What is wrong with my DIs?

[Ollie_H]

Okay, I tried doing match eq (http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/production-tips/710368-yt-match-eq-ir-tutorial.html) to see whether it's my DIs making my tone sound shit or it's just me being shit at mixing. After trying it out, I'm pretty sure my DIs are awful.

The evidence:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3059614/match eq.mp3
There are 4 repeats, these are what they are:
1: The original recording, what I tried to match.
2: My attempt at match eq... it sounds like crap.
3: The same DIs and ampsims but with a cab impulse instead of match eq
4: The DIs by themselves.

Here are songs I have tried to record so far, if you want to hear my awful guitars in a mix:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3059614/djent.mp3 (it's djent)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3059614/mydamnation4.mp3 (A cover, it's deathcore)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3059614/Distorted Visionary2.mp3 (it's metal, i guess melodeath, missing a guitar part, this was recorded with a different guitar, a mahoganny rg321 with EMGs)

My gear is:
RG7321 with D-Activator pickup
Focusrite Saffire (the original white one)
TSE 808
TSE X50

If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts on this I would really appreciate it as I have been trying to sort this out for about half a year... yes I suck, and sorry if this isn't in the right forum, I wasn't sure whether here or production tips would be more appropriate.

 

[Humidfume]

Well I only have knowledge with TSE X30, but by using that and KeFIR cab plugin we achieved this - http://karhu.bandcamp.com/album/inject-the-infection-ep

And your Clean DI sounds fine... would be easier if you played some chords and some chugging etc completely clean and then I could tell you whether the DI was up to scratch, and if it is it means you are doing something wrong in the amp or cab settings for the plugins.

Joe

 

[Ollie_H]

Well I only have knowledge with TSE X30, but by using that and KeFIR cab plugin we achieved this - http://karhu.bandcamp.com/album/inject-the-infection-ep

And your Clean DI sounds fine... would be easier if you played some chords and some chugging etc completely clean and then I could tell you whether the DI was up to scratch, and if it is it means you are doing something wrong in the amp or cab settings for the plugins.

Joe

Here you go: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3059614/DI.mp3
Everything before the beep at about 0:44 is the basswood RG7321 with the D-activator, everything after is the mahoganny RG321 with EMGs

The play button on that link doesn't seem to work, might be my computer, but I don't doubt that the TSE plugins can do awesome stuff, they just can't if I go near them...

I didn't use the TSE X50 for all of the songs that i posted, just the test. i can't remember what I used for the songs but it would either be LePou plugins, or one of the X30 or X50. I used LeCab2 for loading impulses, and used catharsis' impulses. The reason I think it's the DIs is i've tried some of the practice mixes that are around the forum and I can always get a decent guitar tone from the DIs fairly easily, and those songs I've posted I've fiddled with for quite a while.

Thanks for helping!

 

[Humidfume]

They do sound a bit ropey, what strings are you using (as in gauge / thickness), what tuning are you in? How old are the strings? It sounds like the best thing you could do is invest in a Seymour Duncan JB pickup man... best decision of my life.

 

[Ollie_H]

They do sound a bit ropey, what strings are you using (as in gauge / thickness), what tuning are you in? How old are the strings? It sounds like the best thing you could do is invest in a Seymour Duncan JB pickup man... best decision of my life.

Drop A on the 7 string (Drop G# for the match eq thing), and drop C for the 6 string. 7 string has I think ernie ball 10-46 6 string + I'm not sure on the bottom.. around 60... 6 string has DR JH-10 strings (10-14-18-32-44-56) which I find perfect for drop c. The strings have been on the 6 string 2 months to the day, and ~3 months on the 7 string, so I probably should change them, but I'm pretty sure the DIs sounded similarly crappy when they were fresh, just brighter...

I don't really see where I could be going wrong with the 6 string though... it's a decent mahoganny guitar, with an EMG 81 in the bridge and 85 in the neck, and perfect string gauge, of decent quality, and going into a recommended interface. It seems as generic as you can get. The only other variables I can think of are the age of the strings, and the cable. I've tried using a 6 inch planet waves cable just as a test, and I couldn't hear the difference from the long fender cable I'm using. New strings seem like my only hope but I just don't think it will fix it.. :/

 

[Habsburgs]

hahahaahha omg.. wooooow