Quote:
posted by Sarusan:
Recording young bands over the past few years has become so tough. The left hand technique of the young guitarists is so poor that it can take hours(!) to record an in tune performance. Can you say "kung fu grip"?
When you crack open any of the guitar mags these days though it's easy to see why. If you're going to be a hip musician these days, it's all about getting a 001 or whatever and getting tricky with plug-ins rather than getting your chops up or checking out music from 30, 40 or 50 years ago. The recording "revolution" (let alone the other gear "revolutions" such as the Pod et al) is a sham that is wrecking music. |
Well, I'm a 001 user and...I gotta agree with that.
I've tried both:
1) recording guitars DI, then using PT/plugin voodoo...And,
2) recording dedicated guitarists playing nicely maintained axes through decent amps, mic'd and tracked with care.
Scenario #2 always wins by a long shot.
The tracks from scenario #1 sometimes end up in my mixes, but almost always buried in the mix as an "ambient/textural" sort of function.
Being a guitarist myself, here's few observations:
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Splitting the roles usually seems to yield the better result. That is: either be the guitarist, or be the recording engineer, but don't try to do both (unless they're just scratch pre-production tracks). Otherwise you're trying to do the work of two people simultaneously, where there's inherent compromise cutting in both directions.
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Get the guitar amp up off the floor. The low-end rumble of the amp going through the mic stands and vibrating into the mics will create all sorts of muddy mess which will wreak havoc in the mix, and trying to EQ that sh&t out will be a PITA not to mention f&cking up the tone. Getting the amp off the floor will eliminate that problem.
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Hire an experienced guitar tech for the guitar tracking sessions. These guys' value is not to be underestimated - they are armed with strobe tuners, cable and circuit testers, portable guitar workbenches, and the ears and the hands to keep even the most illicit hack garage guitarist sounding as pro as you need him to. The really good ones have choice vintage axes and amps in their inventory ready to lend and set up for optimal fidelity.
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Mic the amp with two or more completely different sounding microphones. A Shure SM57 on the cone will sound OK, but adding a LDC or ribbon mic a little farther away will add that extra dimension of subtlety, and how you mix the two will give you a lot more flexibility in determining how the axe will sit in the mix.
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"Coach" the guitarist. Example: On a recent guitar tracking session here, the guitarist was "noodling" about the song in a kinda lame fashion. When he finally played a killer lick, I pumped my fist at him with a huge smile...and he proceeded to cut loose with some truly righteous shredding.
Later, he told me he got really stoked by my "cheering" him on like that, and found it inspiring him to cut loose, because it was like he had an "audience." This is an important thing in the studio where often musicians and singers are isolated in booths with headphones, an environment which can be uninspiring. In that situation, the engineer can play a role in getting the player to feel like they are really playing for somebody with a purpose.
I think my point from this rather longwinded post, is that the "creamy" guitar sound is not necessarily a gear-dependant thing. Gear plays into it in some ways, but there's more to it.