As hardware and software get cheaper and cheaper, more and more is available at a very reasonable cost. This thread will talk about various techniques and tips for getting the best possible sound out of your home recording gear.
Todd

MIXING AND MASTERING:

Some of you may notice that your recordings don't seem loud enough. This is something every musician has to work through when doing their own production. The secret is in mixing and mastering. Once you have done your initial "mix" it's time to master! What is mastering? It's the final step in the mix down process before "Authoring" or burning, uploading etc.

Here is a link to a great Wiki article on Mastering

WIKI- WHAT IS "MASTERING" IN AUDIO?

Here is a spiff graphic to illustrate the audio meter bridge you typically see in your DAW or Editing Software


You want to try to get close to "Unity Gain" or 0 DB without going over and creating clipping or distortion in the overall signal.
One way of doing this is to use a "Mastering Plugin" there are many available. I really like the IZOTOP OZONE plugin. It sounds great and has a tone of useful presets. The presets are not perfect but are a great place to start tweaking from. Here is a look at the Ozone Interface.
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Here is a link to download the demo. It is cross platform and works in most software as a plugin. Give it a try just starting with some of the presets You'll be shocked at how much it can improve your overall mix especially at first. Be careful not to overuse it though as you will compress your sound too much and crush it.
LINK TO DOWNLOAD OZONE
Todd

MY GUITAR LEVEL/VOLUME SEEMS TOO LOW WHEN I'M MIXING?

Once you run out of "head room" you have to start pulling tricks out the bag if you want to keep using that track. However, at that point you are going to be pulling the noise floor up as well so if it's just to quite you may not have gotten a good track and it may be a good idea to re record it and try and get more level as you go in.

However, if that's not an option, it's time for the trick bag.

1.)Compression-Most audio software supporst some type of per track compression. This can be used to bump up the gain of a signal and keep it from over modulating. Compression is an art unto itself and take time to master.

2.)Double the track- you can copy and paste the track in to another empty track, then off set it just slightly in the timeline, just a few milliseconds, and pan each 15 degrees from center. One left, one right. This will give you a fuller sound as well as louder.

Demo: Guitar Track Doubled (Same Part Played Twice)
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Demo: Guitar Track Quadrupled (Same Part Played Four Times)
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3.)Re-Amping - you can use an amp modeling plugin to simulate "Re-Amping" or going out of your computer, in to an Amp/cab re recording the signal and bringing it back in.

Each of this will bring up the noise floor so you will need to use a noise gate, and some eq. If you consistenly don't get enough level on your guitar tracks, it may be a good idea to look at your input chain. Getting god levels going in is critical.

Its for dithering, not really a mastering issue - eg. if You have Your material in 16 bits 44,1 kHZ, You might wanna convert it to another format and do the mastering. Or the other way round, if You recorded at 96 kHz and 24 bit, the output for a CD shall be 44.1 and 16 bit. Its really for converting and resampling the recorded material.

//Staffay

Yeah that's not a mastering plugin Staffy is right on the money. As for getting better level going in, it's tip time!

1.)Turn your amp up to a comfortably loud level.
*Not deafening but loud enough that you need to close the door.

2.)Use a decent mic. An SM-57 is a good place to start.
*You can get one used pretty cheap, check around. I like using a nice studio condenser mic, but that introduces other consideration such as the need for phantom power etc. See my post about my personal setup for more on condenser mics.

3.)Use Headphones when recording.
*In many small home studios, the guitar amp is in the same room with the speakers used for mixing. This can create "bleed" so use headphone when recording and turn your mixing speakers down all the way.

4.)Make sure enough level is getting recorded.
*Your meters can pop in to the read only breifly if at all. Bass frequencies can cause clipping so you may need to trim the bass back just a bit or move the mic back from the cab just a bit if you are not able to record at a hot enough level.

5.)Try, Try again.
*Like anything else with guitar it takes practice. Experiment with different mic positions, closer, further, angled, off axis, etc. And experiment with various tone settings. I spent 8 hours straight one weekend finding the best position for my mic given the room / volume / etc.

Hope this helps
Todd

By FAR a real noob regarding mixing & mastering I just want to add that I start using these plugins with Cubase:
http://www.bbesound.com/products/sonic-max...onic-sweet.aspx




They are really great and easy to use as you can determine loudness/tone/compression and last but def. not least the max output db.

