Metal Players HELP with this clip

[DirrtyCraig]

Hey guys,

I'm a complete home recording virgin here and can't seem to get a sound I like.
I threw together a simple riff and did a 1 take improv solo, so don't judge the playing please,, I need help on what I can do sonically to make these sound better. I'll work on the performance later,, LOL

Here it is,
http://hair-metal.com/content/testgtr1.mp3

some info,,,

I'm using Cubase SX, Fruity Loops for drums and an SM-57 on my 4-12 cab. No effects, just dry. The sound coming out of the cab sounds great and unfortunately nothing like whats recorded here. Any ideas? EQ'ing advice for recording guitar? do any of you Metal guys have a Cubase setup like this?

 

[DirrtyCraig]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

Ok , I know the clip sucks,,LOL .. but thats the point, I need HELP. Anyone?

 

[FretFire]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

As far as I can tell on my crummy speakers here at the office the clip sounds pretty good. What exactly are you thinking might need tweaking (mic placement, levels, etc.)

I'll give it another listen when I get home (big hairy sound system), as this sounds like a killer track .

 

[DirrtyCraig]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

I'm not sure really, levels maybe? EQ'ing advice? Its not really a track or song just an experiment in getting anything recorded that sounds decent. Once I get some settings I'm happy with I'll start recording some real music.

 

[Artie]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

Craig, the clip, and especially the playing, sound fine to me. And I'm not even a "metal" person. :laugh2:

The only limitation I can hear, are those caused by the fact that its a 96 kbps mp3. Maybe if you can post a higher bitrate file, we can "critique" it better.

But really, it sounds good.

 

[DeadSkinSlayer3]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

Man...that KICKS TOTAL ASS!! I love the tone and the playing!!

Maybe try different mic positions, or a tube mic preamp?

 

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

me too, i love the tone and the playing
unholy LEAD TONES AND RHYTHM SECTION TOO
ahahahahah
congratulations
what is teh amp?
well you can try INCREASE THE VOLUME AND PUT A LITTLE BIT MORE DISTORTION TO IT.
increase the mids a little, and the bass too.
that will sound fine
and for the lead tones, a little bit of reverb
deep reverb

 

[DirrtyCraig]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

Ok thanks alot guys. I thought it sounded pretty bad. I will try to increase the bitrate on the MP3 export. thats a good piece of advice I hadn't thought of.

I appreciate the compliments on the playing, although it was a one-take slop-fest for sure. I played it stone cold because I spent alot more time fiddling with Cubase then actually playing,, which SUCKS.

The amp was Splawn Quick Rod dry with an SD-1 just fror some added sustain on the lead. I recorded it at a really low volume so I felt it could use it to simulate some feedback Lynch style overtones.

 

[Panzer]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

INCREASE THE VOLUME AND PUT A LITTLE BIT MORE DISTORTION TO IT.

Typed the words right out of my mouth. :bigthumb:

 

[shreder75]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

dude, if you think that sounds bad I'm not sure how I could process something that you thought sounded good...LOL..

the rythm tone was great...I have to disagree with WFD and Panzer..the tone's killer....not overly distorted, but nice and tight with alot of grind..

and the lead...well, I guess you're a lynch fan..lol..me too...but I can't friggin' play like that and your tone's LEAGUES above mine...

sounds friggin' excellent dude..

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

Well, as already stated, the mp3 is clipping like crazy.
Aside from that, the basic sound is really good, to my ears. W/out bass and real drums, you might do a couple of things when you mix: definitely boost about 3k - 3400 Hz, and hi pass the guitars somewhere around 100 - 150Hz; that will get the boominess out of the guitar and let the kick drum and bass guitar breathe some more.

 

[DirrtyCraig]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

Thanks guys,,, not all what I expected to hear as its a terrible example of my playing, but its very encouraging!

Ben, So Hi-Pass,, in english man,,LOL Does that mean boost or cut? Is it clipping you mean my levels are too high? Or clipping cause the MP3 is low quality bitrate,,, see I told I'm a recording newbie!

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

Ben, So Hi-Pass,, in english man,,LOL Does that mean boost or cut? Is it clipping you mean my levels are too high? Or clipping cause the MP3 is low quality bitrate,,, see I told I'm a recording newbie!

LOL ... sorry, Craig!
It's not an EQ, but a passive filter that you use. However, you will find it in the EQ plug-in for your software. There are 2 kinds of EQ filters out there; PASS THRU and SHELF. A Pass Thru is passive, Shelving is active.

When you select a SHELF, you are taking a frequency and everything above it (HI SHELF) or below it (LO SHELF) and boosting them all the same about. It's great for adding body to an anemic track, and is usually reserved for live recordings.

