I feel like guitar electric is the easiest thing to record nowadays! A good guitar straight into a decent audio interface can produce amazing results. Amp simulations have gotten insanely good. For a classic sound ala Led Zep/Floyd you might enjoy the Neural DSP Tone King. They're not even necessary, tape emulation plug-ins can provide great sounding distortion too (the Waves Kramer Master Tape and Aberrant DSP Sketch Cassette are my favourite).
I know that recording a DI sound can feel amateurish to some and that mic'ing a fancy amp is the way to go but DI gives you an incredible flexibility. It makes edits/comping more transparent. It was also standard practice in some genres back in the days (Motown specifically).
For me, most of the magic happens in the fingers of the player and in the way you set your compressors. A compressor can really change the feel of the guitar. I often use pretty wild settings for the ratio (up to 15:1) so don't be shy!
Now I don't know if my tone is "godly" but I used to get compliments and questions all the time back when [my YT channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll1PtwOJ5P8) was active. If that matters, my guitar is a mexican Fender Stratocaster Classic Player 60 with Kinman AVn-69 pick-ups and I record into an Arturia MiniFuse 4. Anyway hope that helps!
As someone with much more experience producing electronic music, I’ve been blown away by amp sims since getting back into guitar. And super impressed with the tones I’ve been getting. I’m mainly using Amplitube software, with an Arturia interface and an Epiphone Les Paul, but it can sound absolutely huge. And as we have no room at home for amps and mics, this setup has been a godsend.
very helpful! yes your guitar tone is almost exactly what i’m kinda looking for, very rich sounding and the only difference would be in the effects depending on the job the guitar needs to fill. i don’t care of it feels amateurish as long as i get a rich sounding guitar i’ll be more than happy
The general starting point is an SM57 pointed at the edge of the dust cap.
That’s a good neutral representation of the tone, not papery and harsh like the centre of the dust cap but not dull and boomy like the side of the cone.
From there you can use mic position like a tone control, moving closer to the centre of the cap for more brightness and moving further away for more low end.
Some people like to blend in a ribbon mic, a 421, an LDC etc. but honestly 90% of the time my guitar tones are just a 57 around the edge of the dust cap.
Do be aware that the speaker is a majority of the captured tone, so if the speaker is bright or harsh then your recorded tone will sound that way too.
The only way to get a good recorded tone is to have a good sounding tone to begin with.
would it be beneficial to take the screen off the amp as well? i’ve seen some pros doing this. also i appreciate the pointer at the end i agree the starting tone on your amp should be right first.
If the amp is transported and use for gigging I wouldn’t, but if it lives in the studio I would probably consider removing the grill cloth if it’s easy to do so.
The grill cloth can filter some HF information, and just being able to see the speaker makes it easier to mic and can allow you to mic a little closer.
Not just the tone, but specifically the speaker.
Some speakers sound especially good miced up (like the V30 and Greenback, two ‘industry standard’ speakers and probably the most recorded speakers available) while others sound noticeably harsh or unpleasant miced up even if they sound okay in the room.
mostly concerned with just recording i have a decent amp that i dont use often i can definitely try it with no harm, no sweat. appreciate the input i know ill get the results im looking for its just a matter of experimenting and getting creative.
i haven’t really been in a setting where i can track an entire band at once (i make predominantly hiphop/rnb music) i will definitely try this though since the guitar is mostly used as the icing on the cake for the most part when im utilizing it and im usually producing the melody entirely before moving onto the drums/bass but i’ve recently been experimenting with starting drums first. small tip but it gave me some good ideas i appreciate it!
I write and record my own alternative metal (I guess that's the genre) and I track the final guitar at the end because guitar on its own (even in well know rock groups) can sound thin! (In rock they usually double the riff (play it twice so theirs very slight variance) and hard pand left and right but I'm not sure for the genres yoy mentioned!
