Great metal guitar tone

[alex-sonic]

Hi there!

i'm struggling with my guitar tone as i'd like to go with something pretty new, and i'm thinking i'm making the same things everytime, or maybe it's just me!
You can listen here where I am now, please give me your feedback and your advice

Everything is emulated, i quad tracked it
My chain is guitar > TS808 > Peavey + Mesa > Recabinet 3 with either MD421 or SM57

Here is the latest sound I had, the song has been mixed a little, guitars are dry
https://soundcloud.com/alex-dust-element/darkest-days-guitars-try

Thanks!

 

[Terminus]

Sounds a bit boxy to me, try taking out a bit of mids but not too much. Otherwise, the overall mix needs a bit of work. Drums sound especially fake.

 

[alex-sonic]

Sounds a bit boxy to me, try taking out a bit of mids but not too much. Otherwise, the overall mix needs a bit of work. Drums sound especially fake.

Yes but as I said I have just mixed a little I've low and high pass here and there only and worked on the kick!

Thanks for your advice i'll try it!

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

Doesn't sound bad, but needs some sculpting. My general guitar EQ with Recabinet with your average sm57 off axis, close or mid, assuming the amp doesn't have wacky settings:

HPF @ 60 hz
LPF @ 8500-10000 hz, depending on highs/presence on amp
-3db @ 250 hz
+1.5db @ 1400 hz

Just as a starting point to see how everything sounds. These settings are using the on-board Recabinet EQ, btw. Dynamics anywhere from 50 to 80%. Obviously things will differ with other mics, but playing with one microphone at a time will give you a feel for where the resonances are in a given amp/cab model, and then you can modify your EQ settings per mic or per cab as you add things into the mix.

 

[waav studios]

what are your settings on the ts808? i tend to back off the gain of the amp a bit when using a ts cause they usually push the front end of an amp, even emulated, giving it more gain than sometimes wanted. it makes it tighter in my opinion.

recabinet has always sounded a little muddy to me. never really had what i looked for. try redwirez cab impulses. might be more what you're looking for. you could also try cutting some low mids 250-500hz, and boosting some hi mids 1k and above just a bit and see if it sculpts it a bit better for you.

 

[alex-sonic]

Thanks Jim for your feedback and your help!
I don't know why I didn't thought of it, but yes it will be easier if I separate each mic, I will have 8 tracks but it doesn't matter if I can have a better sound!
Do you often use sm57 mid? I assume it has some resonance am I wrong?
What is the dynamic you are talking about? Output button?

And last question! You LPF @ 10000hz and even 8500, you do it for each mic position? In fact it seems very low for me as I tend to let until 12000 hz mots of the time, am I wrong with this technic? I know it's a matter of what I like but I'm here to learn

And here is my mix of before if somebody wants to listen to
https://soundcloud.com/alex-dust-element/no-surrender-mastering

 

[alex-sonic]

what are your settings on the ts808? i tend to back off the gain of the amp a bit when using a ts cause they usually push the front end of an amp, even emulated, giving it more gain than sometimes wanted. it makes it tighter in my opinion.

recabinet has always sounded a little muddy to me. never really had what i looked for. try redwirez cab impulses. might be more what you're looking for. you could also try cutting some low mids 250-500hz, and boosting some hi mids 1k and above just a bit and see if it sculpts it a bit better for you.

On the TS tone is at 3 o'clock and volume at max, no drive! Does it sound good?

I'll try the redwire thing and let you know
It has a demo version if i'm not wrong?

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

Thanks Jim for your feedback and your help!
I don't know why I didn't thought of it, but yes it will be easier if I separate each mic, I will have 8 tracks but it doesn't matter if I can have a better sound!
Do you often use sm57 mid? I assume it has some resonance am I wrong?
What is the dynamic you are talking about? Output button?

And last question! You LPF @ 10000hz and even 8500, you do it for each mic position? In fact it seems very low for me as I tend to let until 12000 hz mots of the time, am I wrong with this technic? I know it's a matter of what I like but I'm here to learn

And here is my mix of before if somebody wants to listen to
https://soundcloud.com/alex-dust-element/no-surrender-mastering

If you're going to quad-track, just load two instances of Recabinet, 1 per guitar bus. Hard-pan one 100%L/R and set the other to 85%L/R. Mute the cab you aren't using. So it would be Left = 1 Rectifier cab at 100%L, SM57 off axis, and 1 ENGL cab at 85% L, 121 on. RIght = 1 Rectifier cab at 100%R, SM57 off axis, and 1 ENGL cab at 85% R, 121 on. That makes 4 guitar tracks total.

I think the SM57 is a fairly standard mic choice. All mics have resonances somewhere, but you can just use a parametric equalizer and suck out the offensive frequency if it's too prominent in the mix.

The dynamics button is directly to the left of the output button in the upper-right hand corner of the VST. It simulates some of the nonlinear aspects of the cab, if I remember correctly. Basically it just ends up adding a low shelf and a high shelf. I wouldn't put it any higher than 80 or lower than 50.

The low pass depends on the mic. If you use a 121 or 421, obviously the sound is going to be much darker and you can afford to put the LPF way up at 12000 hz. For an SM57, though, which is the conventional choice and the starting point for most cab sims, I think 8500-10000 is fairly reasonable. Just use your ears.

 

[waav studios]

i usually turn the tone knob all the way up. it has that tight mid boost that really tightens up an amp. in metal terms, its usually what everyone is looking for in a ts anyway. i don't ever find it useful with the tone knob backed off more than just a bit.

drive off and volume all the way is usually optimal settings for me.

honestly, i'd say you're almost there. just a few tweaks and im sure you'll have that "ah ha" moment. keep experimenting, trying crazy things.

 

[alex-sonic]

If you're going to quad-track, just load two instances of Recabinet, 1 per guitar bus. Hard-pan one 100%L/R and set the other to 85%L/R. Mute the cab you aren't using. So it would be Left = 1 Rectifier cab at 100%L, SM57 off axis, and 1 ENGL cab at 85% L, 121 on. RIght = 1 Rectifier cab at 100%R, SM57 off axis, and 1 ENGL cab at 85% R, 121 on. That makes 4 guitar tracks total.

I think the SM57 is a fairly standard mic choice. All mics have resonances somewhere, but you can just use a parametric equalizer and suck out the offensive frequency if it's too prominent in the mix.

The dynamics button is directly to the left of the output button in the upper-right hand corner of the VST. It simulates some of the nonlinear aspects of the cab, if I remember correctly. Basically it just ends up adding a low shelf and a high shelf. I wouldn't put it any higher than 80 or lower than 50.

The low pass depends on the mic. If you use a 121 or 421, obviously the sound is going to be much darker and you can afford to put the LPF way up at 12000 hz. For an SM57, though, which is the conventional choice and the starting point for most cab sims, I think 8500-10000 is fairly reasonable. Just use your ears.

Thaniks again for your help, but I'm sorry I didn't understand the first part :s
And funny i've vener seen this dynamic button! I have to give a try!

And i'm not sure of what you're saying, but a 421 is brighter than a SM57 am I wrong?

I'll try all this things this week end

 

[alex-sonic]

i usually turn the tone knob all the way up. it has that tight mid boost that really tightens up an amp. in metal terms, its usually what everyone is looking for in a ts anyway. i don't ever find it useful with the tone knob backed off more than just a bit.

drive off and volume all the way is usually optimal settings for me.

honestly, i'd say you're almost there. just a few tweaks and im sure you'll have that "ah ha" moment. keep experimenting, trying crazy things.

Yeah you're surely right! I'll try the TS things and I'll keep experimenting!

Send you another sample this week end!