Help me improve my recorded tone.

LastMantra

Hmmm.

THIS

ThePrettyDamned

Holy pissballs, I don't know what any of that means.  

ChrisMusic

Hey there TPD, I hope you are enjoying the recording process, it is very rewarding.  Mixing is such a creative process too, just takes a while to get your head around the equipment, options and issues, but it is really worth the effort.  Take it easy and enjoy the journey.  Trust me the "Holy pissballs" reaction will slowly subside as the bigger picture comes into focus over time.

I just thought I would add to my previous post (quoted below for completeness).  Do bear in mind that the environment in which you are monitoring (listening) is going to affect how you perceive the qualities of what you are recording.

The mic may be a couple of inches from the cab and cutting most of the room reverb, and that will be your recorded signal, but as you are doing the recording you are hearing all the room reflections, the same when you re-amp, or when you mix over speakers in any acoustic environment.  Headphones cut most of this out, but they always seem a bit coloured and artificial to me, but can be a useful tool.

Judging what you are monitoring and just what the recorded (or re-amped) signal really sounds like is so important to the rest of the process IMHO.

Then once recorded and distributed, you will completely lose control of that sound once it goes through someone else's system in their acoustic environment, it's their choice if they want to listen over cheap speakers in the bog, so you can never be sure how someone else hears your sound, and that's before psychoacoustics, and personal opinions and prejudices colour how the listener receives your precious work.  It is a matter of trying to get a balance that communicates well in the majority of environments.

It is always worth taking a few days out (if you can) and coming back and listening with fresh ears.

Another thought.  The signal chain is similar to the thought process in setting up your pedal board too  (i.e. do you want distortion delay or delayed distortion? etc)  Just take your time and play around with this stuff, it is great fun, very rewarding, and you really do get better with practice.  Play is a very under rated learning tool in our culture.

ChrisMusic said:

Hey there TPD, I just put this discussion up here, basically two videos on Pete Thorn's studio.  Lots of interesting stuff on what he has built and how he uses it from a guitarists point of view.  Take a look.

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/10586/pete-thorn-s-new-studio-and-recording-tips

Note the sound of the studio and live room on the video, it shows how boxy the ambient reflections are, in any small modern space, and how easily they can colour your sound when recording anything.  (ie. you know if someone is in the toilet when they call on the mobile, even without sound effects   )

This may apply to your current project, but will be a skill which will help in recording and gigging too.

Never loose track of the ambient room sound, either gigging or recording, or in mix or critical listening situations.  The acoustic panels in his live room cut a lot, but it is still there.  Early reflections carry a lot of energy and cause all sorts of phase colouration, which you can't really EQ out.  You may want to look at using stuff you already have to do a bit of acoustic deadening if you feel that is affecting your recorded tone.  (i.e. Fabrics and furnishings as they are free, if already to hand)

He describes phase quickly but quite well in video two, covering it in regard to mic placement.

Close miking kills most of the room sound, but then you have proximity effects, and the mic pickup pattern as well as some spill from room acoustics to take into account.

Do also note that using EQ introduces frequency dependant phase shifts, and can make things difficult to get to sound quite right.

It is not as simplistically intuitive as it seems.

(edit: just tidied things up a bit - hopefully)

LastMantra

ThePrettyDamned said:

Holy pissballs, I don't know what any of that means.  

Ha, don't sweat it neither do I!  TBH I'm probably about 1/8th of a step ahead of you here. I would recommend holding on to it though, especially for the type of music you seem to be into. I've been going back to it from time to time.  >:D<

LastMantra

How you getting on anyway?

steamabacus

Some food for thought ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOwfLWKfSuY&index=2&list=PL154F3490A9330475

... or, paradoxically ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQMLo1xym0Q&index=8&list=PL154F3490A9330475

ThePrettyDamned

I'm getting on alright!

I had a pretty cool sound from double tracking, once with a middy, cutting sound and the other with a slightly thicker sound. It did sound better with a bit of panning. I think an eq pedal would be nice, too, but I'm nit picking. It's good enough for rock n roll.

I'm planning on recording something inspired by Malian desert blues (don't do blues or... Er... Desert) tonight, which will probably be a clean guitar and bass and a dirty lead. I'll see how that goes, if I'm allowed to turn the amp on...

LastMantra

Another trick is to add some reverb/delay to a guitar track and pan the clean guitar to one side and just the reverb to the other side.

Hertz32

Edit: Dumb question