guitars / overheads / tone dilema

[memetic]

Abolute feckin newbie to mixing here im trying to get the hang of it a bit before i start college for engineering properly in september.
I play guitar and yet in the mixes im doing myself the guitar just wont sit in the mix also the overheads sound kind of harsh. I can get a really nice mix for the bass and drums but nothing seems right in the guitar mix. its instrumental music so i dont have to make room for vocals although there will be some violins and shit=) the sound is very tool/isis but in drop A is there a standard area to cut and boost for the guitar and overheads that would be a good starting point?
Im thinking a lot of my problem is that its a standard rg series ibanez 7 string with cheapo pick ups so next week im getting seymour duncan active blackouts fitted im using the vetta II head with a hi watt 4x12.
Ive tried so many different settings like using 1 sm57. 1 sm 57 + 1 condenser. 2 sm 57s. 2 condensers. emulated output and re amping. a lot of the time there seems to be a kind of digital sounding fuzz somewhere that i cant seem to eq out. this however does not seem to be quite so prevelent if i use drop D tuning instead of drop A.
I have a funny feeling that its the fact that the pick ups are not active and cannot make the lower notes come out clearer but i also be just rubbish at mixing lol.
Any tips would be really appreciated also any references to tutorials that will help my finished mixes sound less "shed recorded" =) im using cubase sx 3. reason. a bunch of freeware plugins, a taskam US 1641 i have a set of sure drum mics with two condensers. 2 sm 57s and a decent peavy bass amp

 

[AntonioPetrole]

post a clip, we cant tell you whats wrong if we cant hear it

 

[Lionwing]

Not so sure about you thinking that the pickups are a problem, I tracked with an Ibanez S470 yesterday, which has crappy stock p/ups (lots of hum) but still managed to get a decent tone, however EMG's or other active pickups do make a big difference IMO.

 

[CraigTNelson]

The most important part of tracking a guitar is realizing that it's a two person job. Have your assistant move your mics around until you get the tone you want (after assuring yourself that you've got that tone already coming out of the amp), making sure that you're getting the guitar player to play along to the track while getting sounds. A brutal guitar tone means nothing if it's not the right tone for the song.

 

[mick thompson]

HP/LP your instruments and give them space in the mix dude - if you have frequencies from different instruments constantly competing your going to get harsh peaks on your mix.

you were also saying you dont think the low notes are coming through clear enough

a few things on that: have you tried compression and limiting to force your track to bring up and down its levels? and is your guitar properly set up for drop a tuning with a heavy gauge string set?

a clip would help

 

[mburton21]

Not much we can do without clips.

Also it sounds like you need to look at the stickies and guides posted throughout the forum.

http://noise101.wikidot.com has some awesome stuff on there as well.