Why can't I get a good recorded guitar sound?

T

tr3nt

Member
May 28, 2009
87
0
6
Hey guys, I'm here to ask why I can't get a decent guitar sound when recording?
The gear I'm using is;

Shure SM57 (Close mic'd)
Mackie Onyx Satellite
and a Mesa Boogie Roadster with an Orange PPC212 cab.

I usually crank my Mesa (output and master on 7-8) and turn my preamp up just enough so it doesn't clip. I double track, then pan hard left and right.

Something I have thought about is my mic cable, my old one was bad and it was barely getting a signal so maybe this one isn't getting a good signal either? Or is the Mackie Onyx Satellite not a good interface? Could the mic possibly be bad? I can't think of anything why it doesn't sound good, what else could I try? Peace and Godbless, my friends.

Edit; clips of my recordings are here.. Www.myspace.com/hotfuzzaudio
I know myspace deadens the quality of music, but you can clearly tell that it wasn't a good recorded guitar in the first place. I'll see if I can get some clips up later of just my guitar. Thanks again!
 
Yeah I love how it sounds, but I've been micing it close to the grill and a little off center. Like I've read =\.
 
It seems like I'm not getting the crisp sound and bite from my amp recorded, that I'm hearing.
 
it's a tricky business. There is no perfect place to put the mic that you can just always go to, the only way to find the right place for your cab with your amp and tone is by using your ears. Mess around with moving the mic and see how it sounds. If you could post a clip of just guitars in reasonable quality then that would help to be able to tell what the problem is
 
I'll get to that. I don't know anywhere else to upload besides Myspace though? What is that site a lot of people use on here that just opens up a quicktime player and plays it, no downloading for someone wanting to listen.
 
I can tell you what I usually think about this: It doesn't really matter shit how it sounds alone and how it sounds in the room. What matters is how it sounds recorded and with the band.

Take the guitar cab to another room (if you have a studio in use, this is easy) and use a really long speaker cable so you can have the amp head in the control room. Put a SM57 in front of the cab, last time we used this kind of setup (ignore the MD421) and go tweak the amp settings to the controlroom. Listen how it sounds thru the studio monitors and tweak accordingly. I highly suggest that you have a short clip with demo drums and demo bass so you know how they fit together.
 
skeksis268 said:
1st: high quality mp3s are fine for this sort of thing
2nd: you're either too far off centre or you simply need more presence from the amp
Click to expand...

Thats for sure my problem? Mic placement, and more presence? I have the presence knob at about 9 o clock.

Thats a good idea ^^ but I don't have a long enough cable, or a different room to do it in. I usually track with headphones on.
 
I'm having the same problem right now. Same amp and mic actually. I'm recording at home in my basement, so I'll have to wait a few days 'till I can move the amp in another room and crank it to try out different mic placements, and I think I might have a solution. We should really get a sticky thread going for this kind of things, because I've searched for months on the web, and can't seem to find a lot of info at one single place... it's really scattered all around.
 
XnaySaturo said:
I'm having the same problem right now. Same amp and mic actually. I'm recording at home in my basement, so I'll have to wait a few days 'till I can move the amp in another room and crank it to try out different mic placements, and I think I might have a solution. We should really get a sticky thread going for this kind of things, because I've searched for months on the web, and can't seem to find a lot of info at one single place... it's really scattered all around.
Click to expand...

Got MSN we can chat on about this thing? We could help eachother out ha.

add me, x.trent.x@hotmail.com
 
I didn't really listen to the clip yet, and I could be wrong, but.....



We're not going for a bunch of output grind like a non master volume marshall.

You might be going a little lean on the preamp while your cranking the shit out of your output section. Try dialing your master back(7 or 8 is fairly high) and get the preamp up a bit.

I use a UL and there's sweet spots on both the preamp and master......if I was to crank one but not get the other up far enough it won't get 'the' tone.

Just a thought.
 
I dunno how the Roadsters are with the presence - BUT.... Orange cabs are generally darker than most, maybe that + the fact that you have the presence turned way too far down could be the reason it's not sounding right on the attack... 9 o'clock would mean the presence is on like 3 or so...typically you will see presence knobs on really any amp set around roughly 6 or 7 (somewhere between 12 and 2/3 o'clock basically) on average. But again, I'm not familiar with Roadsters, only the Dual Rec sitting at my house.
 
sounds more like placement than eq to me...
try the mic further back and a smidge closer to the centre of the cone.
Or have someone play and move the mic til it sounds good.
Also get the cab off the ground
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
Looking for some advice, production wise.
Replies
7
Views
578
F.O.H.
digitaldeath
D
B
Can't get a good tone
Replies
1
Views
576
F.O.H.
JakeAC5253
J
B
How to eq a guitar before the amp to get a deathcore sound..
Replies
12
Views
8K
F.O.H.
Pdennis89
P
T
How does this sound?! Need some ears, please =).
Replies
7
Views
411
Practice Room
sedit1
S
joelplagues
I can't find a good sounding guitar tone through impulses yet...
Replies
4
Views
969
F.O.H.
grywolf627
G
Top Bottom
Back