Great tutorial on recording heavy guitars

[Drew]

http://www.badmuckingfastard.com/sound/slipperman.html

I'm halfway through this one now. I have no idea who the guy is, although I gather he's done a lot of nu-metal production. Reading this, I don't fault the guy for it, it's an interesting read, and ....in hilarious.

It doesn't get into multi-mic'ing a rig, which was what I was curious about, but the opening couple pages (!!!) on the physical point at which a speaker and a cabinet begin to interact with a guitar tone and how to best capture tha, while maybe not practical at the home studio level, is excellent.

-D

[Chris D]

Jesus...

Got 1/2 way thru... need to mail this to a AE friend of mine.

Yes, audio engineering is an art form in itself, they're just as ....ed up as any musician if not moreso cos they don't really get the credit.

Skipped to the bitabout kickdrums... so true!

[Vince]

There is a list of about 25 guys I can think of off the top of my head who are masters of the 'heavy guitar' game. They didn't get there by accident. You don't have to like or agree with the decisions they make on their records, but have a little respect. And common sense. THIS SHIT TAKES WORK. In heavy music AE there is a REAL tradition... A passing of the torch. It dates all the way back to the roots of the music. AE's are a GIGANTIC part of how/why this happens. I've lived to witness it. More than once. Flippant disclaimers of the wisdom of scope and scale of these undertakings can be heard echoing in the empty side asiles at AES. I, for one, would like (Who knows?.. maybe NEED) to believe some of us know better and have not expended formidable portions of our lives creating and refining these traditions in vain.

I agree 100% with this. This is why I'm so obsessed with getting a perfect rhythm guitar sound. It's hard as hell and yet it's absolutely vital to your recording. When people think of "good production" on a metal album, they're wittingly or unwittingly referring to the sound of the guitar and drums. Bar none.

[Drew]

You know, Vince, I think I'll be following suit, too. I can get "good" rhythm sounds to disk right now, nothing phenominal but perfectly workable. But, my amp still sounds better when I'm in the room playing it than when I play it back. I foresee a LOT of experimentation in my future...

[eaeolian]

This deserves to be bumped, and everyone should read it. Not only is it useful in recording, but it's very useful in what you look for in your amp's tone to begin with...

[Drew]

I was just re-reading this again today. Not only is it a ....ing funny read, it's loaded with tons of good advice. Christ, there's something like 20 pages on dialing in kickdrum EQ alone, and it's mostly about guitar tones.

Anyone know who this guy is, incidentally?

EDIT - I swear, if I can actually take the time to internalize all this shit, my mixes would be like 500% better.

[metalfiend666]

Indeed it does need to be read. I love the parts about sending your minion to find out which speaker sounds best so you don't have to be deafened

[Roundhouse_Kick]

I read this a while ago, pretty funny but lots of good info. Makes you feel a bit guilty to be a guitarist though....

[Blackrg]

Great article full of stuff I learnt but forgot

Funnier than shit!

Didnt know Bill Hicks did engineering...another gem

"Don't take any shit about cutting EQ. to tape.... .... THE OLD SCHOOL. THAT'S WHY THEY'RE THE OLD SCHOOL. THEY'LL ALL BE DEAD SOON AND WE'LL SNARK ALL THEIR WORK!!!!!

[Metal Ken]

I love how the guy approaches the 'tone is in your fingers' argument.

On 18 Jan 2003 13:25 fletcher wrote: Quote: The sound comes from the player, not the equipment. You can get a wonderfully heavy guitar tone with a Telecaster and a Twin Reverb... it's all in how you approach it, and how the player handles it.

=======================================


Not at the gain structures my clients use. HOHOHO.

I'm going to give Fletcher a stock Tele, a stock Twin, and 8 million years to get the "Carcass" guitar tone. He may get something he or others believe is 'good', 'heavy', or 'whatever'. But you ain't gonna get that guitar and amp combination to give you the level of distortion, saturation and flat out square wave rectification activity yer gonna get from a Les Paul Standard with EMG's into a Mesa triple rectifier.

God ain't gonna do that....

[Nats]

bookmarked

[TomAwesome]

Wowza, lots of info! I bookmarked it and will certainly dedicate some time to reading this when I'm not in a state in which I haven't slept the past two nights. Knowledge is power!!

[Drew]

Originally Posted by Metal Ken

I love how the guy approaches the 'tone is in your fingers' argument.

Hey, tone IS in your fingers - gain, meanwhile, is not.

