noob ? recordings sound like ass?

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Jan 29, 2010
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need some help !seems I have things to produce a decent recording but they always end up sounding like shit,
Running a line 6 ux2 interface, soldano avenger , sm57 mic or e609, marshall cab , into garageband. the thing is its always clipping or not loud enough, and never sounds like it does in the room, are you guys doing alot of post eqing?
I can get it decent doing that but I want the sound in the room to come through the computer. Is my interface shit? Its a nightmare with a Mac anyway but should be able to get a better sound then this, my zoom h2 has produced better recordings.
I wont even bother posting a clip because its imbarssing how shiity it is!
I need help here getting very annoyed, which is making me drink more beer and smoke all my weed! and I need to conserve , ya feel me?
 
Well dude,I know you said you dont want to but in between rippin the bing and chuggin your brew, post a clip so we can hear whats going on with it and take it from there.


And by clipping or not loud enough....thats going from way to quiet to holy shit thats loud.
 
Sounds like you should be able to get something reasonable from the gear you have.

Let's start with the basics:

Fresh strings on the guitar, played in just enough so that they're not overly buzzy, but still have a nice brightness to them.
Bridge pickup.
Tubescreamer in front of the amp, gain down and the level and tone halfway.
Shure SM57 pointing straight at the cab, at the edge of the dustcap.
Set the gain on the preamp so that your signal is at around -18dBFS. You don't need to track mega hot and risk clipping.


What are your amp settings like? make sure you're not using too much gain and you've still got some mid's in there. Enough treble to give it some cut without being brittle and enough lows to stop it from being thin, but still leaving room for the bass guitar.

Remember that your tone has to work well with the bass and drums, so it's best to record clips and listen to the sound in the mix, then go back and tweak amp settings. What sounds good playing in a room by yourself won't necessarily translate well to a full band mix.

I normally do some post eq'ing but really the less the better. A great guitar sound might only need a high and low pass filter and nothing else, so don't use post eq as a crutch.

When dialling your amp in the room you need to make sure the speakers are at ear level. Having the amp blasting at your legs will cause you to miss out on alot of the treble that's coming out the amp, so you'll dial in more than you need and then when you stick a mic in front of the cab it'll be super bright.
 
To be honest that was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting.

Could maybe do with a bit less mids and a bit more treble.
Get some drums and bass going, double track your guitar parts and then see how it sounds.

I really like the character of the Solando to be honest.
 
thanks guys I think the way the sm57 is wrong to begin with, my amp settings are all at noon gain on 6 master on 3, the amp sounds amazing in a band setting, just want be able to get my shit sounding right on recording...btw the guitar is les paul std. burstbuckers. thx for the link adam
 
Pretty much any setup will sound like crap unless you double track. Make sure you record a L and a R, no copying tracks, and pan that shit hard both ways.
 
haha, make sure you play along with a drum track or click too. You'll never record 2 tracks exactly the same, which is actually what makes it sound better. If you get SUPER lazy, and you play something absolutely amazing that you don't think you'll be able to play the same again, you might get away with Copying the panned L track to a separate track and panning it R and then zooming in and moving the R track back a litttttle bit.. Just enough to widen the track, but not enough to cause a noticeable delay.
 
I expected worse as well. If you play that part twice, and pan them and get some decent sounding drums under it, you might be surprised. Keep at it. The guitar sounds very distant. Mic the cab close and keep the amp pumpin.
 
Dude, that is no where near as bad as you made it out to be. Sitting with another guitar, bass and drums in a mix, that could easily sound pretty nice.

I would be happy to work with that track in a song. It may require a bit of work (depending on how it would sit in a mix) but to start with, thats a pretty decent tone.
 
twas not that bad turn the master up a bit more 4-5 on the amp
Mabey add a tubescreamer to the front to boost the amp and it'll get there if you double tracked that it wouldn't sound that bad and i think you exagerated it a bit
 
thanks for the words of encouragment , im a true ameatur , but how do I double track in garageband? the song itself was just slapped down so I didnt forget it, ive actually made it a bit better. would love a link to a tutorial on using garageband drum properly? peace
 
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