Best sounding guitars you KNOW were recorded straight to disk.

[guittarzzan]

I'm trying to get a little list of songs/bands I could check out that were recorded straight to daw and got great sounding guitars. I'm mainly speaking in terms of slightly to heavily distorted guitars, but any recommendations are welcome. My purpose is just for a little inspiration and to give me something to shoot for.

thanks,
Steve

[BobbyPeru]

The silence speaks louder than words....

Bobby Peru
Milwaukee, WI

[Sir Bob]

I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for but John Lennon plugged in straight into the board and cranked the gain to get the sound in Revolution. Skunk Baxter plugged into the board for Steely Dan.

[Bang]

I like my guitar sounds and others have given me kind words as well. I recorded them straight to the DAW. Let me know what you think.
Steve

http://www.blacklinerock.com/music/R...NEROCK.COM.mp3
http://www.blacklinerock.com/music/K...NEROCK.COM.mp3

[imacgreg]

I'm assuming that when you say straight to DAW you mean, no tape? Not just DI'ed and amp-farmed right?

This whole record was done in the box, and we think the guitars turned out pretty well:

http://www.code415.com/pages/listen.html

Click on "Stand and Fight" (my fav)

Gibson SG's straight into Marshall JCM800 2203 and Matchless. Cranked pretty good. 57 and 412 on each cab, a royer in the room for room sound (duh). Pre's were the Oram console pres, straight to Bro Tools HD via a 192.

Ian

[guittarzzan]

I should have been more clear. sorry... what I meant to say was best sounding guitars that were recorded straight to disk and not using tape first. This means miking cabs, direct, both or even amp farm type stuff. I'm just looking for some stuff I can listen to that didn't use 2" tape etc to help it sound that way.

thanks,
Steve

[drundall]

I think most albums of the last few years have been recorded that way. Does this mean you don't like anything since 2000-01?

Most people aren't even using the higher sample rates.

[guittarzzan]

Does this mean you don't like anything since 2000-01?

No, I've heard bands in the last few years that I thought the guitars were at least decent. I don't know exactly when their albums were recorded, but some of the ones that have caught my ears are:
-Foo fighters...to me sounds fairly raw and natural
-Godsmack...aside from crappy song writing, the guitars are huge and still, to my noob ears, sound "real"
-Nickelback...to me their guitars sound very live
-Linkin Park....they don't sound "real", but they work for that style...I don't know, but am guessing ampfarmaholics?

the clips sound good too guys.......thanks for the candy.

steve

[BattleAngel]

Imacgreg,

Wow that's all in the box? Sounds great to me. Not my style but a very big, unfettered sound. Good work :-)

[Jason Poulin]

This is one of my bands

It's Metal but tracked all in the box.

http://adhominem.4qtherapeia.com/mp3...re_release.mp3

Jason

[flexoffset]

What about Evanescense (evanecense, eveniscence, evinasince, HOWever you spell it)?

On their CD jacket, there's talk of ProTools 'programming.'
And for the longest time, Line6 dot com featured their guitarist as then using Line6 products.

It's speculation, but it sure SOUNDS like this is the route they took. The guitar tone sounds identical throughout the CD...kind of like he found one preset and welded the knobs in place.

[BattleAngel]

I heard that they did mic amps (real ones) in the studio for that album, but wouldn't be surprised if they didn't (they certainly seem to claim that it's all Line6). But I personally think that is one of the most horrific guitar sounds of all time and epitomizes the "bad"ness of tracking heavy guitars to digital, imho.

[drundall]

Originally posted by guittarzzan
No, I've heard bands in the last few years that I thought the guitars were at least decent. I don't know exactly when their albums were recorded, but some of the ones that have caught my ears are:
-Foo fighters...to me sounds fairly raw and natural
-Godsmack...aside from crappy song writing, the guitars are huge and still, to my noob ears, sound "real"
-Nickelback...to me their guitars sound very live
-Linkin Park....they don't sound "real", but they work for that style...I don't know, but am guessing ampfarmaholics?

the clips sound good too guys.......thanks for the candy.

steve

I think the new FF was recorded to hard disk. I know the old Godsmack CD was recorded on a Mix+ PT system, not sure about the new one but I assume so. Maybe someone can help out on the Nickelback and LP.

I don't really like the gtr sound on the new FF CD but I think the time has come for digital recording and you can get good results, you just have to be careful. Yesterday I recorded just 2 tracks with a triple rectifier (not my first choice) and a great player and it sounded amazing. I think you have to create depth and keep an eye on getting too harsh, tape used to smooth it over for ya a little. I have good luck with 2 mics per cab.

Good luck.

[natpub]

pretty sure I read an article with Dave Groll saying they recorded to Pro Tools on the past couple discs at least. They experimented quite a lot, and did most of it at his home. The big thing I recall was them using 1073 preamps on guitars into 1176's because Dave made some comment in the interview about being able to do most anything with just a 1073, an 1176, and a computer. Dunno about the mics, and I dont recall what his rig is.

listening to those discs, i would say the sound depends less on what was used to record it, and more on how he plays, how his rig is set, what gtr and rig it is, and how it is mixed...in other words..kickass sound came from good ears and hard work from real musicians...go figure

kt

[imacgreg]

Originally posted by BattleAngel
Imacgreg,

Wow that's all in the box? Sounds great to me. Not my style but a very big, unfettered sound. Good work :-)

I wish I could say I engineered that whole thing, but I was the assitant. Althought I did a big part in getting the guitar sound (the head engineer was sick). The guywho engineered it is pretty damn good at getting in the box mixes to kick ass. Oh yeah, I hung out with Dave Fortman (producer-Evanescence) a couple times and I think his MO is to track to Bro Tools HD and mix on SSL's. Whether or not you like the record he produced, its got what, like 4 hits out of it already? I think he's nominated for a Grammy... Pretty damn cool guy too.