[Drew]

Thumbnail sketch for anyone too lazy to read the whole thing (which you should anyway)

20-45Hz. Never say never. Just say rarely.
50-90hz Ahh the madness. Here's the 'swing' range in our 'chugging'.
100-150 Bottom of the meat.
180-240 Lo-Center of the meat.
250-320 Hi-Center of the meat.
340-650 Danger Will Robinson. Top of meat/Bottom of mids. CRITICAL.
700-900 More danger. Hard to hear. Kills 'newbies' on contact. Will explain.
950-1.2k Pure Satan. Make or break ya. Easy to hear. Hard to control.
1.3k-1.6k Ditto the above.
1.7k-2.2k Top of the mids/Bottom of pick attack range. Oh, the fear.
2.3k-3.1k Middle of pick range. Picky de poison. Mucho Satania.
3.2k-4.2k Top of pick range. Pick out a nice coffin. Yer gonna need it.
4.3k-6.5k Bottom of fizz. Add Beefeaters for gin fizz. Guzzle many glasses.
6.6k-8k. Top of fizzy. Many will kill this range ruthlessly. Careful. Can O' wormies.
8k-10k Road to hell. Paved with good intentions. Enjoy. Not.
10-15k Less obvious road(s) to hell. Gravel. Lose a windshield up here.
15k-25k Same disclaimer as 25-40Hz. Can you say 'sometimes bandwidth matters'?

Also, for comic value:

Get 'twinkie' to play some VERY REPETITIVE chord stuff that omits the 'chugging' for a couple of minutes. Tell him that when you need him to stop playing, he must stop playing IMMEDIATELY or you will ....ing KILL him. Pet the handgun every sane engineer keeps on top of the console lovingly, like a favorite cat, as you say this. Look purposefully and coldly THRU him and say these EXACT WORDS.

"IF YOU DON'T STOP PLAYING EXACTLY WHEN I SAY STOP... I'M GOING TO SHOOT AND SHOOT AND CONTINUE TO SHOOT YOU UNTIL I RUN OUT OF AMMUNITION..... THEN I'M GOING TO RESUME SHOOTING YOU AFTER 'ASS-BOY'(point at shivering assistant) GETS BACK FROM THE GUN SHOP WITH MY REPLACEMENT AMMO".

[Rick]

It's gonna take me 2 days to read that. I'll bookmark it anyway.

[7 Strings of Hate]

i wish for some of the parts he would be more clear, the table drew posted is quite informative, i just wish he would quit using 1/2 of his time trying to be funny and actually focus completely on information, not that i dont appreicate humor, but if your reading it you obviosuly want to get the information first and foremost, but good find

[Drew]

Nah, it's all there if you read it, and I think the edge-of-insanity humor kicks ass.

Besides, he knows his shit. The 350-600 range can totally .... you over in a mix - generally I find myself doing a bit of a EQ scoop around 400hz on my rhythm guitars with a Q of 2-2.5 or so, sometimes with a corresponding boost at these frequencies on the bass, because this shit totally makes or breaks you on differentiation between your bass and your crunch guitars. Likewise, his "fizz" frequency bands are exactly where, if your mic positioning isn't perfect when you're tracking, you're going to be bending over, grabbing your ankles, and taking it on mixdown trying to tame the fizziness without making your guitars sound dull or trying to add life without making them sound papery.

If you want a how-to on how to mix, then look at that chart, and then jump straight to the section on dialing in a kick drum at the end of this. That shit is pure mixing gold, and if you can really internalize what he's talking about, then if you can get good tones down on tape/disc while tracking at the start then you should be able to compete with any local studio in terms of "finished product."

[skattabrain]

awesome, this is awesome ... but i must admit ... with my current recording skills, crappy gear and the fact that i record in the same room i play ... it has me giving serious thought to either getting a POD XT or just shelling out the $ for a good studio session with a pro.

[7 Strings of Hate]

the xt is invaluable for recording

[Drew]

There's no substitute for learning how to properly mic an amp. Even the best example of Line6 tone I've heard, Porcupine Tree's "Deadwing," shows Steven Wilson running through 4x12's in the studio on the studio vids included in the multimedia section. A Pod is a great demoing tool, and it's a pain in the ass to learn how to mic a cab, but frankly I'm a firm believer that it's always worth the attempt if you want truely professional results.

[skattabrain]

it sounds better when done right and it's more rewarding too

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by Drew

There's no substitute for learning how to properly mic an amp. Even the best example of Line6 tone I've heard, Porcupine Tree's "Deadwing," shows Steven Wilson running through 4x12's in the studio on the studio vids included in the multimedia section. A Pod is a great demoing tool, and it's a pain in the ass to learn how to mic a cab, but frankly I'm a firm believer that it's always worth the attempt if you want truely professional results.

Yep. I've been running a modeler off and on for years and I can still get a hell of a lot better tone micing one up than I can running them direct.

[Jongpil Yun]

In Heavy Metal... Precision is ALL. ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN AT ALL TIMES.... HAHAHA. Yes indeedy.

Sage words of wisdom.

[Oneiros]

great information!!!! so true! so expensive mhm hmh ( *weep*

[totaluntruth]

Originally Posted by Metal Ken

I love how the guy approaches the 'tone is in your fingers' argument.

~Thats the funniest analogy ive heard in a while -quite clever actually.
I absolutely agree with the AE 3/4 of the time when im in the studio-mainly because i have tone deaf ears- and he is smoking pot to enhance his audio!
My emgs and peavy xxl made my recording sound tizzley tight- a dootee doo setup wouldnt of worked -even with his g5 master room tech setup studio deluxe sound twisting enhancers.------its the vroom of the tune-plus the boom in your metal/wooden spoon!