post audio clips.

Read this thread: http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=29283

IIRs wrote: Read this thread: http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=29283

Read that already, and it helped heaps, but not enough to apply to my specific stuff. It seems that he speaks pretty generally on everything, so its tough when he gives advice that isnt really an answer, but rather a statement showing the multiple possibilities of certain effects. Thanx tho!

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=bd5f720f98252988b94117dade8fc295e04e75f6e8ebb871

Theres a very quick and sloppy cover song.

I have trouble with recording good distortion tones, and good drums. Im gunna try the recorderman setup for drums tomorrow...

as for recording guitar with heavy distortion, I have no idea what Im doing. I throw caution to the wind and hope I get a good tone. Ive never gotten something great, but sometimes decent.

If you are easily offended I would skip this and it is sorta controversial
http://www.badmuckingfastard.com/sound/slipperman.html#contents
A previous thread
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If you click on "last issue" in this article from Premier Guitar mag you will bring up the first seven tips
Melodyne

Guitarists as a rule are highly resistive to this idea but...the sound you are looking for in the studio is not your "live" sound. The biggest problem is turn down the volume, turn down the gain, don't use excessive tonal shaping before the recording stage, do not use reverb, delay, chorus (add it in post production.) If you believe in one of the major concepts of the thread that IIRs linked you to loudness equals percieved improvement in the fidelity of sound so when you are playing a guitar amp at high volumes you percieve the sound to be good. The mic "hears" and records your real tone and we can rarely play it back at that volume so tweak your amp/guitar/pedals to create a good recording sound.
What is your guitar rig?

ialmostshotthem wrote:
Read that already, and it helped heaps, but not enough to apply to my specific stuff.

Ok, imagine you read this post on a guitar playing forum:

Hey there everybody! I am new to playing guitar and I was wondering if you guys could help me...

Answer: "practise lots, then play a couple of hundred gigs, do some recording, go on tour for six months, practise some more".

;-)

I second that article from slipperman, very helpful. I found it humorous as well.

jg49 wrote: If you are easily offended I would skip this and it is sorta controversial
http://www.badmuckingfastard.com/sound/slipperman.html#contents
A previous thread
{old-link-removed}
If you click on "last issue" in this article from Premier Guitar mag you will bring up the first seven tips
Melodyne

Guitarists as a rule are highly resistive to this idea but...the sound you are looking for in the studio is not your "live" sound. The biggest problem is turn down the volume, turn down the gain, don't use excessive tonal shaping before the recording stage, do not use reverb, delay, chorus (add it in post production.) If you believe in one of the major concepts of the thread that IIRs linked you to loudness equals percieved improvement in the fidelity of sound so when you are playing a guitar amp at high volumes you percieve the sound to be good. The mic "hears" and records your real tone and we can rarely play it back at that volume so tweak your amp/guitar/pedals to create a good recording sound.
What is your guitar rig?

Im pretty open minded(myabe because Im a drummer first and guitarist second) Ive only started that article but its really good!

My gear depends on what im looking for. I always use my Legacy 212 guitar cab. sometimes Ill use my BV120HB Blue Voodoo head with it, but more commonly I use my line 6 spider II head. I like the sound better. It sounds better on the recordings.

I use a strat. Nicely set up tho.

Do you only use the guitar and amp?
No pedals?
Obviously when using the L6 you are modeling, correct?

jg49 wrote: Do you only use the guitar and amp?
No pedals?
Obviously when using the L6 you are modeling, correct?

Yeah, and I do have pedals. But lord, do I hate them. Plenty have come and gone, but I love the sound both my blue voodoo and line 6 give me. They both give me Amazing distortion, without too much hair.

This article is getting confusing. Being a total n00b some of the technical stuff hes talking bout is going right over my head.

Just plow through, it seeps in slowly take what you can leave the rest. Have you tried taking a direct from the amp and micing it then blending.

jg49 wrote: Just plow through, it seeps in slowly take what you can leave the rest. Have you tried taking a direct from the amp and micing it then blending.

Hmmm... No I havent... Maybe Ill try that.

