitars: Recording Metal Guitars

A lot of the time the phase or placement of the mics can completely change your tone. Its something I've only recently played a round with but by following some of the tips on that forum I've improved my results loads. Especially for combatting that trademark hissy/fizzy crap that plagues metal guitars.

Cheers for that! Much appreciated! Will make sure I dont sound so shit next time haha

Oh n Taylor, I like your lyrics. "my baby all gone..." is a sure-fire classic! Makes me laugh. N thats the important thing. Making sure I'M happy! hehe

[Dan Atom]

Mac speaks a lot of sense. And just to back up one of his points, post-tracking mixing techniques (e.g. EQ/compression) can only do so much. You need to have a good tone to begin with, i.e. the guitar tone needs to sound good in the room you are recording in.
And I mean GOOD. If you think 'my-budget-Ibanez-into-my-metalzone-and-line 6 combo' is good, then the first thing you need to do is shoot yourself in the face.

If the guitar sound is genuinely good in the room, but crap when coming out the mixing desk speakers, examine the quality of the mic.. (is it a shure SM57? They are generally considered the best for recording rock/metal guitar and every studio should own one).
Also, where is the positioning of the mic in relation to the speaker on the cab? The forum mac suggested has lots of good tips on this. The mic positioned an inch of the grill cloth, and very slightly off the centre of the best sounding speaker on your cab is good start.
Are you double tracking your guitars? The guitar sound will likely by weak if you recording your main rhythm guitar parts twice, and then stereo-panning them left and right.


It also must be said that to get great tone to begin with, you need 3 things:

1) To have good gear, which unfortuately is expensive. The amp in particular is massively important.

2) You need to be able to set it up properly. (i.e. buying a Mesa triple rectifier is pointless if you're just gonna put the gain up max, cut all the mids, or use a zoom multi effects board instead of the mesa's distortion)

3) Then you need to be able to PLAY properly, and tightly too. It's amazing how much tone is in the fingers.



If you don't have the above, then you will ultimately sound shit. That's not to say that you need to be as good as Steve Vai and own a £10,000 rig... a decent player can make an average set-up still sound pretty damn good.

[Dan Atom]

Originally Posted by Dan Atom

The guitar sound will likely by weak if you aren't recording your main rhythm guitar parts twice, and then stereo-panning them left and right.

I missed out the all important "aren't" in my previous post.

[WoodyRATM]

Originally Posted by Dan Atom

3) Then you need to be able to PLAY properly, and tightly too. It's amazing how much tone is in the fingers.

I agree with this 100%.

[The Grooviest Viking]

I think it sounded alright. Nothing amazing but alright.

The bass is the shiz though