How to let L/R guitars breathe?

[rchoi54]

In the couple years I've been messing around with IRs, I've never been able to get my guitars to breathe. You probably know what I mean by that, but here are some examples of tones that aren't too roomy but still seem slightly distanced. Bear with the songs if you aren't a fan of the genre/band/song.




Every time i try to get some distance on my guitars I spend hours upon hours trying out different blends of my standard SM57/U87 set up and various room mic impulses. I've fiddled around with altering the low mids and high mids, but my tones always sound way too up front, which is good for some mixes but not for many.

Here's a couple of my mixes and you can probably tell what I mean:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3371179/CarnaAsadaMIX.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3371179/02 Chatterbox.mp3

This is probably an easy question to answer, but I've done some searching around for answers and haven't been able to find one from recent posts or the stickied threads.

Thanks guys, I love this forum for all the help it's given me for the past 3-4 years I've been a member.
- Ram

EDIT:

Although technically this is similar to using a mix knob on a reverb.

Try to find a reverb that you like the sound of on guitar that fits your project. Now duplicate the guitar track and make it 100% wet with reverb, do some pre eq if necessary. Also try to eq, compress it, limit it, whatever to get the reverb sound you want. Then slightly add this wet track back in. Some times pulling some of the meat out with eq will allow you to hear the reverb without it getting muddy. I find i have more control this way. Or if using a room mic / ir of room mic try it on a separate track as well.

Hope this helps m/ m/

This did the trick. :Smokin:
Sent the processed guitar track to a reverb only bus, the reverb was very small room sounding, and eq'd as necessary.

 

[UMF]

Could you upload a sample of your tone? (I mean only guitar )Too up front might be an issue in the high frequecy area, but roomy is a diff. story! You could try to throw a reverb on your guitar track, like a small room an mix that in like 10-15%.
But we need to hear it.

 

[rchoi54]

Could you upload a sample of your tone? (I mean only guitar )Too up front might be an issue in the high frequecy area, but roomy is a diff. story! You could try to throw a reverb on your guitar track, like a small room an mix that in like 10-15%.
But we need to hear it.

Sure thing, here's a short clip: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3371179/CarnaAsada_mixdown.mp3

I have tried the 10-15% multiple times but it doesnt get me the sound I'm going for and just make the guitars sound distanced in a different way...

 

[Studdy]

Although technically this is similar to using a mix knob on a reverb.

Try to find a reverb that you like the sound of on guitar that fits your project. Now duplicate the guitar track and make it 100% wet with reverb, do some pre eq if necessary. Also try to eq, compress it, limit it, whatever to get the reverb sound you want. Then slightly add this wet track back in. Some times pulling some of the meat out with eq will allow you to hear the reverb without it getting muddy. I find i have more control this way. Or if using a room mic / ir of room mic try it on a separate track as well.

Hope this helps \m/ \m/

 

[UMF]

Ok, I tryed around a little bit and I think a wider dip at around 3k acts like a closer/farer control.

Let me get back to you as soon as I took a closer look at your refrence ( AILD etc....)

 

[Scottxx]

Nebula cabs?

 

[colonel kurtz]

+1 more to sending to an EQ'd reverb. HP/LP filters especially can work wonders in changing the overall sound of an emulated space.

 

[anotherpaul]

Just find your guitars' "presence" frequency and experiment cutting it with an EQ.

 

[botus99]

You won't get much breathing in your guitars using static impulses. Start micing up a cab bro! Nebula cabs have come a long way too, but good luck monitoring them back live

 

[Machinated]

try not using impulses and working on technique/micing. trying to fix it afterwards aint really the way to go about fixing it.

95% of the life in my guitar tracks comes from the fact I'm really concentrating on getting guitarists to play with emotion. also make sure you are using a good DI.

 

[rchoi54]

Although technically this is similar to using a mix knob on a reverb.

Try to find a reverb that you like the sound of on guitar that fits your project. Now duplicate the guitar track and make it 100% wet with reverb, do some pre eq if necessary. Also try to eq, compress it, limit it, whatever to get the reverb sound you want. Then slightly add this wet track back in. Some times pulling some of the meat out with eq will allow you to hear the reverb without it getting muddy. I find i have more control this way. Or if using a room mic / ir of room mic try it on a separate track as well.

Hope this helps m/ m/

This did the trick. :Smokin:
Sent the processed guitar track to a reverb only bus, the reverb was very small room sounding, and eq'd as necessary.