Six weeks worth of tone searching and no luck...

shawngeeves

shawngeeves

New Metal Member
Apr 29, 2010
11
0
1
Toronto, Canada
Hello everyone, :)

I'm new to these forums and only started attempting to work with DI recording within the past few months.

I'm eager to create demo samples of my guitar ideas in hopes of attractking a band, but despite working 5+ hours a day attempting to create a solid tone from my guitar (I'm not exaggerating about this :ill:), I've failed miserably and frustrated myself to the extent where I don't believe I can do this on my own. Every tone I've created has been absolutely terrible and I've been at this for six very long weeks....

I well appreciate recording and mixing is an art that sometimes takes years to master, but I would certainly appreciate if someone could help me achieve a usable tone for my demos.

My signal chain looks something like this:

Ibanez RG2228 (Stock EMGs) --> GT-8 Multi-Effects (Digital Out) --> Presonus Firestudio Mobile --> Cubase 5 --> Poulin Lextac --> Guitar Impulse

I've attempted to model my tone after some of the excellent sounds found in
this thread, yet despite following all the guidelines end up with a shiattastic tone nonetheless.

I'd be glad to post recorded DI samples if someone would be so kind as to help me craft a tone out of them or explain to me what it is I'm doing wrong or how I should be arranging my plug-ins and settings.

Are any of you able to lend me a helping hand with this? :erk:

Please let me know what it is I should be posting to help you help me and I will be sure to do so. :(

Here is a sample of the -best- end result I've obtained thus far:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7192767/toneupdate.mp3
 
dude...the GT8 it's a weird piece of equipment. It can sound killer if you really dig in the settings. but most of the times i've heard it live, it's awful.

I know a friend of mine who owns one, and he is really good at getting good tones with it. just let me know what kind of distortion you need or what style is it. i ll see if he can make a preset and i'll just give you all the settings.
 
Hey man, welcome to the forum. I feel you pain, I think we all do. 6 weeks, you're just getting started! One important thing I must ask and you must consider, are you listening to you guitar tone isolated? You can get a really killer tone but once you add bass, drums, other guitars etc. it can sound like shit. A soloed guitar on its own doesn't account for much, even the thread you've mentioned is 4 tracks of guitar.
 
Pull the GT out of the loop. Maybe get you a Countryman Type 85 DI box, but if not just straight into the Firestudio from the guitar until you can snag a real DI box. The GT will color the sound, and that's not for the better if you want a raw DI sound (which you do).
 
abt said:
Hey man, welcome to the forum. I feel you pain, I think we all do. 6 weeks, you're just getting started! One important thing I must ask and you must consider, are you listening to you guitar tone isolated? You can get a really killer tone but once you add bass, drums, other guitars etc. it can sound like shit. A soloed guitar on its own doesn't account for much, even the thread you've mentioned is 4 tracks of guitar.
Click to expand...

Thank you abt, I appreciate the welcome. :) I hope to stick around and one day contribute knowledge of my own to the newbies! :lol:

Essentially, I'm not really having success with either situation. The tone is rather dead and lifeless on it's own, and needless to say once I play along to a drum program it only sounds worse and/or gets completely lost in the mix. I'm currently using DFH with custom Snare and Kick patterns using Drumagog.

Here is a sample of the tone I've pulled together from that:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7192767/drumsampleupdate.mp3
 
Masterbeast said:
Pull the GT out of the loop. Maybe get you a Countryman Type 85 DI box, but if not just straight into the Firestudio from the guitar until you can snag a real DI box. The GT will color the sound, and that's not for the better if you want a raw DI sound (which you do).
Click to expand...

I had assumed that might be a good idea. Something else I attempted was connecting my AMP FX-OUT (Mesa Boogie Rectifier 50) to the Firestudio into an Impulse, but the tone I'm getting from that method is exceedingly boomy and overbearing. I had assumed this would be the best way to accuratly capture my true tone as I've read of others following this method with great results. Was I incorrect to assume so or perhaps I've missed a few important steps?
 
pipaguapique said:
dude...the GT8 it's a weird piece of equipment. It can sound killer if you really dig in the settings. but most of the times i've heard it live, it's awful.

