Lead guitar on metal

[Phil_ocean]

Hello guys, I wanted to ask you about your treatment on the lead guitars on your mixes. Im a newbie so Im not sure about the general process. I tend to use the same amp (i move the mic a bit in the cab) but im ending up EQing the shit it of it and I dont think thats a good thing. What is your approach? (I forgot to post that leads play major role on the songs if that matters at all in the general approach)

 

[Machinated]

its pretty much dependant on everything so its hard to say anything to specific. my advice if you are struggling with EQ is to monitor quietly when you do it. Also try and get the tone as close to possible with no EQ and then if you really have to adjust from there.

as far as compression/delays/reverbs/chorus etc go it just depends on too much stuff that's not going to be there same for every mix.

 

[Phil_ocean]

thanx for your interest man, well I am more interested in the tone process not so much in the FX. The problem is that I got already reamped wavs so I dont know at what point i should stop EQing since the tone has changed but it doesnt have the frequencies that were annoying me.

 

[Paschalis I.]

Hello guys, I wanted to ask you about your treatment on the lead guitars on your mixes. Im a newbie so Im not sure about the general process. I tend to use the same amp (i move the mic a bit in the cab) but im ending up EQing the shit it of it and I dont think thats a good thing. What is your approach? (I forgot to post that leads play major role on the songs if that matters at all in the general approach)

Keep it simple during recording.
Get a tone that you love and work from there, don't over-compensate stuff.

During mixing, basic EQ, compression and a bit of delay and you're 99% there.

 

[Phil_ocean]

thank you Paschalis, so the recorded tone will play a major role at the shaping of the sound as it seems. Thanx a lot guys

 

[Zerochance]

My music is also very lead-heavy so let me share some things I have found work for me.

My rhythm and lead tones are actually very similar. I generally do add more gain to the lead tone, and set my low and high passes a little wider in the EQ spectrum just to differentiate them a bit. Then, I add compression and a stereo delay. I try to keep it simple and I second that approach.

But what's really worked for me is to use two different guitars: one for rhythm and one for leads. I use a Les Paul for all rhythm stuff and a Jackson Rhoads for all my leads. The Rhoads has a naturally glassier sound and a more pronounced high end, so it cuts through the rhythm guitars really well without having to drive myself nuts EQ'ing the shit out of everything. The two guitars complement each other really well in a mix.

 

[egan.]

My leads always have more mids, often more gain, high and low passed as tightly as I can get away with.

 

[Phil_ocean]

thank you so much guys In the previous project, where I was responsible about the guitar tones, I used pretty much the same process you suggested but I have only one guitar so I have to play with the amp settings. Egan I am a big fan of your band and I really love the production you have in most of your albums. Are you responsible for any of them?

 

[egan.]

Thanks Phil. I recorded all of the DD records but Jens Bogren mixed the last 3 which obviously had a huge impact.

 

[Phil_ocean]

Yea the last 3 albums are the ones I listen the most Borgen did also master them?

 

[egan.]

Jens mastered the most recent 2 but Dismantling Devotion was done at The Cutting Room by Thomas Eberger.

 

[nezvers]

In my experience I found that for me works rhythm guitars having as minimal gain as possible (heavy picking) and having some mids a bit removed but lead with bit more gain and more mid focused.

 

[Smallstep]

I use a suble, narrow, stereo triple delay with differant timings. Works great for me.

 

[HollowmanPL]

like vocals

 

[Phil_ocean]

what do you mean by triple delay? Like a ping-pong delay?

 

[Smallstep]

No, ping pong has the same timing boucing left right, mine are independant and panned (left, center, right). I have an horrible raw sketch/jam in dropbox but it'll give you an idea https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19040508/x1.mp3
Nothing is EQed so be fair lol

 

[sickgod]

Lead guitars are like vocals to me, they should be up front. I usually check the elements which are required at that point, bring the rhythm a little quiter, compress to even out the notes, maybe boost a bit around 1-2 khz. The tone does change for solos, usually the neck pickup is used so you need to tweak a bit to make it work.