Might be of use to some of you as well.
Cheers l

I'm finding that recording myself is an invaluable tool for improving my playing because when I record myself - I can then close my eyes and listen carefully thru headphones to what I recorded using a critical ear - one that is separated from the effort of playing.

It's when I hear myself recorded that I hear all the little mistakes I make - everything from strings not quite bent enough to sloppy string noise or runs where I didn't realize I skipped a note - if you can't hear it, you can't correct it! It's really forcing me to hear those areas where I need to concentrate the most in my practice. I think recording ones-self is an essential part of practice.

Christian A.

-- I need speeeling classes to reduce the number of post-edits in a day --

I will also add that if You use Cubase 5, You can fine-tune the tracks also. (it can probably been done in all DAW's) Eg. if You copy the original track twice, pan them left/right and set the delay to about -12 in left channel, then -24 in the right and at the same time fine-tune one track +10% and the other -10%, it will sound FAT. It will also help to route the copied channels to a separate bus and slowly raise the volume until it just gets noticed. The trick here is to just add a little - otherwise it will sound too processed....

//Staffay

Here are some quick tips to get more out of your home recording mix!

Tip 1: Rest Your Ears

If you’re mixing for a long amount of time you may be thinking your mix is going well when in reality it’s not. This can be a problem for people who refuse to stop until they are 100% happy with their results. I do this sometimes myself.

But your ears will eventually begin to get tired and you start hearing things that aren’t really there. That awesome guitar you’ve spent hours mixing will end up sound like crap the next morning when you listen back to it.

Your ears can neglect certain frequencies when your ears get tired and you pay too much attention to specific frequency ranges you lose sight of the bigger picture.

Tip 2: Mix At Lower Levels

This is very important. I think most of us know that loud music always sounds better because it allows the frequencies to spread out more.

Our ears are most sensitive to mid frequencies, but by playing music louder it evens everything out making high and low frequencies stand out more.

This is why loud music is more appealing. Why do you think venues play music so loud? It’s not always so everyone can hear. They sometimes keep the master volume down 5 dB until the last song then put it up, so the last song sounds better making the audience leave with a more positive opinion on the show.

So which is the best level to mix? You should usually check your mix in different levels to make sure it sounds fairly level-proof. A multi-band compressor on the master track can also help compensate for this. Usually mix at about conversation level – if you mix sounds well at a quiet level it should sound amazing at a high level.

Tip 3: Mono Listening

Checking a mix in mono is very important to make sure everything is sounding balanced. You may notice holes in a mono mix that you might not hear in stereo.

This may seem pointless as most things are now stereo but a lot of places still use mono. AM radio stations broadcast in mono. Cheap TV’s with 1 speaker and so on.

If you hear very little difference between switching from stereo and mono you might want to consider more panning.


Source:

Tutorial site with some killer audio tutorials.

Here is a nice online magazine about home/studio recording but concentrated on bass:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/newbay/bp_sessionlegends/#/0

This thread is so helpful

I added it to the knowledge base Todd, let me know if you wish to add/change anything there

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/wiki/inde...Tips_And_Tricks

Thanks Fran I made a bitly link directly to it as well.
http://bit.ly/projectstudio

Also, I did a demonstration recording to illustrate how doubling and quadrupling guitar tracks can impact the sound. Here are the files. I'll put them in the post about this as well.

Demo : Doubling Your Guitar Tracks
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Demo : Quadrupling Your Guitar Tracks
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HOME RECORDING TIPS AND TRICKS (Now in easy to read/navigate GMC Wikki!)

Special Thanks goes to Fran for taking all this information and making it much easier to take it all in and sift through it. He's taken it from a wad of varying posts to an organized, structured Wikki entry. Well done! Here is a preview pic and link.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/wiki/inde...Tips_And_Tricks

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Todd

I get a lot of questions about Home Recording, this is a subject near and dear to me so I"m happy to help . One I get most often is "Where do I place my Microphone near my amp/cab to get good sound?"
1.)In the Middle of the cone?
2.)Behind the amp to increase bass?
3.)Way back in the room to get room tone?
None of the above IMHO. The traditional way to do it is to stick the mic in the middle of the speaker cone. This works. It brings out the presence frequencies the guitar is famous for. However, it doesn't work for everything. If you have several mics, one can go there. If you have one mic, it depends on the sound you are going for.