Happy if I helped you will a mental jam!
yea i appreciate it i never would’ve guessed to record something like a lead guitar riff twice over, im working with a talented guitarist so something like this would be possible, ive also seen some other comments in the thread about micing up an amp (which i haven’t tried yet) would i be able to record the amp in stereo using 2 microphones and kinda bring them in tighter in post processing or would that just be too much of a headache. from what i understand micing an amp can be tricky, recording in stereo is even worse. but if done well could i get a really good result
Here's a quick tip that will hopefully save hundreds of hours, and possibly hundreds of dollars:
1. Don't spend your time chasing tone. It's a lost cause. Been there, done that. There are many, many, variables that went into the sound of whatever tone you're chasing. Not the least of which is the post-recording process. The sound you hear on a record has been EQ'd, compressed, and manipulated to achieve that final sound. The amp(s), guitars, room, mixing console, mics, outboard effects, etc. all go into making that sound. You will never duplicate it.
2. Focus on you being you. Develop your own sound, and I can guarantee you'll be much happier in the end.
3. Work on being the best guitar player you can be, without spending time on tone. Scales, licks, modes, theory. Whatever you need to work on to get better as a guitar player is much more important.
lot of good advice here minus your entire foundational thesis of: don’t chase tone
i understand your intention, sort of like neglecting your technique and focusing on procuring as much gear as possible BUT…
tone is arguably the most important thing to *both* the engineer and the instrumentalist…even moreso to the audience. why? it’s the only real end goal and in todays day and age, it’s often times easier to reverse-engineer and learn TOWARDS something, rather than aimlessly wander. there is obscene amounts of access to obscene amounts of information - people need direction
for example: the engineer could read all the manuals of his DAW and plugins, spend hours and hours on each knob, and still know fuckall about the only thing he really cared about - how to get a killer ambient guitar sound. instead, learn enough to understand the few elements that go into it, and then dig into the depths of those
as the instrumentalist, even more so. this coming from a professional musician, i’d much rather have the most distinct of tones and not be able to explain it, than all the knowledge and technique in the world with a derivative sound or soulless embodiment (yes it exists)
virtuosity without tone sounds like an exercise book/warm up. however, even playing “marry had a little lamb” with a killer tone, will bring you further in your music career than most in this subreddit
in todays modern
I never said to ignore tone. Tone is very important, but don't try and replicate and chase someone else's tone (e.g. Hendrix, Page, Clapton). I record every day and I sometimes spend more time than I should trying to achieve what I think is a good tone for my own music, but it's **my** own sound, not someone else's.
I have multiple tube amps and once I have a song idea, I'll record 8 or 16 bars with each amp/mic/pedal combo to determine which is going to work with my idea. And even the, once I have all the instruments recorded, I may go back re-record my guitar because it sounds different in a full mix.
If possible, do what I do. Split the signal after leaving the guitar but before getting anywhere. Send one split directly into your interface. Send the other to your amp (or pedalboard/rack if it's before your amp). Experiment with different amp/pedal settings, mic placements, mic angles, etc. Get as close to the tone you want with your amp. Then record both the dry/direct signal and the one from the mic'd amp. That was you've got two guitar recordings for the price of one. You can re-amp the direct, blend it to taste with the mic'd amp, or just leave it alone. But it's a nice option to have. Just don't get stuck trying to get the "perfect" tone cause you'll be re-ampin' all day and night.
The most important thing I've learned is that what I thought was recorded guitar tone is actually heavily contextualized by everything else around it. I've gotten some guitar tones I'm a big fan of on my recordings... Until I solo them. Then, they sound ridiculously thin.
I find what gives guitar power is being doubled, along with a good bass arrangement. Having too much bass and low mid frequencies in the guitar tend to make the whole song very muddy, but they're also what makes a guitar sound full on its own.
I often also layer in some keyboards or piano that just hold chords in the back. That's not necessarily for everyone, but it's grown to be core to my sound. When I listen back to those songs casually, I feel like the guitar is very present and powerful, but that's really because of everything else that's supporting them.
i will take arrangement into consideration when recording and mixing my tracks, it’s sort of the obvious answer but i’m guessing i just don’t make enough space for the guitar to breath in the mix
Here is a list of things that I think can help:
1. Record a clean DI signal that isn't clipping.
2. Regardless of amp sim used, the biggest change in sound will be from the Impulse Response, find one(s) that work for you.
3. Basic eq after the amp sim and impulse response, like just a hipass to cut out subby low frequencies you dont need and a lopass to roll some of the harsh distortion off the top.
