need a little help...

schust

schust

Member
Oct 24, 2007
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i've got 9 songs tracked. all the guitars were tracked using a PODxt - with both amp and speaker sim on.

the tracks are a couple years old, otherwise i would have recorded a DI line for impulses or reamp'ing. didn't know about them back then.

i'm stuck now with a finished CD where the drums, bass and vox aren't too bad, but the guitars blow.

i've read/searched everything i can regarding making a POD sound better - but it still blows.

i've tried several amp/speaker VSTs (e.g. juicy77, boogex) - and they all sound pretty good to me - but seveal others (some on this forum) have told me otherwise. (loudly) :erk:

anyway. what would YOU do in this situation?

i'm curious to hear if i've missed something - or somebody has a creative idea i haven't heard of yet. unfortunately, retracking them isn't an option.

thanks in advance.
mark
 
schust said:
i've got 9 songs tracked. all the guitars were tracked using a PODxt - with both amp and speaker sim on.

the tracks are a couple years old, otherwise i would have recorded a DI line for impulses or reamp'ing. didn't know about them back then.

i'm stuck now with a finished CD where the drums, bass and vox aren't too bad, but the guitars blow.

i've read/searched everything i can regarding making a POD sound better - but it still blows.

i've tried several amp/speaker VSTs (e.g. juicy77, boogex) - and they all sound pretty good to me - but seveal others (some on this forum) have told me otherwise. (loudly) :erk:

anyway. what would YOU do in this situation?

i'm curious to hear if i've missed something - or somebody has a creative idea i haven't heard of yet. unfortunately, retracking them isn't an option.

thanks in advance.
mark
Click to expand...

EQ'ing sounds like your only hope. Your not going to find a miracle turd polisher vst or anything.

Why can't you just retrack them properly?
 
devouredremains said:
Why can't you just retrack them properly?
Click to expand...

good question. one i don't think i have a good answer for, sadly.

it took me a few years to track the other ones, guess my heart's just not in another long haul. truth be told, it's been so long, not even sure i remember them...lol.. how pathetic is that? i'm ready to move on. tough being both engineer and musician. the engineer in me is "get it right, fucker!" and the musician is like "huh? you want me to do what??? retrack all 9? did i hear that right? 9? fuck you! somebody give me some alcohol! i'm outta here!". well, maybe not that dramatic, but you get the point.

gotta love the 'miracle turd polisher' quote.... :heh: if i ever develop a vst, it will most definitely be named that. you'll receive full credit.
 
schust said:
good question. one i don't think i have a good answer for, sadly.

it took me a few years to track the other ones, guess my heart's just not in another long haul. truth be told, it's been so long, not even sure i remember them...lol.. how pathetic is that? i'm ready to move on. tough being both engineer and musician. the engineer in me is "get it right, fucker!" and the musician is like "huh? you want me to do what??? retrack all 9? did i hear that right? 9? fuck you! somebody give me some alcohol! i'm outta here!". well, maybe not that dramatic, but you get the point.

gotta love the 'miracle turd polisher' quote.... :heh: if i ever develop a vst, it will most definitely be named that. you'll receive full credit.
Click to expand...

Haha, except I hardly came up with that! It's quite common in audio engineering circles and actually the first time I ever heard it was from my tattooist when we were talking about cover up tattoos.

I think maybe starting on some new material would help get your mind off the old stuff you did that your unhappy with.

Cheers.
 
devouredremains said:
Haha, except I hardly came up with that!
I think maybe starting on some new material would help get your mind off the old stuff you did that your unhappy with.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

yes, perhaps you're right. but like most musicians, i need to have some kind of closure from the past project before moving on to the next one.

honestly, not sure what i was hoping for in this post. a miracle? most likely. the turd scrubber 2000! perhaps just to get that last kick in the ass before saying "yep, it is what it is" - time to EQ the hell outta of it, shoot er' up the flag pole and hope for the best. i believe i have that now. thanks for the help in doing that.
 
schust said:
yes, perhaps you're right. but like most musicians, i need to have some kind of closure from the past project before moving on to the next one.

honestly, not sure what i was hoping for in this post. a miracle? most likely. the turd scrubber 2000! perhaps just to get that last kick in the ass before saying "yep, it is what it is" - time to EQ the hell outta of it, shoot er' up the flag pole and hope for the best. i believe i have that now. thanks for the help in doing that.
Click to expand...