Standard rock tone? Stick it in the middle. Done.
Metal/Thrash/Death Tone, especially for chunky parts? Here is the secret sauce.

Take a look at this pic and listen to the example. I've placed the mic "Off Axis" several inches away from the center of the cone and towards the edge of the speaker.
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Now take a look at this pic and listen to this example. I've got the mic in the center in "Standard" placement.
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Just a little thing like where you put the mic has a MASSIVE impact on your "sound" Experiment with mic placement and find what works best for you. Lead guitar parts do tend to work better closer to the center as they cut through the mix more. For Rythm Guitar Parts, especially for Heavy music, experiment with "Off Axis" mic placment. Your mixes will thank you


Todd

I"m using my RAVEN microphone on this. The Raven is a Killer Mic for Rock/Metal and it's cheap! Here is the link to a full review.http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/wiki/inde...aven_Mic_Review

WHAT IS A SUB-WOOFER AND DO I REALLY NEED ONE?

A "Sub-Woofer" or "Sub" is typically a single speaker enclosure containing one or more drivers/cones whose job it is to reproduce low frequency sounds. (E.g. Bass guitar, Kick Drum, Drop D tuning). Without a "Sub", you may not be hearing everything happening in your mix. If you take your mix to a friends house and they have a sub, your mix may sound too bassy.

Here is a great Wiki Entry on what a sub is and does.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subwoofer

*DO I REALLY NEED ONE?

Yes. You really do. Your speakers that you use for mixing probably are not letting you hear the deep end of your mixes. So you probably mixing blind. Guessing, essentially what is going on down there. You can work around this with various EQ techniques. But it's often simpler just to add the sub and be able to hear and mix the low stuff.

The good news is. A "decent" sub can be had pretty cheap. You don't need to buy them in pairs as low frequency sounds don't "localize" which means it's hard to tell where they are coming from. So one sub will do you in most cases. Here are some pics of my home studio sub which I FINALLY got hooked up after the move. (need to find a new place for my xbox now)

This unit was about 75 EURO and has really been AMAZING in terms of letting me hear whats going on in the dep end of my mixes. Get a sub. You'll be glad you did.
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Here is a great chart to show you where various sounds fall in the range of human hearing. Your desktop monitors/speakers are probably effective down to 100HZ or maybe 60Hz. But you can hear almost down to 20 HZ. So that gap is what your sub helps with. Even if it only goes to 30 or 40 HZ.

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NEW GEAR IN THE STUDIO!

I just got a DBX COMPRESSOR (DBX 1066)
http://www.dbxpro.com/1066/

That I"m integrating in to my home studio. It's my first "Hardware" Compressor ever. I"ve always relied on Software Compressors. A producer buddy of mine (Matt Rowles from indieatl.com) suggested it as a way to improve the tone of my direct recordings with GUITAR RIG and for using on vocals during my Vid Chat.

Review to follow! Here is a pic. These are about $400 each which is probably why I never used one before I"m curious to see if I like it better than software.
Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

Just added the sub info at the tips and tricks wiki entry:
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/wiki/inde...Tips_And_Tricks

Looking forward to that compressor review!

Interested in "Mastering"? Don't know where to start? Using izotope ozone? (For the home recordist it's a killer tool, download the demo if you have not ever used it, here is the link https://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/download.asp) The nice folks at OZONE have released a great tutorial/document on Mastering with OZONE. For those working in a home recording set, (like me) this is a great way to make your demos/backing tracks/collab tracks sound AWESOME! They should give me something for pimping them but sadly they don't. But despite that, I still love this plugin.

http://izotope.fileburst.com/guides/Mastering_With_Ozone.pdf

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A great video from the Legend of the frozen North OLA ENGLUND on recording METAL guitars.

Thank you Todd !

If you like the DBX type sound then it's fine at what it does but the 1066 is very much a coloured VCA - so don't expect it to be subtle or transparent. It should be fine for drums and vox but I'd think very carefully before using it on the 2 bus. Arguably for a first hardware unit a less coloured box would be much more versatile. Regardless of that make sure you gain stage it properly to your ADC or it'll be a bit of a mixed blessing.




It's a start but there is too much emphasis on colouring/processing and making things loud, which is not the main purpose of mastering.

