![]() ![]() When listening to modern metal records, it’s easy to assume that there is some sort of audio alchemy at work making the guitars sound so wide and huge. Not only will this help you find a raw initial tone that works well, but doing this beforehand will save you a massive amount of time and effort when it comes to mixing 5. If you can’t hear the notes clearly, ease off the gain. ![]() If the guitar isn’t clearly audible, increase the mids.If the guitar is overriding the snare, pull back the presence.If the guitar is clashing with the bass and kick drum, cut back the bass.The ultimate goal is to make a full band recording that sounds powerful and complete, so the guitars should be a part of that mix that complements the whole.įor that reason, sculpt and fine-tune your tone while hearing the guitar in the context of the band mix. This is a realization that you need to know, especially if you are solo guitarist who records from home. Dial-in Your Tone in the Context of a Full Band MixĪ guitar tone that sounds great in isolation doesn’t necessarily sound great in a full band mix. This also helps in terms of choosing mic placements and mic combinations instead of a sonic “blank canvas”, you have a sound in your head that you’re trying to recreate with the microphones. You should tweak the amp and guitar to be as close to what you have in your head first of all.Įffects come later, where you can then use EQ, compression and additional pedals to fine-tune the tone by making subtle changes. Get it sounding how you want it before introducing EQ, compression or even mics.Īside from your actual playing and performance, the guitar and the amp are the two most important parts of the recording. One of the most crucial things I’ve learned recording metal guitars is to tweak the guitar and amp in the room first. Not only does this give the guitar much more presence in the mix, helping cut through loud drums and bass, but it also adds a lot of clarity and definition, two elements that are essential for technical genres of metal. Most players will benefit from adding more mid-range frequencies to their sound. Much of the power and heft of metal comes from the bass guitar and kick drum, by scooping guitars you may end up with a colossal sounding guitar tone, but the full band mix will suffer as a result. ![]() However, by doing this, you make creating a balanced mix, where the bass and drums are clearly audible – much harder. This was used to great effect by Metallica in their later recordings and since then became an almost ubiquitous sound in metal during the late 90s and early 00s, with guitars sounding much bassier than ever before. Scooping the mids of your guitar recordings. Clarity & Mid RangeĪnother common mistake many guitarists make when dialing in metal sounds is scooping the mids from their tone. This is because too much distortion overly compresses the sound, resulting in a muddy, wooly tone that has no dynamics or responsiveness to your playing.īy dialing back the gain, you will not only achieve a much clearer, sharper sound, but the guitar will naturally respond to changes in your own playing dynamics, leading to a much more natural, interesting recording. While they’re still overdriven with plenty of saturation, they are nowhere near as distorted as the full band mix would have you believe. For example, Listen to these isolated guitar tracks from Slayer ![]()
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