Recording Guitars. Big yet controlled low end.?!?.

[VESmedic]

Great thread! Keep it coming! Also when you're giving info/advice can you say whether you're recording 1) Mic'ing a cabinet 2) With 1 or 2 mics 3) Playing direct with IR's 4) Using an OX or Boss TAE or something like that,etc,etc? 5) How many tracks are you layering,etc etc?


Eric

I think, as long as you are using a decent loadbox that actually gives a true impedence curve of a 4x12( I know we all don’t use 4x12s here, but I’m using this as a reference), all of these options should work virtually the same. I use these techniques regardless if it’s an amp sim, amp and direct box, or micing a cab. However, micing a cab is going to generally be more dynamic sounding due to the fact that it isn’t a static recording that is essentially an EQ curve ( which is what IR’s are), and it is a dynamic moving object ( the speaker) that changes how it vibrates based on how loud something is going into it ( the amp). Kind of splitting hairs alittle, but micing a cab is still different than an IR. Dont mistake that for saying both can’t sound GREAT because they do, and I’m not even about to pretend I can hear when something is a mic’d up cab or an IR capture of that same mic/cab setup!

 

[DanTravis62]

Great thread! Keep it coming! Also when you're giving info/advice can you say whether you're recording 1) Mic'ing a cabinet 2) With 1 or 2 mics 3) Playing direct with IR's 4) Using an OX or Boss TAE or something like that,etc,etc? 5) How many tracks are you layering,etc etc?


Eric

I mic live cabinets, with either a 57, two 57s fredman, or a 57 and 421.

I generally quad track each side hard panned, and sometimes will do a track for each side that is 66% panned depending on the speed of the track.

 

[Greazygeo]

Ive used ir’s, but prefer just micing a cab. Too many choices drive me crazy.
There are a few different cabs and speakers I can pick from. Usually use either an old greenback loaded Wizard 412 or old Mesa oversize 412 with v30’s. For some reason this mesa cab records good.
Generally use two mics on different speakers in same cab or 57/Royer on same speaker.

 

[RaceU4her]

Ehh…. One guy vs thousands of other engineers isn’t going to change my opinion on the importance of the room. I’m betting this guys room was still much better than most on a forum. I would also bet he vastly under estimated his skill set and how good he actually is. I’m not really a fan of anything he’s mixed but none the less, if it worked for him great. But I disagree with his connection completely. Correlation is not causation. And that’s kind of the path he alludes you down in the beginning… “how did my terrible room make me mix better”… I mean, that’s not exactly what happened I don’t think. So many factors at play here, but I understand what his underlying point is, which is basically don’t get fixated on one problem and let your attention get stuck on just that. He also talked about the importance of knowing your monitors which is definitely a big deal too. I’m one of those people that thinks your monitors, after you get used to them for awhile, are probably something you are more than likely to stay with brand wise when it comes to buying new/upgrading your monitor setup. You get used to their sound. I couldn’t ever see myself getting away from genelec: I love the sound they produce, and I’m used to them. Getting away from them/ everytime I hear a different brand of monitors even in a great room, it becomes distracting because it’s so dissimilar to what I’m used to hearing.

the way i took Kapo's post is he is mixing with earbuds, which no "pros" are doing, because he thinks he needs thousands to treat his room to get good results and that seems silly to me. maybe the dude did underestimate his mixing skills, but that kind of proves if you know what you are doing you can get good results in less than "ideal" situations. ive recorded with a grammy winning metal producer up here and his studio is basically a storage unit in an industrial complex. like i said i wouldnt go mix in a tiled bathroom but you dont exactly have to be at sunset studios either to get good results, i think a lot of guys use their room as a crutch as to why their mixes suck lol. knowing your monitors to me is the biggest key

 

[TheGreatGreen]

[Clayman] is literally the definition of an album that mixed itself. 85 percent of it was done before the nordstorm even pulled up the faders. It’s the mix.

Would you be able to expand on this a little more if that's alright? In my opinion, Clayman is one of the best sounding metal records of all time (and an absolute milestone for dark and chugging guitar tones that never get muddy, too).

What do you mean the album mixed itself? I really don't know much at all about the way it was recorded other than the guitars were done with two SM57's and the Fredman technique, hah.

 

[VESmedic]

Would you be able to expand on this a little more if that's alright? In my opinion, Clayman is one of the best sounding metal records of all time (and an absolute milestone for dark and chugging guitar tones that never get muddy, too).

What do you mean the album mixed itself? I really don't know much at all about the way it was recorded other than the guitars were done with two SM57's and the Fredman technique, hah.

I’ll give you alittle write up on that a bit later when I have some time!

 

[crankyrayhanky]

standard E?
Go with the Ride the Lightning approach on eq: hi pass around 100, narrow Q aggressive boost at 160. POW! This works great at the source if you have a para EQ to put in the amp loop, but you could definitely do this at mixing.

for mids, a slight cut at 400 (Diezel), 500 (most common) or 750 (Mesa Mark).

There's my golden secrets^