Recording Guitar?!?

[ichorus]

Hey there, im new to this forum.

I have been looking up on what everyone here does to record their guitars but alot of the terms like "Impulses" and "DI" i have no clue what you have to do to use them or create them to benefit your recording. What im looking for is a very basic answer without any guitar terms that i may not know.

e.g. "its pluggin in straight to this (enter name here) and recording this (enter name here) and using this (enter name here)

Just everywhere i look everyone is like master of guitar recording terminology.
Im guessing some others may benefit from a very basicly worded explanation to Guitar recording.

1. mic set-up
2. settings on the head (no goes and yes yes's)
3. EQ's
4. Impulses
5. DI
6. Plug-ins
7. Double Tracking and Quad tracking, is it playing the same thing 4 times? (see i just dont know haha)

just a little on each thing would be great.

i usually just use an amp, a guitar, two mics and a laptop. then compressors and a tweak of the EQ's and panning.

 

[AudioPhile777]

ok... as simple as i can for you.

1. Shure SM57 straight in front of a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker... pointed right about where the round part of it meets the "bubble" part of it.

2. Search settings for (your amp) or just make sure it sounds good in the room its in and keep it as far away from any walls as you can (front, back and ALL sides).

3. generally speaking there is no right or wrong with eq, whatever makes it sound the way you want it to... if you're looking for a specific sound, try doing a search on the forum first, then ask someone... on the front page there are "Stick" topics... look through those first.

4. impulses are signals routed through a series of guitar heads, speakers, etc etc to give you the sound of a particular cabinet... very much the same way a plugin gives you a reverb sound...

5. DI = Direct box. search on the net, for that explanation...

6. plugins... pretty self explanatory... a popular plugin for guitar, on this forum anyway, is the Waves C4 compressor.

7. yeah... double and quad tracking are the same thing, essentially, with different results... using either one, you are playing it as close to exact as possible to give the illusion of a bigger sound. the slight differences/nuances in playing trick the human ear into thinking its a thicker/meaner/more aggressive sound.

I've been on here for about two months... I'm sure I've posted my share of threads that have been discussed before... the important thing to remember is to exhaust the search function before asking something... because, chances are, like with your question, and hour or two of searching would have yielded a much better/in depth description of what I just told you... plus example of audio and other tid bits to help you grasp it a little better...

so, young grasshopper... go and take advantage of the search function,... use it... its your friend...

 

[ichorus]

the important thing to remember is to exhaust the search function before asking something... because, chances are, like with your question, and hour or two of searching would have yielded a much better/in depth description of what I just told you... plus example of audio and other tid bits to help you grasp it a little better...

so, young grasshopper... go and take advantage of the search function,... use it... its your friend...

Cool, thank you. I was going to but thought i would get it better tuned to my needs if i asked here. basically you covered all i need to know. if i can delete this topic i will.

I can usually get a great sound from my setup, but thought it would be good to improve upon it if i can. Thanks for your time.
(editted to not seem stupid )

 

[AudioPhile777]

If its the same person you speak of, he's on this forum, lol... and he's a moderator and... you may as well have asked him yourself...

 

[ichorus]

oh cool. damn you cant delete threads. ah well can just stop posting haha.

 

[demeyed]

I'd like to ask another question.
When your using impulses , what signal do you record and apply the impulse to? Mic'ed signal, Effect send or what? I've looked but not found too much of an answer.

 

[deth188]

You would record from the effect send to use the impulses, I think.

 

[AudioPhile777]

You would record from the effect send to use the impulses, I think.

On a Tube amp, yes... Line6 stuff, just turn off the cab sim... solid state, uhm, why?

 

[cobhc]

oh cool. damn you cant delete threads. ah well can just stop posting haha.

There's no need for you to stop posting, this forum is a great forum, and lots of help can be had in everything from playing guitar, to recording a band. Not saying you have to stick around, but consider it

 

[cobhc]

On a Tube amp, yes... Line6 stuff, just turn off the cab sim... solid state, uhm, why?

Because even SS amps need to be mic'd up, so why not use impulses on them?....................young grasshopper

Also, not all Line6 Stuff has the option to turn the cab sim off (most of the combo amps), so in this case, unless they have a direct out, there is no way of using impulses on them with good results.

 

[AudioPhile777]

I suppose.

 

[ichorus]

There's no need for you to stop posting, this forum is a great forum, and lots of help can be had in everything from playing guitar, to recording a band. Not saying you have to stick around, but consider it

haha i am stick around. its been an awesome resource.
i was just meaning this topic. I believe there is already loads around. so was gonna let it fall through to the other page without posting.
Looks like its being of some use though.