[Marcus Soares]

Really? I was hopping that PM could somehow see that I’ve moved my SDXs for an external drive, since it’s common practice for those with a lot of SDX installed.

Besides, cannot understand why PM would not see that if SD2 is aware of it. After all, seamless integration should be the goal here.

[Marcus Soares]

Hi Juicy,

Yes, check for mono compatibility is important in any audio work. Although I hadn’t mentioned it specifically, it’s a good way to check for phase issues that I’ve mentioned in #7 of my tips.

Besides, there’s a bunch of “perspectives” that can be considered/adopted when we’re generally talking about “getting a heavy guitar sound”: guitarist, producer, audio engineer and listeners, all will have very different ways of looking/approaching the same question. My tips were from a sound engineer perspective for a commercial release, and it’s based in the common practices adopted in professional recording studios.

But can a guitarist in his project studio(or bedroom) get a “heavy git sound” without even care about the record process? Sure he can! But can he preserve the integrity of that sound throughout the recording process of a commercial release without consider the technical aspects involved? Probably not!

I have some nice amp simulations with presets that I use often when I’m working on a guitar riff or song idea, that can blow the Heaviest minds out there, but I would never use it when I want to lay down some tracks for a record(except for the sake of the “guitar star” happiness in the control room, of course ).

see ya

[Marcus Soares]

I dont know how I feel about this… lol all of my tunes have had 1 rythm and 1 lead track and they kick ass. I do agree however, that if I had multitracked guitar parts it would have push the music more forward.

There’s nothing wrong about not doubling your guitar parts, specially if you are satisfied with the results. But it won’t have as much thickness as a doubled one, which is crucial in a heavy guitar sound, IMHO. And the more “heavy” is the music you’re playing, the greater that difference will be, specially when comparing with commercial releases, where doubling is a common practice.

[Marcus Soares]

My 2 cents:

Although there are some “save practices” to get your sound right on the mixing stage, nothing will help if you don’t get it right from the source. So here are some good guidelines:

1) Get a nice resonating solid body guitar, like a Les Paul with classic ’57 or a Strat with EMG81, with a new set of strings(the thickest gauge your tuning choice allows).

2) Work your parts hard and play tight. Always check tuning and guitar intonation before recording(or else you will cry when trying to double/mix it later).

3) Put a nice DI(Radial passive) to split signal: 1 to the amp for recording purposes + 1 DI for the “guitar star” to tweak and play with in the control room

4) go with nothing less than a 100w head(JCM 800, 5150, etc.) into a 4 x 12 cab(with G12-75s or V30s). Gain and volume(s) at max, EQs at 12:00 except highs at 12:10(your mixing engineer will thank you for that, believe me!).

5) DON’T USE PEDAL EFFECTS BEFORE YOUR AMPS! If you need any effect which is inherent to your sound, you should use studio quality gear on the mixing stage to preserve your signal strength(your mixing engineer will thank you for that too!)

6) Use your ears to find the loudest of the 4 speakers(there’s always one), mic it with SM57s and/or MD421s: one on axis slight to the side of the cap(bite) and another off axis pointing to side of the cone(thickness), both the closest possible to cab’s grill.

7) Always check for phases issues and remember the “3:1 rule”.

8) Double your parts by playing again with a different configuration(see options in 1, 3 and 4).

9) Send the mics to a Neve 1073 and record in your media of choice(Tape Recorder if possible).

10) You will end up with 4 tracks of guitar: pan each pair of mics hard left/right, balancing bite(your basic sound) with thickness(to add character).

11) Finally, when chasing your sound, remember that a recorded guitar part played alone doesn’t tell the hole truth and it probably will no sound as good as when it’s mixed.

Of course there are probably hundreds of variations of that the same signal flow, but this is the “go to” formula of all respected sound engineers and producers that I know and respect.

see ya

[Marcus Soares]

Sweet

The e-drum preset worked fine with my Roland TD-3KW, with just a few volume adjustments in the tons.

[Author]

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