I know a friend of mine who owns one, and he is really good at getting good tones with it. just let me know what kind of distortion you need or what style is it. i ll see if he can make a preset and i'll just give you all the settings.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your offer pipaaguapique. :)

I assume you need a high-quality file of a DI input sample from my guitar to properly help prepare a preset? I will be uploading that in a short while...

It's rather difficult to describe what I'm looking for, of course. I'd be happy if I could attain a clear tone similar to the ones posted in the "NEW FREDMAN STYLE AWESOMETIME IMPULSES" thread I mentioned in my first post.

The majority of my ideas have been written on my 8-string, so I'd like to model something that works best with it. I'd say my live tone/sound takes inspirations from the tones you'd hear in albums such as these:

Fear Factory - Mechanize
Lamb of God - Sacrament
All Shall Perish - Awaken The Dreamers
Alterbridge - Blackbird
Divine Heresy - Bleed The Fifth
Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies
Mudvayne - Lost & Found
Sevendust - Cold Day Memory
Chimaira - The Infection
Tool - 10,000 Days
All That Remains - The Fall of Ideals

I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea. :lol:

I am very greatful for your assistance. :notworthy

EDIT:

Ok, here it is. I plugged in my guitar directly into the PreSonus and noodled around on it for rougly a minute. No distortion, no eqs, no compressors, etc.

There are some mistakes throughout, and I wasn't entirely sure if you needed something specific (i.e. open chords) but if there's anything specific you need, please let me know. It's a .wav file.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7192767/cleanDIguitarinput.wav
 
1. most of the tones in the fredman thread have bass guitar under them (as well as drums), bass guitar is a large part of a "huge" sounding guitar tone, they are also at least double tracked (2 performances of same part one panned hard left and one hard right)

2. what is your monitoring setup? that tone is really, really harsh, it hurts just for me to listen to it so it makes me think that you have a serious lack of top end in your monitoring setup
 
arv_foh said:
1. most of the tones in the fredman thread have bass guitar under them (as well as drums), bass guitar is a large part of a "huge" sounding guitar tone, they are also at least double tracked (2 performances of same part one panned hard left and one hard right)

2. what is your monitoring setup? that tone is really, really harsh, it hurts just for me to listen to it so it makes me think that you have a serious lack of top end in your monitoring setup
Click to expand...

It is rather terrible, I agree.

I am running coaxial cable output from my PreSonus directly into a Logitech Z550 series speaker set up. A bad monitoring solution, I'm aware, unfortunately I cannot afford anything more at this time. Is there a sufficient monitoring solution you recommend for when I can purchase one?

The peculiar thing to me, despite the fact that my speakers will color the tone I'm hearing, is that my "clean" guitar input sound seems much duller and less percussive then it should to begin with.

An example of what I mean is this sample a user posted from this forum. He referenced this sample when someone asked him what their guitar should sound like first and foremost as soon as it enters the recording program before running into impulses. Side by side, I am unable to replicate it within fair accuracy.

Could this be an issue as to why I'm having such difficulty achieving a good tone as well? (Besides my limited knowledge and experience with all of this, of course)

I appreciate all of your patience. :)
 
waay too harsh, take down some treble on your amp, maybe boost the mids and a teensy bit of bass. You do want the sound of crunch but not the overly saturated distortion which rips your ears apart and loses all clarity. Maybe choose a reference tone and try and match it to that, oh and for now I'd just ditch the other 57 if you're doing fredman until you're confident enough with one mic.
 
shawngeeves said:
The peculiar thing to me, despite the fact that my speakers will color the tone I'm hearing, is that my "clean" guitar input sound seems much duller and less percussive then it should to begin with.
Click to expand...

Fresh strings, new battery for the EMG's, DI into your DAW. That should be you set man.

Don't bother trying to get your guitar sound without listening to the guitars in the mix with drums and bass.
 
shawngeeves said:
I am running coaxial cable output from my PreSonus directly into a Logitech Z550 series speaker set up. A bad monitoring solution, I'm aware, unfortunately I cannot afford anything more at this time. Is there a sufficient monitoring solution you recommend for when I can purchase one?
Click to expand...

KRK Rockit 5's are one of the best low end mons you can get, if you shop used or find a sale you can get them for less than $300 for a pair. A few months ago I saw them on sale at Guitar Center for $225/pair


A decent direct box instead of going right in to your Presonus will help you out as well, the Countryman Type 85 has been mentioned already and you can find those on eBay for less than $100
 
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