Looking for literature on recording heavy, distorted guitars?!

[guittarzzan]

Hi,

Anyone know of a Holy Bible for recording high gain distorted guitars in the digital domain? I'd love to find some good reading written by someone who has a track record of getting great guitar tones in Pro Tools etc. Tricks of the trade etc.
Thanks,
Steve

[Steve Smith]

there is a thread over on recpit in Fletchers Forum called " the problem with distorted guitars" ( or something) wait, here is the link...

Slipperman treatise on Heavily Distorted Guitars

Makes for a good read indeed...

[Jay Kahrs]

Damn, you took the link right outta my hands. It'll probably be a long time before all of Slipperman's knowledge gets up there, but he does know what he's doing so it'll be worth it if you can wait. Although he doesn't use PT, he's going to tape. Oooo boy... the voodoo of tape

I guess the two of us are dinosaurs

Still, most of that stuff about getting the guitar, amp and mic position right still hold true regardless of format.

[jon]

After this morning's surround re-mix for a film, we recorded heavy gits this afternoon/evening. Kent was here helping out!

Anyway...for me, heavy gits generally comes down to the right gits and amp/cab selections for the job, one carefully-chosen and well-placed mic in front of the best speaker, optimized SPLs, to a Neve pre right next to the mic, direct to the back of the tape machine or into a converter. Simple and direct, but not easy without ample experience doing it. Double it, changing gits, player, amp, or mic. Often 2-3 tracks (of varied sounds) for a big L-R overall soundfield.

Jon

[alphajerk]

any monkee should be able to get that distorted guitar sound... if any other instrument was as easy to get as that, i would feel the need to work so hard on the rest of them.


its the right player... the right head, the right cabinet. after than, its a piece of hair pie.

digital domain, i find using the royer r121 helps a LOT... of course my "other" mic seems to be a crown cm700 which is the exact opposite. a sm57 can be used.

just use your ears. i just sit there in front of the cabinet with the headphones [sealed] and move the mic around until it just FITS. then go to the CR to check it and 99% of the time thats it.

if the tone in the live room isnt right, you wont ever get it right. back to the head/cabinet. i spent forever finding out the best combinations. NOT anywhere close on the list is ANY semi modern marshall head... and the older ones can be beaten for less money. and dont even consider using a marshall cabinet... TRASH.


of course, 90% is in the player. i once recorded a guy with 3 blown speakers out of 4 and the shit sounded sweet [the 3 speakers were stuff with foam]

[fatty]

Originally posted by alphajerk
[..... and dont even consider using a marshall cabinet... TRASH.
[/B]

the marshall 1912 2x12 cabinet is actually pretty darn good for recording, much better than their 4 x12's which resonate like crazy.

[alphajerk]

man, i just stay away from them all together. just one less PITA to deal with.

[guittarzzan]

Thanks for the tips guys. Do you recommend to have the cab on the ground or elevated?
thx,
Steve

[e-cue]

Elevated almost always works better for me...

[Jay Kahrs]

Originally posted by alphajerk
any monkee should be able to get that distorted guitar sound... if any other instrument was as easy to get as that, i would feel the need to work so hard on the rest of them.


its the right player... the right head, the right cabinet. after than, its a piece of hair pie.

Yeah, it should be that easy but it isn't always that easy. There's a lotta work that goes into getting nu-metal guitar sounds to work and make sense in a mix. They cover the range from about 70hz to about 12khz, just evil evil stuff that tends to eat everything in their path. Read the Slipperman thread, it's long but there are some damn good points in there. Some of it might be old hat, but, if you've never recorded those kinds of guitars before there are enough details there to help you with the problems you'll encounter.

Going to digital you want a little less preamp gain on the amp and always observe 0VU rather then printing as hot as possible. I also like to raise the cab off the floor if I can. Sometimes it sounds better coupled but usually not.