how can i make my Dist. guitars NOT SOUND LIFELESS?

[avpmusik]

so i'm working on this bands song.. and i've spent maybe an hour and a half on it so far after its been recorded.

but it seems like in all my recordings, it seems as if all my guitars are 'lifeless'.

the way i tracked the guitar was like this.. i used a Beyer M201 to mic the marshal cab (it was a combo amp) the sound that came from it sounded okay.. the guy said he didnt like the distortion too much that came from it.

but i had him double track the guitar all the way through, then panned L and R Wide. Then i had him do another take going in clean through a avalon vt737 and threw on an amplitube that would capture the warmth and mids that the marshal was lacking.

i've tried a few differnt settings on amplitube since i can virtually change it to anything and i dont know i'm stuck. would it be an EQ thing?

recording electric guitars isnt really my specalty, especally distored guitars at that.

HERES the song i sent to the guys as a work in progress
justlikeus

and if you guys can also give me tips on the ovarall mix since you are hearing what i have so far.. i didnt get around to tuning all the vocals..

[wesarvin]

I hate to sound like a pretentious ass, but listening on laptop speakers, it sounds like more of a performance problem than a tone issue. Yes, a great amp would help the tone, but there seems to be alot of apathy in the playing of all the instruments. The drums and guitars are out of time and there is no oomph behind the attack of the guitarists strings. Maybe a little performance coaching for a retrack?

[Jonboy79]

What kind of Marshall amp was it? To be honest the "warmth and mids" should come from your amp, not a di'd plug-in enhanced track. It's probably too late for it now but you should just spend a little bit more time and effort dialing in the amp. There are many other factors to be considered as well, like your room, mic placement etc.

[Shiny Turd]

From what I hear, the guitars lack definition. Like if the mic was too far, or the amp had too much distortion.
Besides, the main thing for me here is timing and arrangement.

I don't want to sound like a jerk, but timing is drifting all over the place and lacks attitude, IMO that's why it doesn't sound tight enough.
Anyway that's the band's fault, not yours.

I would retrack if possible, also capturing a DI track for reamping if the amp doesn't work for the song.

[BOWIE]

The only things I hear that are wrong is that the amp has no low-end-chunk (could be due to any number of things) and the guitar player is not able playing correctly fo the style he is trying to perform. Really needs to play in time and learn how to work the low end. Is he in front of the amp and able to hear it well while he is tracking? It doesn't sound like it.

I think the tone is quite lively (other than the low-end) and has great presence.

[BLUElightCory]

Originally Posted by guitarwes

I hate to sound like a pretentious ass, but listening on laptop speakers, it sounds like more of a performance problem than a tone issue. Yes, a great amp would help the tone, but there seems to be alot of apathy in the playing of all the instruments. The drums and guitars are out of time and there is no oomph behind the attack of the guitarists strings. Maybe a little performance coaching for a retrack?

I think this is spot-on. Powerful tracks come from playing POWERFULLY and from the guitars, bass, and drums locking together tightly. None of this is happening in the clip you posted, so you can't expect it to magically come together. Not your fault from an engineering standpoint, but from a producing standpoint you will get better results if you encourage the band to play like they mean it, and push them to get tight performances that will lock in together and generate some excitement.

[peeder]

The tone is completely disconnected from the arrangement...some reverb/echo might help a bit as well as EQ/comp...yes the other problems like timing are there too, but this is also a basic mixing problem.

[chrispick]

My take:

The guitars lack midrange girth. This, like another poster suggested, needs to be dialed in at the amp.

Timing is a big problem. These guys need to rehearse this track until they're together. Then, at least, the bass guitar can help give the unison parts some thickness. Otherwise, you have a lot of editing/quantizing to do.

I'm inclined to disagree with Peeder here. Tone is linked to arrangement and performance, particularly in a song like this. This isn't the solely the problem of one track in a vacuum; it has a lot to do with player interaction, that push-pull of the backbeat, and the timbre created when stacking parts.

[Star Ark]

I recently picked up a boss sd1 which is essentially a tube screamer rip off which brings life to the midrange of distorted guitars. Put it in front of the amp and pull back the gain on the amp.

Also, track loud, you wanna be able to see the speakers moving a lot when getting a lively distorted guitar tone.

Read slippermans distorted guitars from hell guide, that really helped me a lot.

Also track with more bottom end than you will actually need. It's easy to remove it but the only way to add it is to use bass enhancer plugins which kills the real life quality of the tracks.

[steveschizoid]

Get a C&T Naked Eye and rerecord.

[Energie]

seems like the E guitars are seriously lacking bottom end, as if they were completely rolled off losing any girth or fullness, makes them sound very thin. Pretty much all highs going, no depth. Sounds like the mic could of been positioned differently probally to get some more life, or try combing 2 mics the next time. If you also tracked direct, you could probally get a better tone messing with amplitube 2 to help dial in a better sound to either mix in with to thicken up, or replace if necessary.