Guitar recording sounds awful...why?

[StickmanP]

Please read edit

Hey Slutz, my guitar recordings sound really unclear and muddy and I'm unsure as to why. Here's a sample stream of what it sounds like: untitled_REC_13.mp3 - Hulk Share - Easy way to share your files

My setup is Squier Classic Vibe 50's going directly in to a Hi-Z input on my ESI Maya44 XTe soundcard. Any ideas as to where I could be going wrong? My soundcard is an audio interface and part of the specification states "Hi-Z instrument input to directly input guitar signals". Link to full specification of soundcard

Thanks in advance.

Ah, I fail. I had the pickup selector switch in the wrong place making it sound really dull. Thanks a lot for your guys...only been playing for 3 days lol. Here's what it sounds like now http://hulkshare.com/83tkrxdujpyb

By the way, is the amount of sustain (not really sure if that's the correct word) what I should expect to be hearing or should I be using a noise gate of some sort? Or do I just have another noob setting wrong elsewhere? Haha!

[Blast9]

Is your bridge pickup wired to the tone control? - sounds like the tone is rolled off.

Do you have a EQ/filter plugin engaged on the DAW channel/bus/master channel?

[StickmanP]

Ah, I fail. I had the pickup selector switch in the wrong place making it sound really dull. Thanks a lot for your help man...only been playing for 3 days lol. Here's what it sounds like now untitled_REC_22.mp3 - Hulk Share - Easy way to share your files

By the way, is the amount of sustain (not really sure if that's the correct word) what I should expect to be hearing or should I be using a noise gate of some sort? Or do I just have another noob setting wrong elsewhere? Haha!

[Blast9]

That sounds nice and sparkly!

I assume it is a strat - Check the other tone control for the neck/middle pickups.

It should also sound sparkly in the other positions, not dull.

Sustain is as expected for just DI signal.

If you want more sustain you need a compressor, not a gate which will cut off the note once it fades below a certain level

.. or if it is a medium to high gain sound the sustain will come from the overdrive/distortion pedal or amp plugin setting

[StickmanP]

Yes, it is a strat and everything else seems to sound fine. Thanks a lot for your help because I'd spent hours going through soundcard settings and stuff not realising there was such an easy solution lol.

Thanks for the advice on the sustain too. I personally thought the sustain was a bit too much on that recording (based off of no experience), although I definitely trust your judgement more than mine if you say that is what to expect for DI signal. So just to clarify what you said, I should use a compressor if I ever want to extend the sustain and a gate if I want to shorten it?

[Blast9]

short answer - yes!

Compressors and gates are tools that can affect or "effect" the signal/shape the waveform, depending on the threshold-attack-release settings.

They have many creative and "signal control" uses!