- Mar 9, 2012
- 21
- 0
- 1
I've been making an attempt at recording guitars for almost a decade now, but just recently have gotten more serious about things. I've lurked around the Sneap forums and a number of other recording forums, and I've read enough recording mags over the years that I should be able to get at least a passable tone. Unfortunately, that hasn't really been the case. After spending countless hours or the past few years trying to capture a decent sound, I'm hoping that by turning to some folks with more experience might help me figure out my problem.
I've recorded a quick clip using the Fredman two-mic technique that's pretty popular around here and other metal forums in general, and I've linked to each separate track (Dust Cap and Cone). The clips were recorded with a Gibson Explorer (stock pickups) through an ENGL fireball into an Avatar 2x12 (contemporary, using a Vintage 30 speaker), running dual 57's into my Focusrite Saffire Pro 40. The tracks have absolutely no processing; that means no HPF (or any EQ), no compression, etc.
I understand a lot of the standard techniques for cleaning up raw tracks like the ones I've posted (HPF and LPF, compression, dual-quad tracking, adding a bassline, etc). I've tried all of these over and over and over, using every combination I could imagine, but I've still had no luck. My feeling is that I've got to have a problem at the source, because no matter what kind of tweaking I try, I basically get a slightly less awful sound than what I'm starting with.
I have some options here, and I'm open to just about anything. As I mentioned, I've got the Explorer and ENGL, but I also have a Gibson SG, Epi LP with EMG's, even a Strat with Duncans, and I've got a Marshall DSL50 amp as well. My speaker cab also has a G12H30. As far as mic's go, I've got the two 57s, an SM7b, some CAD TSM411 drum mics, and a couple of Chinese LDC's. I've gone over and over all these gyrations with mic placement, different speakers, different amps, different mics, different guitars to no avail.
Can somebody PLEASE tell me what I'm doing wrong and maybe suggest how I could fix it with the above gear at hand? For reference, I'm going for a newer Katatonia sound, but realistically anything heavy and tight, even if it's a played-out Dual Rectifier tone. Feel free to be as brutally honest as you'd like, and if you don't think I can get anything passable for what I want out of the ENGL/DSL50, other amp recommendations in a similar price range are fine as well. As you can tell from my longwindedness, I'm starting to get desperate.
Lastly, try to excuse the sloppy playing and the lame choice of riff; it was the first thing that came to mind...
THANKS!
I've recorded a quick clip using the Fredman two-mic technique that's pretty popular around here and other metal forums in general, and I've linked to each separate track (Dust Cap and Cone). The clips were recorded with a Gibson Explorer (stock pickups) through an ENGL fireball into an Avatar 2x12 (contemporary, using a Vintage 30 speaker), running dual 57's into my Focusrite Saffire Pro 40. The tracks have absolutely no processing; that means no HPF (or any EQ), no compression, etc.
I understand a lot of the standard techniques for cleaning up raw tracks like the ones I've posted (HPF and LPF, compression, dual-quad tracking, adding a bassline, etc). I've tried all of these over and over and over, using every combination I could imagine, but I've still had no luck. My feeling is that I've got to have a problem at the source, because no matter what kind of tweaking I try, I basically get a slightly less awful sound than what I'm starting with.
I have some options here, and I'm open to just about anything. As I mentioned, I've got the Explorer and ENGL, but I also have a Gibson SG, Epi LP with EMG's, even a Strat with Duncans, and I've got a Marshall DSL50 amp as well. My speaker cab also has a G12H30. As far as mic's go, I've got the two 57s, an SM7b, some CAD TSM411 drum mics, and a couple of Chinese LDC's. I've gone over and over all these gyrations with mic placement, different speakers, different amps, different mics, different guitars to no avail.
Can somebody PLEASE tell me what I'm doing wrong and maybe suggest how I could fix it with the above gear at hand? For reference, I'm going for a newer Katatonia sound, but realistically anything heavy and tight, even if it's a played-out Dual Rectifier tone. Feel free to be as brutally honest as you'd like, and if you don't think I can get anything passable for what I want out of the ENGL/DSL50, other amp recommendations in a similar price range are fine as well. As you can tell from my longwindedness, I'm starting to get desperate.
Lastly, try to excuse the sloppy playing and the lame choice of riff; it was the first thing that came to mind...
THANKS!

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