Guitar recording with EQ

[Genius Gone Insane]

Friends,

I've got a 5150 and have been recording straight to my Digi001 with no effects except I do use a tube screamer pedal to get some mud out.

When my band rehearses, both guitarists use a rack equalizer. I've heard that it's better to not use the EQ when recording because you can always EQ it after recording. Is it worth it to try recording with the EQ?

You're probably asking, "why don't you just try it Genius?" but it's pretty inconvenient in my situation to put it mildly. Do you guys ever record with EQ?

Thanks!

 

[Volcane]

If we all played by the same rules it'd get very boring...

IMHO Just get a sound you like coming out of the Amp, whether that be EQ'd or whatever and record that. I mean kill the obvious boomy/harsh stuff, but that's about it.

I'm no expert, but that's what I do. I think it's easier to kill bad frequencies in the mixing stage than have to try and rescue something that isn't there later on...

Whatever you do, don't use reverb on the rhythm tracks ...LOL !!

 

[Exsanguis]

For guitars, find the best possible tone from tweaking the amp and whatever rack gear/pedals you have(including your EQ). Don't use too many effects before though, as you can add better ones after. Try to use a noise suppressor/HUSH device in your signal chain to minimize noise, especially if you have extra devices other than your amp that the signal is going through. As soon as you get the best sound out of the amp, put the mic(s) up and begin moving it/them around till you hear the same or better tone fromt he monitors/headphones. The best possible situation would be where you wouldn't have to really do anything in terms of EQ, just little edits for noise, and compression.

 

[egan.]

I would keep the signal chain as short as possible. If your running so much gear that you have to add another piece of gear to take care of the noise then you are obviously degrading your signal severely. I have recorded dudes who have these elaborate racks of stuff and in the end, unless there is some specific effect you're going for they just muck things up. Unless it directly relates to your gain structure (on purpose!) like a tubescreamer or other distortion pedal I would leave it out.

 

[Impy]

I'm a firm believer of recording things as you want em later (not everyhing tho since effects are easier to add at a later time). Recording a guitar that doesn't sound the way you want it to isn't a great idea. A short signal chain is recommended as egan said, stuff that can be added later SHOULD be added later, it's no fun when the guitarist suddenly decides that he didn't want that flanger on the entire rhythm track and you have to record it all over again.
Just remember that there's no such thing as "we'll fix it in the mix"

 

[Exsanguis]

Egan - When running a guitar straight into a cranked 5150 or any other high gain amp, there will be an obscene amount of noise. A HUSH device or another type of noise reduction device is necessary to get a less noisy tone, unless you want to use a noise gate in the computer, or edit all of the parts as best as possible. I prefer to do both to eliminate all excess noise from my guitar tracks, and I never record effects on a signal unless the player has his/her heart set on that exact sound, such as if they are using a vintage analog delay, or old flanger or chorus.

 

[_RiseInside_]

Egan - When running a guitar straight into a cranked 5150 or any other high gain amp, there will be an obscene amount of noise. A HUSH device or another type of noise reduction device is necessary to get a less noisy tone, unless you want to use a noise gate in the computer, or edit all of the parts as best as possible. I prefer to do both to eliminate all excess noise from my guitar tracks, and I never record effects on a signal unless the player has his/her heart set on that exact sound, such as if they are using a vintage analog delay, or old flanger or chorus.

I experience a similar situation: guitar straight into a engl fireball and there is a lot of noise. What sort of noise reduction device do you recommend ?

p.s. - sorry for the off-topic

 

[Exsanguis]

I use the Rocktron HUSH pedal(it's a little blue one), but a rackmounted HUSH unit would be jsut as good, if not better, and the Boss NS-2(or whatever it is) noise suppressor does an excellent job as well. Don't expect no noise at all, but there will be significantly less after you throw the pedal/rack unit into your signal chain.

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

I use the noise gate on the POD.

 

[egan.]

Egan - When running a guitar straight into a cranked 5150 or any other high gain amp, there will be an obscene amount of noise. A HUSH device or another type of noise reduction device is necessary to get a less noisy tone, unless you want to use a noise gate in the computer, or edit all of the parts as best as possible.

Thanks for the condesending explanation of how an amp works, but we are just going to have to agree to disagree. I understand using a hush live, but the noise on the 5150 is ussually 10-15dB below the signal volume. If the guitarist isn't playing at all of course you would edit out the amp noise. That said I've recorded dual recs with no hush/gate and no edits with negligible amp hum. Unless you turn your gain all the way up it really shouldn't be a huge issue especially when the amp is in another room....unless you're sitting in front of a CRT or the (power) grounding is wrong in the room or on your pickups. Seriously-- 5150, dual rec, JCM--never needed an inline noise gate. I've edited the gaps, but that's for handling noise as much as amp noise. And truthfully the only dudes I have ever seen use them live or on tour are guys running through shitloads of pedals or rack gear.

An adendum here...I checked the RMS values of noise with guitar volume up (but no playing) and when playing. The amp noise was actually 22dB (-25dB) below the volume when playing (-3dB). These measurements were taken off the rhythm tracks of a demo I did for our label about 6 months ago (LTD w/ 81's thru a 5150 II thru a 5150 4x12").

 

[Exsanguis]

Sorry dude I didnt mean to be condescending. I guess my 5150 is just really noisy(it's not the tubes, I just changed them a month ago), but I've found that using a hush pedal with it takes care of the problem in a major way. With my Dual Rectifier, I don't use the hush. Don't need to. Also, when I'm using EMG 81's or any other active pickups, I don't need to use hush pedals, but with passives, I feel it helps a lot. It just makes it a little easier for me when I'm editing all of the tracks in a song. I started using the hush pedal after Mike Amott turned me onto it. He and Chris both use them live, and each of them has maybe 4 pedals in their signal chain, so its nothing too fancy.

 

[Leper_/-\ffinity]

Can someone please explain how a noise gate works?!? I have a Digitech GNX that I use for all my recordings, and I know I have a noise gate on it, just like Hopkins mentioned the one on his POD, what kind of settings on this noise gate are ideal?!? Or does it vary?!?