Simple recording question

zombiewalkin · Number of posts: 1578 Age: 38 Registration date: 2007-04-09

Gotta a question...I scoop my mids on my amp and I run my amp through a mixer when recording. Should I scoop the mids on the mixer settings as well? I have that mixer channel set up about the same as my amp and Im pretty pleased with the sound but Im wondering is it really necessary?

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guitarhoops · Number of posts: 553 Age: 38 Registration date: 2007-01-03

I wouldn't scoop to much. When all the other instruments are added you may lose the body of your guitar tone in the mix. Meaning the guitars may sound thin. I would get the coolest setting you can on the amp and leave the mixer channel flat until you are in mix down mode. Then eq with all the other instruments present. Smile

zombiewalkin · Number of posts: 1578 Age: 38 Registration date: 2007-04-09

Sound advice Jon....thanks!

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guitarhoops · Number of posts: 553 Age: 38 Registration date: 2007-01-03

How did you make out with the advice?

zombiewalkin · Number of posts: 1578 Age: 38 Registration date: 2007-04-09

Heck Im still in the writing process! LOL Although the mixer is ready to record at given moment.

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ifbutforone · Number of posts: 24 Age: 34 Registration date: 2007-04-07

mids are a touchy feely thing with it comes to recording gutar parts. Try recording like 6 different takes, and listen and figure out which one will suit your taste. Remember also how you play your instrument can change your sound too

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I'm always kind of finicky about mids.

Too much, you'll sound like Nirvana.

Too little, you'll sound like Stryper on In God We Trust (dont' get me wrong, I dig those songs, just not the production.)

DRReeves · Number of posts: 159 Registration date: 2007-02-05

Not knowing exactly what sort of mixer you have I'm going to agree with Jon and modify just a touch.

Leave your guitar amp as flat as possible.
Record that sound with the input channel as flat as possible.
Take the monitor channel/track channel/out-put channel (depending on your set-up) and just go crazy to get the most inspiring sound you can so that you're absolutely digging what you hear.
Once the track is recorded you can always reproduce this sound, or, in the event that you find this sound doesn't work in the mix you have a fat tone to play with later.
General rule. You can filter out what you don't like, but you can not "filter in" what isn't there.
This also applies to FXs (Though this might be obvious). Wink

Don't use FX on your amp and don't use the FX loop on your input channel. Use it in the monitor so that you've got that killer thing going on and later you do so much more.
Printed FX are the scurg of any engineer!

donw35 · Number of posts: 40 Registration date: 2007-02-05

My method of a simple one, get the sound you like out of your amp. then close mic it and play with the location of the mic until you feel confidant that what the mic is hearing is the best possible example of your amp. No eq setting when tracking. About the most eq I use in mix down in a HPF set at 100Hz area.

firstborn888 · Number of posts: 169 Registration date: 2007-08-27

777Stryken777 wrote:

I'm always kind of finicky about mids.

Too much, you'll sound like Nirvana.

Too little, you'll sound like Stryper on In God We Trust (dont' get me wrong, I dig those songs, just not the production.)

This cracked me up because I remember doing a band (paradox) back in the 80's and the guy had a major scoop - no-mid thing going with his Marshalls. My solution was to split off a direct signal from his guitar and secretly recorded a shultz rockman track. In the mixdown I blended those mids back in.

The funny thing is, I spoke to the guy earlier today and confessed for the first time about adding the rockman in. His response was "I KNEW there was something wrong with the tone, I knew it!" Shocked

ifbutforone · Number of posts: 24 Age: 34 Registration date: 2007-04-07

actually the whole reason where Strypers sound came from was them using Mesay Boogies, Cabinets with Greenbacks if you can believe it, that and one of the biggest factors was their amps turned to 10 and them using 31 band paramteric EQ's boosting all levels by 1! This gave them the ability for their constant harmonic pitches, squeeles etc......

that came from an engineer who recorded the first three albums! That I figure will not be documented online, but the truth!

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forgedbyfire · Number of posts: 37 Registration date: 2007-09-04

Hey new to the forum here, whats up!

Anyhow when I record a guitar track, I usually will do one take with the mids where I like them usually and then do another take with the mids fattened up heavily.

This makes it where I dont lose the "djent" sound of my scooped amp but yet I have a track of full meaty mids to add back in to taste. Alot of guys do this and it seems to work well. In fact I know quite a few popular bands that will run two heads one scooped and one with fat mids to achieve this effect.

Give it a whirl

As to the mixer, I use a high pass filter anywhere from 60-140 Hz to chop out all the super-low end out of a rhythm part, to leave more room for the bass frequencies. Then I take -2 db at around 10000 hz to remove hiss. Maybe do some notching around 500k depending on how the amp was sounding.

I dont see a purpose of matching the EQ of the amp. This is supposed to be post eq-ing so you should just be making minor improvements on the sound coming from the amp. Nothing to drastic. You want your natural tone to come through.

DRReeves · Number of posts: 159 Registration date: 2007-02-05

I was never big into the Styper sound. Talented guys, but that guitar tone just drove me nuts.

Now to me, I can't listen to Styper without hearing Styx. Does anybody else hear that?

I love the "split to RockMan story".
That's so cool! Laughing

So many guitarist sabotage themselves thinking that they won't be able to get their "sound" unless the demand that the engineer record it just the way they have it coming out of their amp.
Then they sware up and down that somebody messed with it when they hear what's left to mix with!

If you can talk a guy into just sittin' in the booth and letting the engineer do his thing.
Again, you can always fliter out what you don't want to hear, but there's no way to put back mids you've already EQ'ed out.
And truthfully, you can get that massive, super hairy, totally obnoxious guitar tone in the cans without committing that sound to the recorded track...let the guy have everything he wants and still have a tone to mix with later.

Effects are the opposite.
There's no way to correct an effect once it's recorded to the track.
If that slap-back delay conflict with the reverb on the master, oh well. But you can get as nutty as you wanna be with the recorded track...try new things, whatever.
It's sorta the same story. Use the FX in the monitor post...give him that "under the freeway" wall of sound and letting him jam until his fingers bleed.

Get all that tone in monitor post so the happy guitarist gives you a killer performance but keep the track as raw as possible so you can noodle with it later.
In fact, let him help you noodle with it. He'll be amazed at what you can do when you've gotta fat tone to work with. Wink