Need Help with a Rock/Metal Band

[Almost Human]

So, I'm now trying to help out a rock/metal band that I know. I'm driving out to their place (about 4 hours away), which is currently a very small detached garage. So, I'm trying to help them work with what they have. The place is small, has horrendous acoustics, and they actually have things blocked off and the room segmented using some hanging carpeting, mattresses, boxes, etc. You get the picture...

Adding into this that the gear they're using isn't the greatest, and it's a whole lot of obstacles to overcome. So, we did a quick run this weekend just see how bad...err, I mean good......we could make everything sound.

This is a sample with the bassist playing drums (because the drummer wasn't there). He's just trying to keep a beat. Trying to overcome that room is a huge obstacle, so we're trying to minimize that the best we can. The bassist was using the direct out of some old Fender Rumble amp (which has the mids knob knocked off). The bass he was using sounds horrible and clanky (isn't set up properly - fret buzz is rampant), so we'll at least have to track down a better one before we do anything "real." You'll hear it on this clip.

The guitars are using a great set-up amp-wise, but guitar wise leaves a little to be desired. They'll be using 7 strings and 5 strings basses, and when coupled with the room and sub-par gear...you can imagine the headaches.

Anyway, I'm really needing some help and suggestions with the guitar sound here (other than making the guitarist play tighter when we record for real). Feel free to comment on the rest if you want, too, especially what to do to try and minimize the room we're in. Just keep in mind that nothing here is mixed properly (just a quick throw together of tracks). The guitars are lacking that bite and punch that they need at the moment. Granted, some of that comes from the fact that the player himself doesn't attack the guitar enough when he plays. But, everything just seems a bit muffled and weak at this point. Guitars were mostly a Recto into a Mesa Cab with a single 57 on it.

So, any suggestions on how to get a better sound in a crappy room, as well as things to try to get a better guitar sound are greatly appreciated...

[everybody's x]

I actually kind of dig the bass sound


i cant really hear the drums enough to know what you are getting, its all guitars and bass. soumds like youll be able to get some usable stuff though


in a small crap acoustic environment, try some pzms about 5 feet behind the kit spaced about 10 feet apart or so in lieu of normal overhead micing, it will minimize your room problem

[Almost Human]

Originally Posted by everybody's x

I actually kind of dig the bass sound


i cant really hear the drums enough to know what you are getting, its all guitars and bass. soumds like youll be able to get some usable stuff though


in a small crap acoustic environment, try some pzms about 5 feet behind the kit spaced about 10 feet apart or so in lieu of normal overhead micing, it will minimize your room problem

Thanks for the unput! The bass sound isn't as terrible as I thought. Granted, I did EQ it a little and stick some compression on it to make it a little better. It ended up incidently having this slappy, Korn-ish feel to it. The guitar and bass were intentionally cranked some on there so you could hear them. I'll have to do another with the drums a little higher later for you guys to hear. I didn't really mix anything. Just pulled the drums lower so you could hear the guitars and bass and then did a little EQ (about 10 minutes worth) to eliminate some freuquencies that were really annoying.

We'll definitely have to try and use your technique mentioned above to help eliminate some room problems.

Any more feedback is always appreciated!