Recording with really cheap gear...(MP3's Inside)

[silverwulf]

The other guitarist in my band have been messing around with recording with really cheap gear and still trying to get a half way decent tone for what it is. Here's a batch of a few metal type riffs I threw together this morning. It doesn't get much cheaper than the gear used on this recording...

THe backing beats here are just straight beats supplied with Fruitly Loops, so I wasn't caring about going out and finding great samples, programming real sounding drums, and all that jazz. Also, the guitars weren't worked on very hard. All I did was basically toss a mic on the amp, turn the knobs, and spent literally about 2 minutes micing and dialing in a tone. Even after the first listen, I could tell a million and one things I could do to clean up the sound, but it wasn't the point and I wasn't trying to achieve a perfect sound. I just wanted to record on cheap gear... So, keep it all in mind...without further ado...cheap ass guitar clips!

http://jbeard.ho8.com/Metalmedley.mp3


Anyone else have some clips on cheap gear they would like to post?

 

[DIOBOLIC5150]

What kind of amp did you use?

 

[silverwulf]

What kind of amp did you use?

It was a little Crate GFX-15 amp that I bought for $30 used to take with me to play in hotel rooms on business trips. Nothing like a solid state, 15W practice amp with a little 8" speaker...

 

[DIOBOLIC5150]

That's hilarious. I was asking because it didn't sound all that bad. How funny.

 

[silverwulf]

That's hilarious. I was asking because it didn't sound all that bad. How funny.

Cool... I love playing around with cheap ass amps. It was recorded with an EMG 81 equipped guitar, straight into the amp (no OD pedal). I just stuck a 57 on it and recorded it directly into the computer (no mic pre's), which has a shitty standard Soundblaster Audigy 2 card. I just double tracked it in an old copy of Cool Edit Pro 2.0.

 

[prowlergrig]

ha... everytime i see the word 'cheap' on this forum i check it out, to see whether the gear is actually cheaper than what i've got...

...not this time, either

 

[silverwulf]

ha... everytime i see the word 'cheap' on this forum i check it out, to see whether the gear is actually cheaper than what i've got...

...not this time, either

Wow, how much cheaper does it get than a little Crate GFX-15 for $30 used...

 

[LynchpiN]

Boss Metal Zone at line in.

 

[Benny H]

DS-1

I used to do it.

 

[silverwulf]

DS-1

I used to do it.

Haha...yeah, that's low budget!

 

[guitarguru777]

Dude ... heres some LOW BUDGET ... for ya ...

http://www.amyjohouston.com/42417_sample.mp3

Did this just to mess around with what i do have and try and get a decent sound. I think its still a bit muddy.

I Used a Behringer GMX 212 Amp with a Behringer X V-Amp in the front end as a clean boost. Using an OLP Petrucci Guitar With a Dimarzio Paf Pro in the bridge.

everything was recorded direct.

The drums and Bass were done in Fruity Loops.

 

[silverwulf]

Sweet...cheap recordings rule...

Here's another quick clip...same deal as above, this time doing a rough recording of a little of Metallica's "Of Wolf and Man"...


http://jbeard.ho8.com/Cratewolf.mp3


Can't wait to get my home studio built next year to start recording with my "real" amps and on high quality gear.

 

[Kazrog]

That sounds surprisingly good actually.

 

[DIOBOLIC5150]

That is too funny, I need to dig some change out of the couch and go get me a little crate...haha. I think it sounds RAD!

 

[silverwulf]

That sounds surprisingly good actually.

Thanks! For all you OD Pedal freaks, here's similar clips using a Maxon OD-808 in front. Again, same as before...no real EQ'ing or anything...just plug in and play and sort of deal, mistakes and all:


http://jbeard.ho8.com/metalmedley2.mp3

 

[Canis]

Whoa, I honestly think that's a good tone. Not fantastic, but very usable.

May I ask what settings did you use, and what was the mic placement? Last time I tried to record my crate the results were... well... not satisfying. And I do believe mine is identical to yours (GFX-15, no reverb, shared tri-band EQ) Unless of course yours is a newer model, the picture that was posted looks different...

 

[silverwulf]

Whoa, I honestly think that's a good tone. Not fantastic, but very usable.

May I ask what settings did you use, and what was the mic placement? Last time I tried to record my crate the results were... well... not satisfying. And I do believe mine is identical to yours (GFX-15, no reverb, shared tri-band EQ) Unless of course yours is a newer model, the picture that was posted looks different...

Thanks! For what it is, it isn't bad. The settings were pretty run of the mill. Something along the lines of treble on a 6, mids about a 2, and the bass around 3. The gain was set to about 5 on the Cratewolf clip, and it was down a little on the metalmedley2 to about a 3.5 - 4 since it had the Maxon in front.

The mic placement was a little different. I had the mic about an inch from the grill, on the center of the cone (or close) and angled about 45 degrees to the left. When it was dead center, it was picking up all the bad characteristics of the shitty speaker in the little combo, so angling the mic helped hide some of it's flaws and compensate.

Our amps will sound identical. The only difference is mine has a few digital effects built in which I never use.

 

[Canis]

Hey, thanks man, I just HAVE to try this out