Any time Here is a really spiff one showing how he doubles his tracks to get a bigger sound. It's simple and effective. There are 1000 ways to record guitars, and 1000000000000 ways to optimize, mix, pan etc. But this gives a really good quick and dirty approach that just sounds spiff with minimal sweat.







Well said! DO NOT PUT THIS THING ON YOUR 2 BUS people. I actually tried it and was very disappointed. Almost sounded like there was an EQ gain rider doing unpredictable stuff to my mix. I got this unit though to use ahead of my signal path for

GUITAR RIG
AMPLITUDE
OVERLOUD

and I have to say it does a killer job in that role. I have found that feeding uncompressed signals in to my guitar plugins does not thrill me. Squash it a bit and it makes the software act somewhat more like an amp turned way up. Sort of a fakeish way to simulate a cranked up amp coloring the fudge out of things which can be handy on guitar for crazy high gain lead settings, chug chug palm mute chunking etc. I guess any compressor would work though,

I set the attack short, the compression high and release long. Also makes playing lead fun as light/fast notes still get plenty of gain.

Also, good point on OZONE, it is all about LOUDNESS and it's just a start, not really "Mastering" per se. For that you need a MASTERING ENGINEER! When I need something mastered for real, I'd hand it off, I'm not going to even pretend I can swim in that pond. I have enough ears to hear the difference between my results and "Pro Mastered" tracks. Sadly, many musicians think they are mastering engineers and master their own releases even up commercial release. Bad idea.

When I want my demo/backing track/lesson track to sound a bit louder/meaner, I throw on ozone and a custom patch. It's great for home use. But yeah, if I was planning a big release, I'd probably just call Mr. Miro.

KILLER Series from SOS about recording Heavy music. Here, they talk to producer Andy Sneap

About Andy (Andy Sneap works out of his own studio, Backstage Studios, housed in a converted farm in Derbyshire, which he founded in 1994. He received a Swedish Grammy for his work on Opeth's Deliverance album, as well as US Grammy nominations for his work on Killswitch Engage's The End of Heartache, Megadeth's Endgame "Sudden Death". He also produced Accept's reunion album Blood of the Nations.)

QUICK AND DIRTY RECORDING TERMS:



AUDIO INTERFACE (Often called an "External Sound Card"

-Typically, these are external little boxes, some look like mixers. Some have one input, some have many. Most connect via USB, firewire etc. Some Audio Interfaces require internal PCI cards as well as external expansion boxes. Pro Tools rigs at the high end are a good example. They have internal "daughter cards" and external Input output boxes. But for most folks, recording at home, on a budget. you are looking at a USB/Firewire connected box with one ore more inputs.

The scarlett is a good example. I know that language itself is sometimes a barrier and that there is a lot of info to track here. So I thought it might help to spell this out a bit?

Click to view attachment

Just so we can establish a reference really.


Now if you want to record directly in to your laptop (most of GMC students I"ve spoken with tend to record on laptops but certainly not all. Some use Towers. Most use PC's but some use Macs.) You typically have a MIC LEVEL INPUT that looks like a small headphone jack. MIC LEVEL inputs are different than LINE LEVEL inputs. Here is a

GREART ARTICLE ON WHAT THE HECK THE DIFFERENCE IS!!!!!
http://recordmixandmaster.com/2010-02-mic-...-the-difference

But either way, if you use some sort of adapter, and plug your guitar, or a microphone, or the output of a pedal/amp/rack gear etc. directly in to your laptop/pc, you are "Recording Direct". This can often sound quite bad unless you take some steps. As you are bypassing a speaker cab, you usually have to fake it. Either with speaker emulation of some type, or in software.

BACK TO THE DIRECT BOX

If you are recording directly in to your machine, the DI BOX alone, probably isn't worth doing IMHO. But if you are going to use some sort of hardware emulation (LIKE THE SPIFFY BEHRINGER DI WITH EMULATION) you may be able to skip the amplitude plugins altogether if you like. This box acts like an amp/speaker etc. It's more about being a SANSAMP type unit than about being an direct box when used like this.



So then we have

HARDWARE EMULATION
-LIke the SANSAMP, or this new BEHRINGER DI, that let you sound like you are playing through a full amp/rig, without needing one. You can record direct to computer, or use an audio interface.

SOFTWARE EMULATION
-Like Amplitude and such. These let you plug either direclty in or through an audio interface and sound like a full amp/rig without needing one using software running in your computer.

