lend me your critical ears (first post)

[ForefrontStudio]

I am new here. this is my first post. but let me start by saying thank you so much to everyone. you guys have already helped me so much. I have spent countless hours skimming through posts and tutorials and my recordings have improved a lot thanks to what I have learned here.

I feel my recordings are fairly strong. definitely not amazing, but excellent and acceptable for my price range, and one of the better studios in my area (but my area isn't exactly a hot spot for studios). I have been serious about recording for a little over a year now. I have learned a lot, but I also have a lot of learning to go.

one of the things I really struggle with is guitars that sound massive and clear, but not harsh. I have a hard time tuning that "fizz" out of the guitars, and keeping their clarity. any suggestions would be much appreciated. feel free to be critical of other things as well.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=971290&songID=7957561

^^The song was performed by my band, Outrun the Gun (Torque/Victory records) and was written and recorded by me. Steven Slate kick, snare, and toms. nt5s overhead. POD Farm guitars and bass. no vocals yet.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=971290&songID=7810279

^^probably a better example of the "fizz". a punk rock band. Steven Slate kick and snare. EZD toms. nt5s overhead. POD Farm guitars, bass, and vocals.

Thanks guys. I look forward to you guys tearing my recordings apart. haha

 

[guitarguru777]

I dunno its tough to tell where the problem with the guitfiddles is for me. They just sound really thin.

What guitars were used?
How were they run direct?

Upon a 2nd and 3rd listen ... More gain maybe ?

 

[ForefrontStudio]

I dunno its tough to tell where the problem with the guitfiddles is for me. They just sound really thin.

What guitars were used?
How were they run direct?

Upon a 2nd and 3rd listen ... More gain maybe ?

Gibson Les Paul Studio stock pickups uke: and an Epiphone SG with a SD JB

I ran them into the instrument input in my Line 6 UX-8

I kept the gain low because I thought it would help with the fizz, but it really didn't help that much. maybe I need to re-amp them. maybe my problem is pre eq rather than post...?

 

[guitarguru777]

It really depends on the sound your going for I guess.

I mean neither of those tunes call for a truly heavy crushing guitar tone. But of course you want the tone to be GOOD.

In am not really familiar with POD Farm but in a real world situation I dont place anything before the amp on a regular basis. Even using a tube screamer up front doesn't contain the fizz. It more so tames the low mid frequencies.

Im probably not the best person to ask this

My personal opinion would be more gain to smooth out the tone and make it more even. I also recommend trying to fix as little as possible in post. The guitar tone should be pretty natural other than a high and low pass filter and possibly some small notches for the snare.

 

[ForefrontStudio]

anyone else have any advice?

 

[monolithsound]

I think you're headed in the right direction by keeping the gain down. Have you tried micing up a real amp? I've always got much better results that way, even with a less than stellar amp. Double and quad tracking will help you get a "massive" tone.

 

[ForefrontStudio]

there are 2 guitars in the recordings, and each of them ran through 2 different amp sims via POD Farm and hard panned. I know this isn't the same effect as dual and quad tracking, but it does thicken things up a bit. I tried micing up my 4x12 recto cab, Fredman style both with 2 57's and a 57 and an i5 with my Mesa Stiletto Trident and played for hours trying to get good tones and failed. I have yet to try it with my 5150 though (just got one a few weeks ago). But I can't even get the 5150+Impulses to sound good. must be due to the fact that I am indeed a total noob at this. maybe a decent preamp would help too. I just got a Line 6 UX8 to get me started. I'm saving money up to get a new computer with more balls and firewire so I can get something a lot nicer.