got demotivated. some suggestions

[aviel]

Hey!
i got really demotivated from getting "the" sound of my amp. it seems like always somethig is missing, so i decided to ask you a few questions that might help me getting there.

we all know that guitar sound is made by guiter, player, mic position and amp settings.

1. everyone says - get the amp sound good in the room and try to capture it. so, first of all, i am recording in my bedroom, so i guess the room sound isnt really reflecting whats coming out of the amp, second, how do you listen to your amp anyway?? i push it really hard, if i remove my ear plugs i will get deff quite fast..

2. now lets say i have my mic positioned and amp tweaked but i lack of mid or drive or something, will you first move the mic? or will you first tweak the amp??

3. is there a way of positioning the mic and getting the most transparent sound and then i will know that any tweak will come from the amp?


it have been like2 months that all i do is move the mic, rotate it, record, change the amp settings, move the mic again etc...
each time something else is missing, sometimes the attack, sometimes the grit, sometimes the mid.

btw i am micing an ENGL powerball head through legacy v30 412 cab.


any suggestoins to get me some motivation?

 

[HvO]

post samples, please! maybe the porwerball is the source of all your problems

 

[aviel]

post samples, please! maybe the porwerball is the source of all your problems

sure gonna upload and post the link.
well i heard ola's powerball clip. its amazing, i used it as a reference, but i am far from this tone

 

[aviel]

here it is:

mic kind of on axis, where cone meets dustcap



and listen to this one - by ola:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp-TNtEodF4&feature=relmfu[/ame]

 

[HvO]

i think it is not bad. could work in a mix.
maybe a little bit too much gain and highs.

 

[aviel]

i think it is not bad. could work in a mix.
maybe a little bit too much gain and highs.

dont you find the lows a bit muddy? if i remove the highs wont it get more muddy? also listen to ola's records.. really clearer, isnt it?

 

[bryan_kilco]

dont you find the lows a bit muddy? if i remove the highs wont it get more muddy? also listen to ola's records.. really clearer, isnt it?

Did you HP the low end post EQ? Sounds like too much bass and too much high/presence to me.

 

[aviel]

Didnt hp at all yet.. Each time i touch eq like fab filter or so i feel like losing power

 

[Terminus]

Downstroke a little harder/tighter and maybe while you're doing rhythms, tape off the higher strings during tracking since you're getting a lot of errant strong ring-out/noise off those high strings. Hard to tell if the tone will work well with the guitar by itself but agreed with all the other comments, sounds like too much high end.

 

[Sloan]

None of this matters to me until I hear two different takes panned hard L&R.

 

[aviel]

Hmm so i think i will reduce some high end.. i feel that when reducing gain i lose power and energy.. Will try hard paning. also how many of you use boosts in front of the amp?

 

[aviel]

do you find this better?

first is not boosted.. to much low end..

second is boosted with metalzone.

no eq.

 

[aviel]

Bump ?

 

[Derykus]

Ola is using way more mids than you. Therefore, it sounds much more open. You don't need to record very loud. Definitely not loud enough to use ear plugs. Put your head down in front of the speakers and tweak your tone. Listening to the room tone is never going to sound like a mic right on the grille. Put the mic between the dustcap and cone. It should be good enough to just put it there and get decent recordings. Adjust amp settings. Then again. They make more of a difference than you'd think.

 

[Terminus]

Wouldn't boost with a metal zone, go snag a tube screamer. There are some cheap used ones on ebay last I checked, and the results will be a lot better than a metal zone. Keep the drive/gain low enough on both the pedal and your amp so that you're not over-fuzzing the sound with too much saturation.

 

[aviel]

will try to grab a tube screamer. i have a Levana EQ booster, i have to try it, maybe it can do some good.


about volume, dont we need to give the amp level so it opens and get that tube drive?

 

[JamesNorman]

about volume, dont we need to give the amp level so it opens and get that tube drive?

Personally I wouldn't, tracking loud distorts the speakers, especially when going for a crisp tone, I wouldn't.

Secondly, room tone is jack unless your room mixing? Up front metal tone? Would think you want room.

I'd set the microphone up in axis around 30% on the cone, 70% off. Then pit all the knobs to 12 (yeah learnt that from ola's vid) enough to produce some hum, then move the microphone slowly A/Bing numerous spots around the speaker cone, making mental notes of the best, then go back to my favourite, re spot it to make sure I really get the 'money spot'. Then I'd back the mic off an inch or two. This could take around 10 mins or an hour, so I Mark the cab with tape so I now were I'm micing next time. But re-spot that point ever time I reuse it, to get the mic angle, etc.

From here I then go back to the control room. Rehearse the microphone, I just send a reamp of a tracked DI to the amp, adjusting the knobs to get a tone that works the mix. Reamp it then.

Then I usually high pass, tame some cab thump, maybe scoop some mid (decimal points of a dB), ring out the high frequencies, play vocals to see if they conflict with the guitars which if they do scoop 4k-5k about 1 dB, then high pass to get rid of resonant frequiencies with no note present.

Again all of the above is all subjective, but it works for me.

 

[Butt Nekkid]

This will get you there

http://www.badmuckingfastard.com/sound/slipperman.html