Ian

[thethrillfactor]

Originally posted by imacgreg
Oh yeah, I hung out with Dave Fortman (producer-Evanescence) a couple times and I think his MO is to track to Bro Tools HD and mix on SSL's. Whether or not you like the record he produced, its got what, like 4 hits out of it already? I think he's nominated for a Grammy... Pretty damn cool guy too.

Ian

I thought i read somewhere that he mixed it on a Neve.

[Absolute]

Are you talking about recording Direct--as in no mics?--or direct to hard drive meaning not to analog tape first?

Cause Nickleback and linkin Park mic their amps(they use ampfarm for demo and writing). I know Linkin park does not use analog tape anymore(they used to use it on drums and bass).

There are currently no speaker sims that dont sound harsh for distorted rhythm guitars. If your skipping the tape--skipping the speaker and mic and preamp too is not the best idea. But if your going for harsh guitars--that another story

John Petrucci went straight into Pro Tools on the Dream Theaters new album(mic'd, of course, but no tape)

[BattleAngel]

Yeah, Dream Theater is huge into Protools now- and I think they've suffered for it honestly. Awake is one of the greatest sounding metal albums of all time, and I think the last one is just so icky sounding.

[guittarzzan]

I loved Dream Theater...briefly. A super talented band with great sound, but so many songs started off with great riffs and melodies then transformed into some hideous beasts that destroyed the groove of the song. I'd love to say that I'd have more restraint than them if I could play like that, but I'm not sure I'd have the inner strength to just say no.

steve

[ixnys]

Originally posted by Absolute
Are you talking about recording Direct--as in no mics?--or direct to hard drive meaning not to analog tape first?

Cause Nickleback and linkin Park mic their amps(they use ampfarm for demo and writing). I know Linkin park does not use analog tape anymore(they used to use it on drums and bass).

There are currently no speaker sims that dont sound harsh for distorted rhythm guitars. If your skipping the tape--skipping the speaker and mic and preamp too is not the best idea. But if your going for harsh guitars--that another story

John Petrucci went straight into Pro Tools on the Dream Theaters new album(mic'd, of course, but no tape)

What about mixing ampfarm with the miced guitar tracks...how does that affect the sound. Since I don't have ampfarm or sansamp I've never been able to try this out. I mean I listen to the song "from the inside" from linkin park's sophmore cd and I'm amazed at the guitar sound. Sounds so huge and tight...I have a triple rectifier but it doesn't sound like this. The best way to describe the difference is my guitar tracks sound like the modern channel on a rectifier but when compared to linkin parks gtrs it sounds more crunchy and not as leady. I don't know what the hell they do to get those guitar sounds. I've doubled my guitar tracks 4 times tightly and eq'd them to hell and i still can't get them to sound as powerful as linkin parks.

[kittonian]

In my opinion if you want great guitar sounds and want to skip going to tape you need a couple of key components.

1. Great mics and amps (obviously)
2. Great converters and clocks (the single biggest hurdle in any digital audio environment)
3. Very high end cables that capture all the magic (my personal love is the Monster Studio Pro 1000 and M-Series custom cables)
4. The know how to place the mics perfectly

If you've got those components you should be able to get a really great guitar sound but to be honest it also comes down to the room, the player, the vibe, etc. Just do the best you can and keep learning. I've been doing this for a lot of years and I've not found one tried and true method that I use all the time. I start with a formula that has worked in the past and tweak from there depending on the situation.

[stealthbalance]

OMG

[jeronimo]

Ok guys check this out:
Trilhar (Right click & Save As...)
The song is in Portuguese, but the intention is to listen to the guitar tracks right?!
Tell me how do you like it.

[guittarzzan]

jeronimo,

sounds great imo. Heavy and still sounds pretty natural. ...so what gear/techniques were used for the heavy rythm tracks?
...now you'll probably tell me it was all done through a Behringer amp simulator, a Fender Squire into a Fostex mini disk recorder. If that's the case, then I give up. I'll go buy a hot dog stand and take up shop haha.

thanks for the clips,
steve

[gracejames]

I'm totally diggin the guitar sound from the latest
Puddle of Mudd. Andy Wallace rules. I wish i could
get that sound. Any of you guys know more of the
recording?

I used to be a Dream Theater fanatic.
I loved 'Images and Words' and 'Awake'.
They are killer but they really haven't
topped themselves since those CDs imo.
One of my favorite lead tones is
in 'Perpetual Burn' by Jason Becker.

peace,
--james

[narco]

I've worked with the same production team that did the foofighters "colour and the shape" album which to me is some of the best heavy guitar sounds around. they tracked to protools, then dumped it to tape to mix off..

[jeronimo]

Originally posted by guittarzzan
jeronimo,

sounds great imo. Heavy and still sounds pretty natural. ...so what gear/techniques were used for the heavy rythm tracks?
...now you'll probably tell me it was all done through a Behringer amp simulator, a Fender Squire into a Fostex mini disk recorder. If that's the case, then I give up. I'll go buy a hot dog stand and take up shop haha.

thanks for the clips,
steve

Thanks guittarzzan this is the chain:
dual rectifier or v-twin rack + 50/50 hooked to a 4x12 or 2x12 mesa w/ vintage 30.
on the 4x12 - atm 25 w/ low only, 57 w/ mids, 441 w/ mids and AT 3525 w/ highs
all into a Tascam 2524 board then into a 001.
And that's prety much it.