I tried so many different things, and I keep coming back to one close mic in a good spot, getting the best take I can deliver, and adding an almost imperceptible quick room reverb out to the sides of the guitar tracks. I can spend waaaay too long on mic positions if I'm not feeling efficient.
Marshall Mode Four vs. Fender Metalhead--any recollections of these (in)famous amps?
- Thread starter Inflames626
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Inflames626
New member
Glad to know I wasn't being an idiot by going dynamic/close mic only. I felt like a noob without a U87 or something picking it up off axis, but if the room isn't treated, what's the point?
Yup, totally. At least for side panned metal guitar, I don't think it gets you anything that you can't get quicker and better in the box. Single mic sounds the most focused. Space comes from the kit.
Inflames626
New member
All that mid/side stuff is way too advanced for me. And again, no room treatment.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
I don't think it's as "advanced" as "pretentious" these days. We're not producing Black Albums anymore.
To me, a good guitar tone is one that is raw from the source with maybe a hint of EQ and compression. But distorted guitars also tend to take processing so bad and are so easy to mess up unless you really know what you're doing.
It's also easy to focus all your time and energy on guitar tones only, and forget that drums and bass in particular can make or break your guitar tone as easily.
Even if I'm a guitarist and I like mixes that are guitar-centric, guitars are only a part of the puzzle.
To me, a good guitar tone is one that is raw from the source with maybe a hint of EQ and compression. But distorted guitars also tend to take processing so bad and are so easy to mess up unless you really know what you're doing.
It's also easy to focus all your time and energy on guitar tones only, and forget that drums and bass in particular can make or break your guitar tone as easily.
Even if I'm a guitarist and I like mixes that are guitar-centric, guitars are only a part of the puzzle.
Inflames626
New member
It's hard to find treated spaces to record in the old style. They've literally been converted to major stars/movie work, or they record samples that are then resold. Abbey Road comes to mind I think, as well as The Record Plant in NYC/LA/Saulsalito, Bad Animals in Seattle, and some others.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
As much as I bet it would ooze with mojo, I don't think you need to record at Abbey Road to get a killer sound on a Metal record, even if you're going for the raw old-school vibe.
For that vibe, Carcass - Surgical Steel comes to mind. All Kemper guitars. Still sounds raw and in-your-face and not cookie-cutter-esque while sounding moden and polished too.
For that vibe, Carcass - Surgical Steel comes to mind. All Kemper guitars. Still sounds raw and in-your-face and not cookie-cutter-esque while sounding moden and polished too.
Inflames626
New member
Drums and vocals remain the hardest to record, IMO.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Oh, yeah. Drums are just a lost cause to record in a home studio unless your home studio is REALLY decked out.
Inflames626
New member
Unless you want Zep/Van Halen drums. Just hang overheads.
El Dunco
Sock Supplier to RHCP
I’m glad mine is. Non parallel walls and cieiling, huge amount of space in every dimension and just the raw tracks straight from a recording sound gorgeous.
I have to say, it’s not entirely true that acoustic drums are a lost cause otherwise. There absolutely are workarounds depending on what space you have. The things most of you seem to hate the most are challenge I relish the most as a producer but that’s just how I roll. I keep hearing stuff about how “impossible” it is to capture a guitar sound that sounds the way it does in the room with the cabinet and at this point, it’s one of the simpler techniques I have procedures for.
At the end of the day, tones are a means to an end to serving the song they are being applied to. Sounds you might think you would never use might suit a particular song better than whatever your ideal “default” sound might be. I hear things in ways that are very hard to communicate but I literally hear things as colours. I won’t use a “red” guitar sound for a song that calls for a “green” sound.
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