YourMotherShouldKnow Posted February 10, 2004 Share Posted February 10, 2004 I've got a couple mixes where the somewhat distorted guitars are not coming through clearly. For one of them I'm playing a rage against the machine kinda octave thing in unison with the bass guitar but everything is getting mucked together. On the other tune I started with about 8-10 distorted guitars playing the same thing hoping to get a HUGE sound but again the guitars aren't articulated as I'd like. I'm down to just 2 guitars now and it sounds better but I still wonder if I couldn't try something to get more articulation. Anybody got any idears? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skipclone 1 Posted February 10, 2004 Share Posted February 10, 2004 Not sure how much distortion is being fed into your mixer, but it`s common these days to record guitars almost clean, add distortion later, for exactly that reason. I`ve had quite a lot of frustration getting good lead sounds to tape. Same old surprises, brand new cliches- Skipsounds on Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandid=602491 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenElevenShadows Posted February 10, 2004 Share Posted February 10, 2004 I like blending clean and distorted guitars if I want a certain amount of definition. Also, I do think that a lot of people think that their guitars have to be a lot more distorted for recordings than they often need to be. Another thing that I like to do is use a little bit of compression to create more articulation. I increase the little spike at the beginning of each note with a slow attack, allowing that initial transient to poke through. Ken Lee Photography - photos and books Eleven Shadows ambient music The Mercury Seven-cool spacey music Linktree to various sites Instagram Nightaxians Video Podcast Eleven Shadows website Ken Lee Photography Pinterest Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshananigan Posted February 10, 2004 Share Posted February 10, 2004 Try eqing each guitar slightly different, so they overlap less. Some folks like to create an absolute separation between guitar and bass as well, and even pan bass and guitars to create spatial separation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the stranger Posted February 10, 2004 Share Posted February 10, 2004 First thing I would check is your gain staging. Is the amp loud enough? If your doing the '57 route (dynamic), you need to be pushing enough air to get good signal to noise ratio. Turn down the distortion. If your using a distortion pedal, back it off. Or back off the volume on guitar. Ultra distorted guitar gets buried real quick. Are you getting good hot signal at the recording stage? Are you using headphones to record? Are you recording and monitoring in the same room? All sorts of crud will eat up headroom quick. Get the amp in another room, and crank it up so you don't need very much gain at the recording input. Do get some compression in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YourMotherShouldKnow Posted February 10, 2004 Author Share Posted February 10, 2004 Thanks everybody. I'm gonna try some of this stuff. I think there is something not right in the relationship between the guitar and the bass. The bass is pretty clear but the guitar is not. Just thick mud. I'll re-record if nothing else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenElevenShadows Posted February 10, 2004 Share Posted February 10, 2004 LanceMo, if you feel that there is conflict between the guitar and bass, try rolling off some of the bottom end of the guitar. Especially when amps are close-miced, there can be a surprising amount of lower-end muck. Try rolling it off *without* changing the tone of the guitar sound. That can help open up room for the bass and other lower-frequency instruments. Then, try and EQ the bass slightly to get it to pop out more, wherever that may be. Sometimes, you can get articulation out of the bass by slight boosts in the 1k or 3k range or thereabouts. Then, you can also carve a slight trough in the guitar by dipping it slightly in the same area that you have just boosted the bass. And remember about the articulation in the guitars. You can record a clean guitar to kinda slide underneath the more distorted guitar. That adds a lot of clarity. And use compression to shape the attack, to create more attack. It's not just for compression. If you think of a compressor as a "wave-shaping tool", you can get a lot more mileage out of it than just using it to squish audio. Ken Lee Photography - photos and books Eleven Shadows ambient music The Mercury Seven-cool spacey music Linktree to various sites Instagram Nightaxians Video Podcast Eleven Shadows website Ken Lee Photography Pinterest Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rog Posted February 10, 2004 Share Posted February 10, 2004 Can we hear a bar or two? One trick is to record a clean double and use something like Quadrafuzz to add a really brittle, toppy sound to cut through. it'll sound horrible on it's own but you can mix it in with the original and it'll help. Failing that, use a Tele "That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." - Banky Edwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YourMotherShouldKnow Posted February 11, 2004 Author Share Posted February 11, 2004 Thanks Ken, you rule dude. I'm gonna finish these off between now and Sunday. This is a big help. Rog, I'll be happy to email an MP3. I have a website but it's not at all complete and I haven't figured out how to post stuff online yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenElevenShadows Posted February 11, 2004 Share Posted February 11, 2004 Originally posted by LanceMo: Thanks Ken, you rule dude. I'm gonna finish these off between now and Sunday. This is a big help. I have a website but it's not at all complete and I haven't figured out how to post stuff online yet.You upload the MP3 file (via FTP, of course), and then simply provide a link to it. Someone clicks on that link, and it downloads. I know almost NO HTML at all, and even I figured out how to do it. I am not technically proficient on a computer at all (although I don't quite suck, either), so I am not kidding when I say that just about anyone can put MP3s on their site. I can't print HTML on this web site, but what you can do is go to this MP3 page on my web site: http://www.elevenshadows.com/mp3.htm And then click on View Source Code or something like that in your browser. You can see the HTML code for yourself. I write things really simply, so it won't be too hard to figure out what the coding is. I use FrontPage, and it really helps out a lot in me slapping up a quick web page. I did almost the whole site myself, and while it's not the most architecturally or technically amazing site, the fact that it's there is a testament to how easy it is to do this stuff. Making a link to an MP3 is seriously about as easy as creating a web page or email link. You just upload the MP3, point a hyperlink to it, and that's about it. ~~~~~ FREE ALEX!!! Ken Lee Photography - photos and books Eleven Shadows ambient music The Mercury Seven-cool spacey music Linktree to various sites Instagram Nightaxians Video Podcast Eleven Shadows website Ken Lee Photography Pinterest Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alndln Posted February 11, 2004 Share Posted February 11, 2004 Aside from the guitar EQ itself,you should also solo and check all EQ on everything.Sometimes mixing is sacraficing to create balance. "A Robot Playing Trumpet Blows" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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