Tips for more punch in muted guitar sound?

[Fredr!k]

I'm trying to record a pretty palm muted riff (using Line6's GearBox Gold for sound emulation), but I'm having trouble getting a good punch/hammering start as I hit the strings. It sounds pretty okay as I record as the actual sound of the plectrum hitting the strings mixes with the distorted sound but played back it tends to become very much a blur. The dampening of a single stroke is pretty harsh and the sound is cut off rather quickly without much trailing noise.

I'm not a pro at guitar playing so it's quite possible my technique is as much at fault as my setup in GearBox. Would be grateful for any tips that might set me in the right direction. Thanks!

 

[beyond dead]

multi band compression compressing the low mid area a bit will bring definition to chunky palm muted riffs. check out andy`s c4 settings for an idea of where to start

 

[Omega_Void]

Noise gate threshold too high?

 

[ahjteam]

give us a short snippet, its easier to estimate what to do to it

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Before you go twiddling with your knobs, try picking differently and see how that affects the sound. Different angles, palm weight (don't bend the note sharp though), distance to/fro the bridge, !!fingers on the strings!!! all make a vaginormas difference.

If you're not sure what to do then by all means just play as hard as you can while staying clean. That usually sounds the best anyway.

 

[Zuranthus]

yeah, sounds like a gate issue...adding a distortion/OD pedal works to make it sound chunkier, but be sure to check that noise gate

 

[Fredr!k]

Thanks for the feedback! Indeed the noise gate treshold was way up high. I've lowered it and placed a multiband compressor in the chain based on Andy's C4 settings. I've also cut down a little on the distortion which seemed to help as well. It's getting far better than before! But still have a way to go.

I've placed the clip here after the changes mentioned above:
http://www.kaliko.com/test.mp3

Listening to the clip I notice a kind of scratching noise as the string is hit which I guess can be very much related to my very-far-from-perfect playing style (bad pick angle perhapse?). Will try different picking tonight.

More ideas how to improve are appreciated, thanks!

 

[Djabthrash]

Thanks for the feedback! Indeed the noise gate treshold was way up high. I've lowered it and placed a multiband compressor in the chain based on Andy's C4 settings. I've also cut down a little on the distortion which seemed to help as well. It's getting far better than before! But still have a way to go.

I've placed the clip here after the changes mentioned above:
http://www.kaliko.com/test.mp3

Listening to the clip I notice a kind of scratching noise as the string is hit which I guess can be very much related to my very-far-from-perfect playing style (bad pick angle perhapse?). Will try different picking tonight.

More ideas how to improve are appreciated, thanks!

Sounds like you don't mute the string enough (picking hand placement problem > try another picking hand position while palm muting) + the sound itself is not good (too much gain ? too much highs ? too much presence ? i don't know).

Sounds also like there is reverb or something (which would be surprising since you're not miking an amp... just using gearbox).

Give us your settings + post a video (shitty webcam vid can work) of you doing the palm muting AND/OR a quick sample of you palm muting but direct (no amp sim)

 

[Zuranthus]

if he's using gearbox that's just how it naturally sounds

 

[Djabthrash]

if he's using gearbox that's just how it naturally sounds

Really ? OMG uke:

EDIT: Now that i think about it, Gearbox is a plugin version of Line 6 hardware products like the POD, right ? And as far as i remember i remember some people posted really good sounding clips using the Gearbox on this forum.

So i think i don't think the problem is using Gearbox but rather the palm-muting technique or something that sucks in the signal chain (inadequate settings in Gearbox ? Ghetto pup's ? ...)

Actually it would be nice to know more about the signal chain because if not we cannot help much.

 

[Meisterjäger]

It's just some pretty poor settings on Gearbox. If I remember, I'll send you the settings I use when I get home tonight, you'll be much more satisfied with the chunk I think. Also, with the kind of rhythm you're attempting there, I'd wanna be using a hard, sharp plectrum to make it clean. Sounds like you could be using something quite thin, which is reducing the overall attack on the strings.

 

[el-biczel]

That's just the sound of crappy cab sim in gearbox. You need much time to set it up properly. Try using IRs.

 

[Fredr!k]

Here's the settings used:

I've played around with some of the factory presets, but it doesn't make a big difference.

Here's the same clip as before completely unprocessed:
http://kaliko.com/unprocessed.wma

 

[Fredr!k]

It's just some pretty poor settings on Gearbox. If I remember, I'll send you the settings I use when I get home tonight, you'll be much more satisfied with the chunk I think. Also, with the kind of rhythm you're attempting there, I'd wanna be using a hard, sharp plectrum to make it clean. Sounds like you could be using something quite thin, which is reducing the overall attack on the strings.

That would be really nice, thank you

Will try a harder plectrum, currently been using green tortex .88mm

 

[viggen666]

try a different model, like the big bottom one, or a rectifier model..
and keep the drive low on the TS

 

[JonWormwood]

Honestly, it sounds like it's in the playing. Try different picking hand positions too.

 

[Meisterjäger]

That would be really nice, thank you

Will try a harder plectrum, currently been using green tortex .88mm

Well, as predicted, I forgot to send you the presets! I'll upload them somewhere and post them here tonight. I never got any add-ons for the Gearbox software, just fiddled for long enough to make it sound okay-ish. I'll post a clip of something I'm working on at the moment that I'm recording with Cubase, to give you an idea of the general mix sound.

Jim

 

[Fredr!k]

Well, as predicted, I forgot to send you the presets! I'll upload them somewhere and post them here tonight. I never got any add-ons for the Gearbox software, just fiddled for long enough to make it sound okay-ish. I'll post a clip of something I'm working on at the moment that I'm recording with Cubase, to give you an idea of the general mix sound.

Jim

That would be really nice. I have some learning to do, both software-wise as well as better playing technique.

To all: Thanks for the feedback! It's really helping alot

 

[MetalSound]

and if you´re not playing with a floyd rose tremolo system mute your strings with a handkerchief or a haargummi (sorry don´t know the English word....)

 

[broken81]

multi band compression compressing the low mid area a bit will bring definition to chunky palm muted riffs. check out andy`s c4 settings for an idea of where to start

Well i personally think those c4 settings help take away some woffyness (if that word makes any sense) but they don't make the palm mutes thicker. C4 can actually thin out the sound in my ears.