Need serious help recording guitars

[jangoux]

Since i started recording a couple years ago, the hardest part for me has been recording guitars. I posted a while ago on another forum about this, and most of the answer were related to my mic technique. So, i tried every aspect of it, every possible position and I am still having trouble achieve an usable guitar tone. Most of the time it sounds fuzzy, muddy, harsh, all at the same time.

So, i am sure it is not the gear. I have a Rme fireface 400 interface, a few mics (md421, Md422, Sm58, At4047, and a few other i use mainly for recording drums), my main pre is a RNP - not top notch but usable. My amp is a Soldano replica, which is not really nice built, but i've recorded it with success at other studios. I have tried other amps, other (cheaper) preamps, and my previous audio interface, and it even came out worse.

My biggest known problems are room acoustics. It's a bedroom studio, kinda long and narrow, with no treatment at all. But i've listened to many recordings on various forums all done on bedrooms and most are quite usable.

However, on my last recording I did a quick test : I used impulses OVER my recorded tone, and it sounded better. I compared the response curves from the impulsed tone and without impulses, and i noticed the unaltered recording had a LOT more stuff between 200 and 500hz (which suggests a lows build up), less at 800, and a little more at 1.5k. Also there was a noticeable amount of stuff over 5k, which sounds like fizz, but when removed, makes the sound muffled.

Btw, I already use C4 to hold those boomy lows.

I am attaching a couple of files : The first, the amp was miked with a SM58 + MD421. The Sm58 was kinda at the cone, 1/4 inch from the grill, and the MD421 was angle halfway between the edge and the center of the speaker, if i remember correctly.

The seconds clip is the same thing, but with impulses over it.

Any tips ?

Btw, I know this sounds like crap :Smug:

Sample 1 :

http://www.stigmaonline.net/sample1.mp3

Sample 2 (with impulses over the recorded guitar tone):

http://www.stigmaonline.net/sample2.mp3

thanks.
Ivan

 

[Ericlingus]

are you serious? If you are then I would post longer samples preferably in a mix. Also at least double track the guitars. For best results I would quad track though. Usually just one guitar track on its own does not sound that great. This reminds me of a time when this dude asked for advice on recording guitar tones and posts a 10 second clip of just one chord ringing out... If I were you i'd just use the search function and read all the posts about this topic. There have been many many posts about this with great replies. It helped me a bunch.

 

[jangoux]

are you serious? If you are then I would post longer samples preferably in a mix. Also at least double track the guitars. For best results I would quad track though. Usually just one guitar track on its own does not sound that great. This reminds me of a time when this dude asked for advice on recording guitar tones and posts a 10 second clip of just one chord ringing out... If I were you i'd just use the search function and read all the posts about this topic. There have been many many posts about this with great replies. It helped me a bunch.

Yeah, I am serious. I posted such a short clipe because it is obvious that this tone is weird. I already read a lot about recording guitars, and i actually recorded it on other places with way better result. The sound on the room is great, but with any mic in front of it, it sounds terrible. Clean tones sound great, though.

Will pick a larger clip later tonight and post again.

 

[KeithRT99]

what cab are you going into? how loud is it when you are recording it? are you giving the preamp a decent amount of gain? There's a sweet-spot on my interface's crappy pre's that makes all the difference, maybe you aren't giving the pre enough juice.

i would say it's a dailing in issue, but it seems to be ok sounding, just far away and dull. Your recording chain shouldn't be giving you any problems.

fyi, those clips are really short and it might be hard for some to judge your sound. Post a mix that has yor problem guitars in it.

 

[jangoux]

what cab are you going into? how loud is it when you are recording it? are you giving the preamp a decent amount of gain? There's a sweet-spot on my interface's crappy pre's that makes all the difference, maybe you aren't giving the pre enough juice.

i would say it's a dailing in issue, but it seems to be ok sounding, just far away and dull. Your recording chain shouldn't be giving you any problems.

fyi, those clips are really short and it might be hard for some to judge your sound. Post a mix that has yor problem guitars in it.

Far and dull. That's exactly how people on another forum told the tone was. My cab is a 2x12 which is a little smaller than a Marshall 1936. On the other studios i recorded , i used a 1960, so the cab may be responsible for part of the sound. But i say gain, the sound in the room is great. I am recording it fairly loud, at least loud enough to bother everyone on both floors on my house.

I will be posting a clip with a full band later tonight.

Ivan

 

[jangoux]

So, here it is, a bigger sample..it's not actually mixed, just organized enough to be listeneable. I re-eq'ed the whole thing, removed the hi boosts, and cut a lot from 250 to 500. Did that with only headphones, so it may not sound perfect. I think this sounds better, but it's still fuzzy.

So...here it is : http://www.stigmaonline.net/sample3.mp3

 

[AudioPhile777]

So, here it is, a bigger sample..it's not actually mixed, just organized enough to be listeneable. I re-eq'ed the whole thing, removed the hi boosts, and cut a lot from 250 to 500. Did that with only headphones, so it may not sound perfect. I think this sounds better, but it's still fuzzy.

So...here it is : http://www.stigmaonline.net/sample3.mp3

Not Found
The requested URL /sample3.mp3 was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

 

[jangoux]

its working now..uploaded to the wrong folder :Smug:

 

[AudioPhile777]

Sounds pretty good... I dont know what your preference is, but it sounds like some great rock guitar... could be scooped a tad in the mids, but other than that, doesnt sound fizzy on this end...

 

[Ericlingus]

yeah I think it sounds good. Doesn't sound fizzy to me either. I like the bass tone as well.

 

[evolutions_end]

yeah man, it doesnt sound terrible. thts a cool tone for that rockish kinda music. im not sure what you mran by fuzzy!

 

[jangoux]

So you guys think this is Ok then ?

Before posting, i tried a new approach. Instead of boosting the highs, i tried to cut A LOT on the low end. The results couldnt been better. It is still not the sound i want to achieve, but it's already more useable than before to me. Not boosting highs also removed the fizzyness i talked about.


One thing that still annoys me a lot is the mid range caracter of those guitars. I don't remember we using that much mids on tracking and it didn't sound that mid rangey on the room. But i suppose that with a different amp, or different tubes (I use a Soldano copy with KT88s), it would help that.

Thanks for all the replies!

Ivan