EDIT: that was some epic fail sound for me ^ Ill try again

ialmost.. "that was some epic fail sound for me ^ Ill try again" Not exactly certain what you meant but if you are using the Line6 you need to come from the direct out jack on the rear panel into the interface and then set your gain. One of the reasons to do this is it removes mic placement as an issue in what your sound is. You will definitely get a better overall sound with a good mic placed well but this can be blended in to create a "denser" mix. You might want to play with the modeling while having a friend play the same riff or chords over and over again. One of the great difficulties in trying to dial in a sound is that you really can't do it and play at the same time. Take some notes about the changes and then A/B the results by cutting and pasting to different tracks. This should help you get headed in the right direction for a great recorded "sound".

jg49 wrote: ialmost.. "that was some epic fail sound for me ^ Ill try again" Not exactly certain what you meant but if you are using the Line6 you need to come from the direct out jack on the rear panel into the interface and then set your gain. One of the reasons to do this is it removes mic placement as an issue in what your sound is. You will definitely get a better overall sound with a good mic placed well but this can be blended in to create a "denser" mix. You might want to play with the modeling while having a friend play the same riff or chords over and over again. One of the great difficulties in trying to dial in a sound is that you really can't do it and play at the same time. Take some notes about the changes and then A/B the results by cutting and pasting to different tracks. This should help you get headed in the right direction for a great recorded "sound".

Yeah I get what you mean with placement.

But I cant DI thru the back, cause my gain on the interface is all the way down, and it registers the signal as OLing and it clips.

So I have to go thru the DO/Phones jack, but that negates the speaker, meaning in order for me to do this method, I have to play it twice, rather than play once with 2 tracks. So I guess Ill try that tomorrow.

The phones jack is not a direct out. The phones jack is an amplified signal which would explain your clipping.

Actually Jack the Line6 manual says headphone/direct out. They suggest recording from this output which is on the face not the rear. The Crate Voodoo amp you can use either the preamp out or the effects send to go to the Tascam according to their manual.

jg49 wrote: Actually Jack the Line6 manual says headphone/direct out. They suggest recording from this output which is on the face not the rear. The Crate Voodoo amp you can use either the preamp out or the effects send to go to the Tascam according to their manual.

Yeah,, maybe Ill try that

I have no doubt that the Line6 manual called the headphone jack a "direct out," I'm just dubious as to it's quality since there is a volume knob right there. It's going to take some experimentation to figure out what would be a good level on the volume knob. I'd guess very minimal otherwise he'll overload the input on the next piece of gear in the chain-especially if he is crunching it with modeling.

I could be wrong here and will bow to jg49's experience with this gear.

TheJackAttack wrote: I have no doubt that the Line6 manual called the headphone jack a "direct out," I'm just dubious as to it's quality since there is a volume knob right there. It's going to take some experimentation to figure out what would be a good level on the volume knob. I'd guess very minimal otherwise he'll overload the input on the next piece of gear in the chain-especially if he is crunching it with modeling.

I could be wrong here and will bow to jg49's experience with this gear.

On the jack it says Phones/Direct Out

I had plugeed into the back which is the speaker out, which was the jack that gave me clipping. The DO jack was fine (well as far as DI is concerned.)

Great. I'm glad it worked out.

Yeah, strange set up at best. I was thinking about it later, never actually owned any Line6 stuff, played with it here and there mostly just the modelers not the amps so much. If it is a headphone out wouldn't it be stereo? Maybe not, it is just a mono amp, maybe it bridges both channels when using headphones.

I still have the problem thought, where if I am going DI, I cant Mic the cab

Why can't you mic the cab? There are two inputs on the Tascam US-122.

[Edit]
I just remembered the "Direct Out" and the speaker don't function at the same time.

TheJackAttack wrote: Why can't you mic the cab? There are two inputs on the Tascam US-122.

[Edit]
I just remembered the "Direct Out" and the speaker don't function at the same time.

Yea.

so Im getting suggestions like making a fort for my cab for better sound. But I just can't get a good guitar tone.

Oh and btw Im buying Pro Tools M-powered bundle. Mixcraft isnt doing it for me, plus I just got a new laptop.

