How do you know if your using to much gain?

[doclegion]

When should i know if to much is to much??
It gets me everytime
Whats a good reference?

 

[Sickan]

When you start to loose definition and it becomes untight.

 

[Fox Mulder]

1. Unnecessary hiss, although this fact also clashes with the balance between treble and presence.

2. Notes lacking clarity.

Don't get too mislead by no.1, though. You could end up using too less gain in some cases which I'm sure you wouldn't want. Try analyzing how much pressure you apply while playing. If it's too easy to play then you're probably using too much gain. Not too sure about how it would apply to other people, but I surely noticed it.

However, too much gain is hardly an issue when you've got a well treated room and a fuckin expensive pre-amp. Look at Dimebag for instance.

Honestly speaking, when I'm dual-tracking instead of quad-tracking, I use hell loads of gain till the threshold of not making it sound "lifeless". I also record them in a different session at 96khz. Afterwards, I strategically apply a bandsplit de-esser making the tone as dark as possible aka getting rid of the hiss. I print the tracks back to 44.1khz and export it into the main session, and EQ to taste to get back the bite I just filtered out, only way better. Try using a linear phase eq if you're eq-ing guitars. I apparently get held back due to latency when using the Waves Linear Phase EQ, so I stick to the Waves SSL with analog mode on.

Hope that helps.

Cheers!

 

[RiF]

I like loads of gain, but I also like a crisp attack. Usually you can not have both, so if the attack get undefined, I know that there is too much gain.

 

[Dylan S]

Another way to tell is also listening to your palm muted notes, and if there is any extra noise going on you don't want, too much gain can be a factor.

If you have great palm muting technique, this really shouldn't be too much of an issue, but lowering the gain can make palm mutes sound tighter in general anyway.

 

[Torniojaws]

If you have great palm muting technique, this really shouldn't be too much of an issue, but lowering the gain can make palm mutes sound tighter in general anyway.

Too little gain will weaken the power of palm mutes though, they sound more like muted strings instead of that nice CHUGG.

 

[slashvanyoung]

I'll usually have multiple amps or sims with different amounts of gain in a mix. Need more balls, raise the ones with higher gain. Need more clarity/definition, raise the ones with lower gain.

If you've got DIs to reamp, it's not something to bother with. The "right" amount of gain is often necessary for "feeling" while tracking, though.

 

[doclegion]

Im just gonna have to post some clips and get some opinions on it
I always feel like im not using that much gain but when i show someone i get the "to much gain" comment hahahah

 

[beyond dead]

how much gain you use is up to you! not anyone else. how much gain is too much for you?

one of the biggest mistakes I see is people asking what other people like, or what other peoples settings are. Just use your ears!

 

[Dylan S]

Too little gain will weaken the power of palm mutes though, they sound more like muted strings instead of that nice CHUGG.

Well...yea...but for anything you can use too much gain for, you can use too little gain for it too.
I was just giving another suggestion, in the mindset that if he were to lower the gain to make palm mutes sounds tighter, he'd be able to hear for himself if he lowered it too much.

 

[Metaltastic]

Too little gain will weaken the power of palm mutes though, they sound more like muted strings instead of that nice CHUGG.

BINGO, I always simply set the gain by palm muting my open low string and adjusting the gain knob by turning it up until I get a nice saturated fizz on palm mutes, then back it down like .5 from there - one of the worst sounds to me is when palm mutes have no sustain cuz the gain is so low (I'm looking at you "Blackwater Park" )

 

[Erkan]

I also use palm mutes as a reference for gain setting. I usually aim to get a nice "chugg" or djent or BAUUOW or what the fuck you wanna call it But after that initial sharpness, I don't wany any more distortion, so I'm really trying to aim for a clear sound with a defined attack. Luckily... the EMG81 does all that for me so I can really go down in gain and still get that chugg/djent/djunt/djont/chigg/chagg/chegg sound on the palm mutes.

 

[doclegion]

how much gain you use is up to you! not anyone else. how much gain is too much for you?

one of the biggest mistakes I see is people asking what other people like, or what other peoples settings are. Just use your ears!

Hell yea
thats exactly how i felt
your the shit
I mrean as long as things are clear i dont see a problem
to fizzy?? yes

 

[Metaltastic]

Fizzy but more importantly noisy/messy

 

[JBroll]

My rule of thumb: you *always* have too much gain. Goddamn guitarists...

Jeff

 

[OctoberRust]

You use too much gain when you don't have to try real hard to record tight guitar tracks!

 

[Erkan]

My rule of thumb: you *always* have too much gain. Goddamn guitarists...

Jeff

So you're basically saying that there should be no gain at all, thus no guitars in the mix?

That would actually be interesting... trying to make a metal record without guitars. Every other instrument is allowed but not guitars. I'll need to try that sometime

 

[JBroll]

There's a difference between having no gain and having a guitarist playing through what he thinks is no gain.

(In some cases, the first is better, but that's not what I originally intended...)

Jeff

 

[Full_Tilt]

I'm always using too much gain ,the thing is its easier to play some parts with the gain squashing everything like a compressor effect you get your sustain but the drawback is always clarity and bite when you palm mute (turning into mush) once your no longer listening to the soloed guitar track and listening to the overall mix.
So for a while now Ive been backing off the gain until I think it starts to sound just a little too clean but by the time I have multiple guitar tracks playing together and a full mix it still sounds like theres too much gain .
Its deceptive.

On the other hand listening to Nile's Annihilation of the wicked album is a good example of how a deliberately over distorted guitar sound can still work . Its my least favorite aspect of that album but its just so over the top and heavily EQ'd that it fits the style .
I wouldn't be happy with that sound if it was for my stuff its a tempo thing as well I suppose.

 

[doclegion]

I'm always using too much gain ,the thing is its easier to play some parts with the gain squashing everything like a compressor effect you get your sustain but the drawback is always clarity and bite when you palm mute (turning into mush) once your no longer listening to the soloed guitar track and listening to the overall mix.
So for a while now Ive been backing off the gain until I think it starts to sound just a little too clean but by the time I have multiple guitar tracks playing together and a full mix it still sounds like theres too much gain .
Its deceptive.

Yea it is