¯\(°_o)/¯ How Do Record 8 String? ¯\(°_o)/¯

[Genius Gone Insane]

I got a call just now and I'm recording an 8 string project tonight. Death metal.

Never done 8 string. How do?

Anything different from the normal that I should look out for? Better to pick closer to bridge or neck etc? I've recorded the player before and he's medium-tight, not too heavy a hand, more alternate-picking types, but a good soloist. Advice? Thanks

GGI

 

[Djentkitty]

use neck pickup only, cubase vsts, johnstorm drum samples forsure. dont worry about bass, it's entirely unnecessary as it will just make everything sound muddy as fuck.
you want massive tact on everything so create an aux channel and send everything(yes everything) here. then add any and comp and make sure its slams liek fuck, red light means its working.
for drums, its just the general rule; massive scoop on the kick 200hz-4Khz -36dB usually works. the snare HAS to have at least +48dB at 200hz or else it'll sound liek shit because of the low freq resonance of an 8-stringer lives there.

seriously though, i dont think its not much different than mixing 7-strings. different EQ and the player needs to be tight forsure. nothing scary

 

[topsoul182]

Its nothing too different. Maybe just dial the bass back a bit on the amp so it doesnt get too muddy and some multi band compression

Heres an 8 string I recorded
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1950013/02 Dynasty of a Sun God.mp3

 

[AdamG94]

If it sounds too muddy and undefined in the room, then it'll be even worse recorded. Dialling the amp with more mids than normal, and less bass tends to help, but this depends on the room a lot. An aggressive high pass filter and a appropriately sized cut in the low-mids will speed things up too.

+1 to the tight playing too, if the playing's sloppy then you may as well give up on an intelligible tone. Or get creative with processing.

 

[blue_fAng]

It's almost the same really. I would sugest the player to play down picking in every riff for the maximum tightness. I have to say that I like a little more the sound from ampsims like axe fx for 8 strings. If the guitar player does a lot of djent djent chords I think he may play those a in the almost in the middle between bridge and neck pickups with heavy palm muting,try to stay more closer to the bridge all the time. At the end you'll have to hear what sounds better there are no general rules and I would recomend to record as many takes as possible with different playing positions, technique, even strings if you have the time, at least double tracked, before recording his songs. It should'nt take a lot of time. And finally from my experience and taste, I've found that 8 strings need to have high output pickups, I never liked the way their stock pickups sound, getting emgs, seymour duncans, bare knuckles ( I think these are medium output but sound incredible in any guitar) will do.

 

[Sacha]

Where you place the bass is almost more of the challenge than recording the guitar with 8 string IMO, keeping it sounding thick when it goes ultra low like that can be trying. Automation, synth parts as backup have helped me.