RECORDING AN ACTUAL AMP
-Here is where new recordists run in to trouble. They may take the headphone output, or line output of their fav practice amp/stack etc. and run that in to their computer/laptop or in to their audio interface. The results can be quite crap.
Unless the amp has 'speaker simulation" the signal isn't going to sound right as it's not getting "speaker color" it's not going through a speaker.

*The best way to record a real, live, honest to God amp. Is with a real, live honest to Microphone. Usually an SM57 is a good place to start,

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but in a pinch whatever you have can work. Louder is often better (to a point) and recording loud guitars at home has all sorts of problems. Not the least of which is lack of isolation (unless you put your stack in the living room and have your mix position in the bedroom) and neighbors. Bringing us back to emulation.


FULL CIRCLE!

Hopefully this lays it out in basic terms and gets you over some of the initial problems / issues of being a new home recordist. It's frustrating at first. Just like playing guitar. But it gets way better the more you do it. And it's no good in a vacuum. So share your recordings and be open to criticism. Also, taking criticism well requires practice. Take in everything, absorb what is useful - Bruce Lee

I'm planning on setting up my home studio in a few months and am doing research so I can purchase wisely. What kind of hardeware should be considered if I'm mainly going to focus on using emulation software to record. So far I'm thinking a power conditioner, a direct box, and obviously an interface. Is there anything else that's considered basic that I'm not aware of yet, or that I should not leave to software?

That should at least get you started. Like playing guitar building your home studio is an endless process. But yeah with a computer, power, di box and interface your ready to start. Make sure you plan which DAW (reaper is a great place to start) and which AMP SIM (TH1 Triode is a great place to start) you plan to use as well.

The DI box is not a "have to" really as your interface will get you going. But it's a GREAT idea and honestly the secret sauce to my tone. Without one, getting signal in to the interface with a low noise floor isn't as easy and IMHO does't push the sim hard enough. For most folks it's fine. But for me, I like a sickening amount of Gain So the boost section on my Behringer Pro rack DI provides something I just don't want to be without.


For example, this is all DIRECT RECORDING, no amps, no real anything. All VST and it sounds IMHO like your in the room with the amp. It's harder for me to get this level of tone with a real amp in the home studio just for volume reasons. My rig can sound like this, but only at crazy high volume which is a pain at 3:00 am.

http://soundcloud.com/techniqueswithtodd/gmc-lesson-128-backing-six

If a DI box helps to lower the noise floor and raise input signal, it seems like a worthy investment. I'm pretty new at recording but my hatred for excessive noise is growing quickly . I am using reaper now and like it alot. TH1 looks pretty cool I was also considering guitar rig because of all the patches you have shared on here. Have you tried any of the free software available like acmebargig or lepou?

REAPER is an AWESOME DAW and IMHO, can go toe to toe with Pro Tools or Logic in terms of features and sound quality. Th1 is the cheapest way in to spiff tone that I've found for direct recording. I've tried some of the FREE solutions and didn't like any of them nearly as much.

I still like Guitar Rig too! Either one will get you going. You can download GUITAR RIG FREE which is a free version of Guitar Rig 5 with limited gear in it but it sounds great and it's FREE. You can download demos of TH1 and TH2 I've got presets for all of them in my forum.

Here are my FREE Guitar Rig 4 patches (works with GR 5 too)

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...7629&hl=rig

And here are my TH1 Patches (works with TH2 as well)

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...2013&hl=rig

As for DI, yup, I"m a BIG fan of using an active DI box to bump the signal up before it hits the interface/daw. It helps keep the noise floor sounding lower and drives the software better IMHO. Without it, I just don't like the tone results as much.

Try all the freeware amp sims and see what you think. I found them to be a tad fizzy, and not "djenty" or krunchy enough but then again I like LOTS of crunch per the track above. But some folks like the free ones and it fits their style so more power to em!

In short, it really is possible to get some killer tones out of the current batch of emulators. Also, for home recording, not having to put my amp in the living room and turn it up to 10 is handy as well since the neighbors were not fans of that approach. A good sim can make it seem like you have a MASSIVE guitar stack in a iso booth set just perfect and miced up. So you are controlling it like you would a real rig in a real studio, from you workstation. Your just clicking instead of using a HUGE mixing board. The mixing board thing is starting to wane a bit also it seems as more folks mix "IN THE BOX" or entirely in a computer.