You should read Bob's post here if you have not already
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An isolation cabinet is very unlikely to give you what you are looking for, honestly.
You need to tweak your overall sound to get a recording "sound." I personally never really liked the tone of Line6 stuff, in fact most modelled guitar stuff leaves me flat, but to each his own. I don't know much about your Crate but give me a great amp and some good pedals anyday. You just have to keep playing with it till you get it. It can be frustrating but keep recording different settings until you are headed in the right direction. The reason I suggested going direct was to get you to play with the amp rather than blaming the mic, mic placement or gain settings. After you have a good sound you like then there are a myriad of things you can try to get a better mic'd tone. Move the amp off the floor, move it around the room to finds a sweet spot, baffle it with blankets on chairs on either side, change mic placements but most of these tricks and there are more are subtle in their tonal quality. Post a sample of what you have so far someplace like soundclick and let's see if we can help.
I doubt a different software or interface is going to solve this for you either.

jg49 wrote: You should read Bob's post here if you have not already
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An isolation cabinet is very unlikely to give you what you are looking for, honestly.
You need to tweak your overall sound to get a recording "sound." I personally never really liked the tone of Line6 stuff, in fact most modelled guitar stuff leaves me flat, but to each his own. I don't know much about your Crate but give me a great amp and some good pedals anyday. You just have to keep playing with it till you get it. It can be frustrating but keep recording different settings until you are headed in the right direction. The reason I suggested going direct was to get you to play with the amp rather than blaming the mic, mic placement or gain settings. After you have a good sound you like then there are a myriad of things you can try to get a better mic'd tone. Move the amp off the floor, move it around the room to finds a sweet spot, baffle it with blankets on chairs on either side, change mic placements but most of these tricks and there are more are subtle in their tonal quality. Post a sample of what you have so far someplace like soundclick and let's see if we can help.
I doubt a different software or interface is going to solve this for you either.

As for the software, I know It wont help with sound quality, I just wanted a more in depth program.

I do believe my mic placement is the problem, along with my room acoustics. Ive noticed I get alot of bass when my amp is turned up loud, even If my mic levels are low. I get an unpleasant sounds of deep vibrating hums. Out of curiosity I tried my amp level low, and mic gain high, mic up to the grill, and got much better sound than before. so maybe turning up the amp, and turning the bass all the way down is something I need to consider. Also I get different sounds with dif mics, but I seem to one day like the sound, and the next day hate it, and then revert back to square one.

Idk. I hate the idea of DI. Even if I get the a sound I like, it feels fake to me. Unnatural and digital.

I mean how do people get that good, pro sounding tone in recording? I go to these youtube videos with the guitar tracks only to compare them, and they seem similar, but it feels like something is off...

EDIT: DI +Mic helped with adding some depth and a tad bit with the quality.

Thanks everybody for the help seriously. Im still experimenting. I mean Im a little lost on how to get a truly great sounding tone....

When I said "The biggest problem is turn down the volume, turn down the gain" I meant on the amp, I can see where this might not have been clear. You did discover that turning down the amp and increasing the mics gain sounds better. As far as the bass end not being what you want there are several things that come to mind. Move the amp off the floor. Directional mics, like the SM57, have frequency response changes as they are brought closer to a sound source, significantly in the bass response an effect known as proximity. There can be a rather large jump in bass response in inch increments so moving the mic back away from the speaker even very small amounts can greatly affect your tone. The problem is that the further you move the mic away the more room dynamics comes into play. Bass build up in small untreated rooms is definitely a problem and close micing helps with this but reflected bass is a real issue. Turning down the bass on the amp is fine. You will also get a brighter tone with the mic just off center of the cone of the speaker. Remove the grill cloth if you are not certain where that is. Try the amp in different places but generally speaking facing it the long way in your space may help.
Also read this
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug07/articles/guitaramprecording.htm

jg49 wrote: When I said "The biggest problem is turn down the volume, turn down the gain" I meant on the amp, I can see where this might not have been clear. You did discover that turning down the amp and increasing the mics gain sounds better. As far as the bass end not being what you want there are several things that come to mind. Move the amp off the floor. Directional mics, like the SM57, have frequency response changes as they are brought closer to a sound source, significantly in the bass response an effect known as proximity. There can be a rather large jump in bass response in inch increments so moving the mic back away from the speaker even very small amounts can greatly affect your tone. The problem is that the further you move the mic away the more room dynamics comes into play. Bass build up in small untreated rooms is definitely a problem and close micing helps with this but reflected bass is a real issue. Turning down the bass on the amp is fine. You will also get a brighter tone with the mic just off center of the cone of the speaker. Remove the grill cloth if you are not certain where that is. Try the amp in different places but generally speaking facing it the long way in your space may help.
Also read this
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug07/articles/guitaramprecording.htm

Yea, I moved my 57 about 4" back, and my tone was vastly improved.

Seriously baffling stuff right there.