To Petrovsk Mizinski: I'm not sure I'd be so quick to call the information I or anyone shares as "poor," mostly because it doesn't paint you in the friendliest shade. And please forgive my sin of ignorance regarding the semi tone difference in Meshuggah's tuning, because let's face it, you're right to point out my mistake, 'cause when you're dipping almost an octave from standard tuning, that extra semi tone is the difference between using a set of 10's and a set of 14's.
I was somewhat rushed as I typed my initial post (girlfriend duties, the madness never ends) and there are certain things I omitted that made other things seem incomplete. Yes, string gauge matters, as someone else pointed out, but in my experience, the amp you use plays a major part as well will a Fender push a low B as well as a Mesa, the answer is usually no. The right amp will make a huge difference.
And no, I hadn't been living in a cave until now and yes, I am aware that bands have been tuning to A forever now. How many have heard a twenty or so year old recording with a really amazing sound at A? Probably not a lot, as there was a lot of trial and error going on at that stage. I think a good example would be Korn's first two recordings, you can hear a noticeable improvement in tone between those two records in terms of bottom end tightness and solidity and I believe that one of their guitarists was using some kind of EL34 Marshall-style circuit Hughes & Kettner for their first record and they both used Mesa Triple Rectifiers for the second album. Just an example.
And yes a HP filter will help. So will a tubescreamer. Let's not all reiterate all the "recording metal 101" stuff we all know, the gentleman had a legitimate question, so let's help provide him with some not oft considered or new information. Submitted for the group's consideration: Take an old bass guitar method and apply it so down-tuned metal guitars. Record a track of DI and blend it with the recorded tone to help increase prominence and solidity of fundamentals. Maybe even us a LP filter to make sure it's all lows.
I was somewhat rushed as I typed my initial post (girlfriend duties, the madness never ends) and there are certain things I omitted that made other things seem incomplete. Yes, string gauge matters, as someone else pointed out, but in my experience, the amp you use plays a major part as well will a Fender push a low B as well as a Mesa, the answer is usually no. The right amp will make a huge difference.
And no, I hadn't been living in a cave until now and yes, I am aware that bands have been tuning to A forever now. How many have heard a twenty or so year old recording with a really amazing sound at A? Probably not a lot, as there was a lot of trial and error going on at that stage. I think a good example would be Korn's first two recordings, you can hear a noticeable improvement in tone between those two records in terms of bottom end tightness and solidity and I believe that one of their guitarists was using some kind of EL34 Marshall-style circuit Hughes & Kettner for their first record and they both used Mesa Triple Rectifiers for the second album. Just an example.
And yes a HP filter will help. So will a tubescreamer. Let's not all reiterate all the "recording metal 101" stuff we all know, the gentleman had a legitimate question, so let's help provide him with some not oft considered or new information. Submitted for the group's consideration: Take an old bass guitar method and apply it so down-tuned metal guitars. Record a track of DI and blend it with the recorded tone to help increase prominence and solidity of fundamentals. Maybe even us a LP filter to make sure it's all lows.