It's a great time to be a musician

Todd

Not quite - all electrical devices add noise. What the DI will do is help match the impedence of the input to the output and provide the output as a balanced signal. If you are reamping as Todd does a DI is a good idea as it lets you interface an electric guitar signal to the line level XLR balanced input on the mixing console/desk or your AD audio device.

So it's not neccessary if your interface has an instrument input as opposed to line in, and your just using software? When would you use "reamping"? I'm not 100% clear on what that is.

It's not 100% needed to use a DI honestly. You can just plug your guitar jack directly in to your recording interface. Works just fine I use a DI to push the signal louder/hotter/stronger before it gets to the recording interface. This usually helps the VST get more useful signal to work with and drives the distortion emulation a bit better but for starters you don't need to worry about it at all really. Just something I've added


I"m software reamping my signal in that I record dry/no fx/nothing on the signal. When I"m recording I"ll listen with a VST like TH2 active on the track so I get an idea if pinch harmonics are working and such. Then on mixdown, I go back and usually make a brand new TH1/TH2 patch to pass the dry recorded signal through that works with the overal mix.

On the other side is Hardware Re-Amping, where you might record a dry guitar signal. Run it then to a real guitar amp in a real room with a real mic, and record the resulting signal. During the initial record process, a vst might be used to make sure it's sounding ok in terms of performance. This allows the guitar player to focus entirely on the performance as the "tone" will be created once the performance is recorded and then Re-Amped.

Hope this helps

Todd

If the input is a HiZ you can use it direct for your electric guitar.

TAMING NOISE DURING GUITAR / VST / EMULATION RECORDING

I thought I'd put this information in my recording thread. It' a post I created for the main forum but it seemed like it should live here
-----

First up some potential causes.

1.)Single Coil Pickups

*Single coil pickups are notorious for HUM.

Possible Solution: Leave the pickup selector set to use the middle and bridge pickup. Sometimes, this helps reduce hum/noise.

2.)Not enough gain on input/Too much gain on input.

*If you are using the input on your laptop/desktop, it may be a "Microphone" input, instead of a "line" input. Your guitar should be going in to a "line" input if you have one. If you see a little Microphone icon near the input, it's a Mic input.

Possible Solution: Turn off the plugin and make sure your not hitting the red line to hard (E.G. clipping the signal) You can push in to the red, but it should not stay there. If it is, reduce input volume using windows software mixer/level control.


3.)Noise Gate set incorrectly.

*There is a noise gate built in to Amplitude and REAGATE plugin in Reaper. Each has it's quirks.

Possible Solution: Try to use the threshold settings to cut off the signal before noise but don't clamp it too hard or it will ruin your sustain. The amplitude noise gate is a tad less configurable than the reaper gate, and learning to use the REAPER gate on guitar will hopefully help you be able to use it on other types of tracks. Here is a cool vid describing how to use the built in REAPER noise gate. Enjoy!!




4.)Ground Loop/AC Hum.

*Power/Electric issues can cause noise/hum.

Possible Solution: You can buy a device like EBtech Xhum to help reduce the noise coming from power lines, light dimmers, poor grounding etc.

Click to view attachment

5.)Guitar Pickup Wiring Issue, not grounding.

*Your guitar itself could be the culprit if the wiring is faulty, or certain wires are touching certain bits, it can produce crazy amounts of hum. (I'm dealing with this myself!!!)

Possible Solution: : Take your guitar to a shop/guitar tech and ask him to make sure the wiring looks good and that it's grounded properly.



Todd

E.Q. (Equalization) CAN RUIN OR SAVE YOUR MIX

Understanding which instruments live in which part of the sound (frequency) spectrum is crucial. Here is a quick and dirty list of typical ranges of typical instruments (Extended range instruments bleed in to Bass Guitar Territory). This is a handy chart gor general reference. IF you find something is not cutting through, or your noticing two things causing each other to sound muted/masked, you can often create a Sonic Fence around an instrument using an EQ to cut off below and above the instruments general frequency range.

DISCLAIMER: As TONY MIRO can tell you, this is a very general concept and DOES NOT work in every situation and isn't intended as an "Absolute Truth" without exception. It's a general guide to help you understand where instruments live in a given mix


Here is an example of using an EQ to carve out a place for a given track (kick drum for example).