When you select a PASS THRU filter, you are telling the EQ to gently roll off the frequencies above (LO PASS) or below (HI PASS) the frequency selected. In other words, take a full-range guitar track, there is a lot of frequency information you may not want, because it makes the guitar boomy and obscures the bass guitar, kick drum, and low toms. So, what you do is set a frequency that you think is as low as you like to hear the guitar, flat out, and then allow only that frequency or ABOVE to pass thru the filter. This is called a HI PASS FILTER.

I use it all the time when mixing guitar tracks. You don't lose any of the frequencies below the filter point, you just diminish their volume. You can A/B your tracks with and without the filter so see if that's what you like. You should also be able to set how steep you want the roll-off to be. I'm an old school guy (ie, I like guitar sounds from around '82-83), and so I set the Hi Pass filter fairly high and let the bass guitar handle all the bass duties.

I hope this makes sense to you!!

 

[DirrtyCraig]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

Dude that makes total sense. I think I get it. I totally appreciate your advice as I know your recordings are killer. I'll screw around with Cubase and see what I do with that.

Meanwhile I resampled the MP3 to a higher bitrate and uploaded it. I found those options,, cool. You guys are a tremendous help as always.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

Dude that makes total sense. I think I get it. I totally appreciate your advice as I know your recordings are killer. I'll screw around with Cubase and see what I do with that.

Meanwhile I resampled the MP3 to a higher bitrate and uploaded it. I found those options,, cool. You guys are a tremendous help as always.

Cheers, man.
Just post any questions you have, and I will try to help.

 

[AmirH]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

The rhythm sounded slightly weak to my ears, and I think the mic could use some adjusting. Generally it's better to record with the amp at a high level, and the mic turned down. Double track rhythm guitar and pan each track either 100% left and right or 30ish(I like 37) % to your taste. Leads will naturally sound more in the center of the mix that way instead of drowning out the rhythm, and the guitars in general will sound huge and beefy. Also, when I say double track, I don't mean copy/paste. Play it a second time. There will be slight rhthmic variations because you're only human and this is what will make your tone sound huge(opposed to just louder). Remember to keep the mic at a moderate level to avoid clipping or surging. Great job though. It sounds very good already. Also, there are easier ways to do drums then fruity loops. Especially in cubase. I'm learning that myself right now though, so I'm not keen to talk too much until I know what I'm doing.

 

[DirrtyCraig]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

Thats good advice, thank you. But easier than Fruity Loops? ,,LOL Man I did those drums in under 5 minutes. Can't get much easier than that. But they sound like crap. I would love to at least know what your doing drum-wise in Cubase even if your not sure what your doing yet, it would give me another option to look at.

 

[AmirH]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

The only way to make fruity loops sound better is to use different samples(I like nskit, and drumkit from hell a lot) and randomize a bit. That's a pain in the ass frankly. For a while that program was like the bane of my existence. I gave up trying to program drums and just had my friend do it. Now I see hope in sight. In cubase you can program midi drum tracks and use drum maps laid out in a program called battery(easily downloaded from any p2p program). I've been programming with my midi keyboard, and using a combination of dfh and nskit samples. It's WAY easier, and sounds a lot better so far- with some mixing that is. I've heard a lot of people make midis in guitarpro and then import the files into cubase as well. But I don't have that program and can't be bothered searching it out when it's far easier to use a midi keyboard anyways. I'm just now learning how to do this though, so I guess we'll see just how much better it sounds when I finish the track I'm working on. Hearing other peoples results is pretty encouraging though, and for the first time I'm actually having *GASP* FUN programming these. Fruity loops was the most tedious, boring task imaginable. Not real music IMO.

 

[DirrtyCraig]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

I've heard DKFH and Battery and they both sound awesome. Problem is I have no desire to tinker on keyboard and play beats with my fingers. Is that what your doing? Could the samples in DKFH be used in Fruity Loops or is the Cubase MIDI thing your doing an actual sequencer too?

 

[AmirH]

Re: Metal Players HELP with this clip

Well, funny as it may sound I've found that tinkering on the keyboard is much faster. You play the beat for the particular portion of the drum sounding, and cubase automatically fixes most timing errors for you. It's also extremely useful in that you don't have to make a new loop everytime you want some variation. You can still loop fine, but it isn't a requirment. You can also slightly adjust rhythms to make them slightly off and make it sound more human. Keep in mind also that you don't have to use a midi keyboard for this- there are other ways of making midi files that I'm clueless about. I just know that this is working a lot better for me. And yes, I think cubase has a sequencer within it. If you're dead set on using fruity loops then yes you can use dfh samples, but because you can't adjust frequency, or use the drum map- you end up with a million different kit pieces and you have to randomize. I used to do it and it took forever. I used leafdrums back then as it was more intuitive then fruity loops and free.