[thedownside]

so i've been recording for a while now, and i'm more and more happy with what i've recorded. but i still have one problem that i cant seem to figure out. anytime i record anything with heavy palm mutes, those pm'd notes spike up pretty high, if the rest of the clip is close to clipping level, the pm's boost it well above.

so how do you guys do it so well, eq'in out certain ranges? (i've tried that, and the rest of the tone suffers) or some type of limiter/compressor?

i'm recording direct with my gnx3000 and i've had similar issues when i used to use my xt live.


thanks!
b.

[sakeido]

I get the same issue micing an amp. My solution when all else fails is to record it so the spikes don't clip and then put a compressor on it to bring the long notes up to the same level as the spikes.

[Ror3h]

You could try recording it with a little compression i guess.

[Ruan7321]

When you mute, you are accentuating your lowest string. Try recording with less gain, maybe some compression.

[eaeolian]

It sounds to me like you're whacking the palm mutes a lot harder, since you don't have a cab to be having resonance issues with.

Try watching your technique, and using a little compression.

[Matt Crooks]

1. Turn the bass down a little, turn the mids up a little.
2. Record WITHOUT compression.
3. Record so that the palm mutes do not clip.
4. When you mix use a multiband compressor on the guitars. Engage ONLY the lowest band. Set the crossover around 80-100hz. Set the threshold so that the compressor only kicks in on the palm-muted chugs. Use a fast attack and release, and enough compression that the chugs even out with the rest of the guitars.

However all of this is a compensation for two things:
1. A guitar sound with too much bass and not enough mid-range.
2. Poor technique. Not to slam on you, but with proper attention to dynamics and picking this would not be a problem.

[Drew]

Also, this may or may not be a solution for you, but I've noticed that when you're micing a cab, if you're close-micing within the range of what's called "proximity effect" - say, within 2 inches of the speaker cone - then the accompanying bass boost is more pronounced on the "chugs" than it is on unmuted playing.

For some styles, particularly heavier chug-y stuff, this absolutely rules and this is the sound you're going for. For other stuff, well, I play stuff that's on occasion heavy, but I'm not going for maximum heaviness, exactly. I've gotten tones I'm happier with that for me sit better in the mix by backing my mic up a little bit to the lower end of the proximity effect zone - maybe 2" off the grill or so. This may not be appropriate for certain schools of metal, but I've found that it seems to tighten up the low end a bit and the change between muted and unmuted doesn't give you this pronounced bass boost which you have to dial out a little. Again, if the bass boost is the point, then disregard this, but it seems to work for me.

Mike, I'm sure part of it is technique, but my understanding was that especially with a close-mic'd cab, the pronounced emphasis on bass frequencies when you start muting was sort of a known issue that had to be compensated for, and not a straight-up product of hitting the strings harder or something - more of a frequency shift than a true "volume" problem.

EDIT - this is also a GREAT read, though it'll take you like two weeks to finish, much less digest.

Great tutorial on recording heavy guitars

[eleven59]

I used to have this "problem" all the time, and to be honest, it looks bad in the meters and the waveforms, but it doesn't sound bad. You just set the level while doing palm mutes so it doesn't clip at all.

Though I don't have as much trouble with that now that I use less gain and bass.

[Drew]

I just spent the last half hour reading that long tutorial for the first time in maybe a year.

1.) It's funny as shit.
2.) my head's spinning, but I want to go home and start mixing.

[thedownside]

thanks guys, a friend of mine actually help me setup a compressor on one of my patches and problem solved. i can play carefully and pay attention, and it's not an issue, but the life is missing from the riff. i like pm's really noticable but it was a bit too much. not they spike up a bit, but not a whole lot, and i just adjusted the whole mix so it's not into clipping range.