Here is the Reference List

Kick Drum: Bottom or depth is usually found in the 60-80Hz region; slap at 2.5kHz.

Snare Drum: Weight, fatness or body at about 240Hz; bite at 2kHz; crispness at 4-8kHz.

Hi-hat: 'Gong' at 200Hz; shimmer at 7.5-12kHz.

Cymbals: 'Clunk' from 100-300Hz; ringing overtones at 1-6kHz; sizzle at 8-12kHz.

Rack Toms: Fullness around 240Hz; attack at 5kHz.

Floor Toms: Fullness around 80-120Hz; attack at 5kHz.

Congas: Resonance around 200-240Hz; slap at 5kHz.

Bass Guitar: Bottom at 60-80Hz; attack or 'pluck' at 700Hz to 1kHz; 'pop' at 2.5kHz.

Electric Guitar: Mains hum at 50Hz (UK) or 60Hz (US); fullness at 240Hz; bite at 2.5kHz

Acoustic Guitar: Bottom or weight at 80-100Hz; body around 240Hz; clarity from 2-2.5kHz.

Hammond/Electric Organ: Bottom from 80-120Hz; presence at 2.5kHz.

Acoustic Piano: Bottom from 80-120Hz; presence between 2.5 and 5kHz; attack around 10kHz; 'shrillness' at 5-7.5kHz.

Horns: Fullness at 120-240Hz; shrillness from 5-7kHz.

Brass: Warmth at 200-400Hz; 'honk' at 1-3.5kHz; 'rasp' at 6-8kHz; shrillness at 8-12kHz.

Solo Trumpet & Sax: Warmth at 200-400Hz; nasal tones at 1-3kHz.

Strings: Fullness at 200-300Hz; 'scratch' (bow and string noise) from 7.5-10kHz.

Vocals: Fullness around 120Hz; 'boom' around 200-240Hz; presence at 5kHz; sibilance from 7.5-10kHz. Matt Houghton

Hello Todd, I have a question of tube amp recording.

I recently buy EVH 5150 III combo amp. And I have line 6 UX1 as audio interface.
I know the best way for recording is to put a microphone in front of the amp.
But are there other ways for recording using my amp's tone?

Below is the rear panel of EVH 5150 III combo amp.
Which jack should I use to connect the Line 6 UX1?

Click to view attachment

Thank you very much!!

There are TONS of options but many require spending more money to buy a hardware speaker emulator or such. For free you can always "do it in software" You can come out of your headphone out if you like and run in to your interface but keep the level out of the red.

You will then probably want to use some sort of speaker simulator. The most simple approach would be to download something like the FREE Version of AMPLITUDE and use a clean patch so it does a cab sim on it's way through the software.


http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/amplitubecs/

That will get you started

But to be honest, with a really nice tube amp like that, it's a shame to fake half the tone. You can get a guitarcab that is closed and reduces the noise to record with called an ISOLATION CAB but it does cost more money. You can get pretty close to the sound of that head just using software such as amplitude but it does take much tweaking. But it's worth a try as any tone experimenting is always worth doing Let me know how it works!

Todd

Thank you Todd, it works!
And I have another question. What is preamp out? When to use it? Thank you veru much!!

Wow, that EQ table is awesome. I will definitely try this now.

Happy to help (P.S. shoot me a P.M. if possible for direct questions just in case I miss it in the forum as there are TONS of posts).

Glad it worked out!! The PREAMP OUT will probably force you to use more volume than you want to for home recording which is why I didn't suggest it. Give it a whirl though Don't forget to plug in your guitar cab so that you don't run the head with no "load" on it. Typically this can be bad for your head unless it is built to be able to handle it.

Todd





Glad you dig it It's really helpful as a quick and dirty reference!!

IS THERE A FLOYD ROSE IN YOUR HOME STUDIO?

The FLOYD ROSE trem is something that many of us love/hate. No matter what, if you play/record Heavy Music, you will run in to them and whether you are recording yourself, or your band, or your friends, or PAYING CLIENTS, being able to change the strings on a FLOYD and being able to properly set one up, is a crucial skill IMHO. To wit!!! A couple of vids that cover most everything you'll need to know

HOW DO I CHANGE STRINGS ON A FLOYD?


HOW DO I DO A PROPER SETUP ON A FLOYD?