No problem!
 
If you've got a good, isolated recording of the sort of guitar tone you'd like the tracks to have, you might try doing some spectrum matching with CurveEQ. It won't fix too much or too little gain on the original tracks, but at least you'd stand a chance of getting in the tonal ballpark.
 
iekobrid said:
If you've got a good, isolated recording of the sort of guitar tone you'd like the tracks to have, you might try doing some spectrum matching with CurveEQ. It won't fix too much or too little gain on the original tracks, but at least you'd stand a chance of getting in the tonal ballpark.
Click to expand...

thanks. i've read about CURVEEQ before, just never had a use - so never dropped the cash for it. but if this works out the $89 or so is well worth it.

ok - for those willing - i've created three files. one of the original (just podxt), one of juicy77 and one with CurveEQ using a Peavey 6505 spectrum file.

none sound incredibly awesome, but which one do you like the best? a, b or c? i don't want to tell you what is what so it skews your response.

whichever one gets the most votes i'll use on the CD.

thanks!
mark

http://www.markbschuster.com/mp3/a.mp3
http://www.markbschuster.com/mp3/b.mp3
http://www.markbschuster.com/mp3/c.mp3
 
Dude, I think you're being to hard on yourself! I heard all three and like b and c best.

The thing is, I suspect you expectations and goals to be different from the outcome, but how about looking at it from a different perspective?

No doubt the guitars sound awesomely old school! Some 80's thrash tone you got there dude. I'd kill for it if I were recording that type of band.

How about maybe taking the WHOLE album into that direction? Since I'm guessing the drums are programmed, you could give them a less defined sound and instead of having them bulge out in the mix, create a vibe which works around the guitar since they have captured an era.

My only gripe is the difference between the guitars and the drums. Whilst the drums sound modern and pronounced, the guitars is gritty and just pure thrashy in my opinion.

If you could find a tonal balance where both compliment each other I think you got yourself one killer sounding old-school stuff! :headbang:

I don't know why you totally regarded this as rubbish. Maybe you aren't a fan of that era in metal? I think the similarity in tone is distinct and could land you a bulls-eye if you aim in the right direction.

Any way you decide to go, keep up the good work man and even if things don't go as you expect them to, try and find the good of what turned out, especially if it is irreversible.

EDIT: Killer riff by the way....will definitely be checking in for the full album!
 
devouredremains said:
Your not going to find a miracle turd polisher
Click to expand...
[offtopic]
http://mythbustersresults.com/episode-113-end-with-a-bang

You can’t polish poop.
BUSTED

Adam and Jamie visited a zoo to obtain a variety of feces to try to polish. They tried to pick the most polishable candidates and baked them to remove the moisture. Adam tried to shine his poop with a buffing wheel, while Jamie reasoned that using a wax polish would result in a shine. Adam eventually sought the advice of an outside expert, who showed him that it was possible to apply a shine to dirt with a tedious technique. Applying this technique, Adam and Jamie were able to obtain very polished poop without using any foreign materials like polish.[/offtopic]
 
Fuck polishing, just roll it in glitter, it works for other music genres. Maybe that's why those genres suck so much.
 
_Brutalism_ , thank you for your comments. i'm actually a product of the 80s, so no disguising the obvious. drums are actually real, with samples blended on toms, kick and snare.


ahjteam said:
[offtopic]
You can’t polish poop.
Click to expand...

thanks, but i think that was already covered above (as you pointed out). and your choice?? a, b or c? i'm not asking "which of these is the best guitar tone in the world?", I'm asking "which of the three do you think is the best?". i know i'm stuck with crap, anyway you slice it. i'm just interested in hearing what you guys think is the best of the three i have to work with. i need to make a decision this week and end this death march.
 
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