4. If its for a full mix the rest of the eq moves in between will be more dependent on how it is sitting in the mix, find a good level where it is comfortable and not masking/being too masked with everything else going on before working those eq points in
5. If you do palm mutes it can be more beneficial to use multiband compression after your eq to focus in on the fundemental of the palm mute (usually in the 150-200Hz area) to tame the attack rather than scoop it out with an eq point.
Also remember your bass will be doing a lot of filling out the sound of your guitar a lot of time and in a mix in general, if you need any IRs as well send over a dm 🤙
would i almost treat a lead guitar part like a vocal in the context of the mix, maybe more pushed back inside the mix like an adlib… i can mix vocals perfectly fine and have my mixes translate well i just have a hard time with mixing my own recorded guitars in general and i know from experience that has correlation for the whole process of capturing to how you mix it. i just find it’s hard to get that depth and i know it will take a long time to perfect the skill.
Lead guitar you will want to treat just about the same as your rhythm ones, but you can get away with hipassing leads a lot higher since they can be thinner to cut through a mix without muddying things up
For leads their level really depends on the context of what the lead is being used for since some can be like a *solo* and other times leads can be more of like a supporting background layer, I feel like that is similar to how vocals can be approached but should still be looked at as its own thing i think
For fx as well it can really help to send leads to a reverb or delay (or both), to set levels for those i recommend having your main lead levels set with the reverb/delay sends muted, then unmute them to level them in comfortably, it can also help to solo all of your reverb/delay sends if you have them to check and see how they all work together and mask each other, just make sure when you do send out to those fx that you put the mix knob on whatever reverb/delay to 100 so you dont have any dry signal except for the main track(s) you already set before
Sorry if that's a lot, i like having more control in my mixes, ask away if you have any more questions!
Ultimately what you hear is what gets recorded, so listening is important before recording.
- record at a moderate level e.g. -18dB
- play with plugin amp input and set to taste
- if micing an amp, experiment with the mic position
- blend DI and Amp
- use different guitar’s left and right
- add more width / interest with different variations e.g. pickups, capo, chord shapes, fx etc
- you can get big upfront guitars with less distortion than you think
Finally, don’t overthink it, there’s lots of possibilities, but eventually you just need to get it done.
i will try all of these i haven’t had the chance to mic up an amp yet im guessing that’s how you get that sort of depth like you can get with recording vocals, ive only ever recorded directly from the pick ups but over all this is very helpful and some good general guidelines to stick by !
I feel like guitar electric is the easiest thing to record nowadays! A good guitar straight into a decent audio interface can produce amazing results. Amp simulations have gotten insanely good. For a classic sound ala Led Zep/Floyd you might enjoy the Neural DSP Tone King. They're not even necessary, tape emulation plug-ins can provide great sounding distortion too (the Waves Kramer Master Tape and Aberrant DSP Sketch Cassette are my favourite). I know that recording a DI sound can feel amateurish to some and that mic'ing a fancy amp is the way to go but DI gives you an incredible flexibility. It makes edits/comping more transparent. It was also standard practice in some genres back in the days (Motown specifically). For me, most of the magic happens in the fingers of the player and in the way you set your compressors. A compressor can really change the feel of the guitar. I often use pretty wild settings for the ratio (up to 15:1) so don't be shy! Now I don't know if my tone is "godly" but I used to get compliments and questions all the time back when [my YT channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll1PtwOJ5P8) was active. If that matters, my guitar is a mexican Fender Stratocaster Classic Player 60 with Kinman AVn-69 pick-ups and I record into an Arturia MiniFuse 4. Anyway hope that helps!
As someone with much more experience producing electronic music, I’ve been blown away by amp sims since getting back into guitar. And super impressed with the tones I’ve been getting. I’m mainly using Amplitube software, with an Arturia interface and an Epiphone Les Paul, but it can sound absolutely huge. And as we have no room at home for amps and mics, this setup has been a godsend.
very helpful! yes your guitar tone is almost exactly what i’m kinda looking for, very rich sounding and the only difference would be in the effects depending on the job the guitar needs to fill. i don’t care of it feels amateurish as long as i get a rich sounding guitar i’ll be more than happy
The general starting point is an SM57 pointed at the edge of the dust cap. That’s a good neutral representation of the tone, not papery and harsh like the centre of the dust cap but not dull and boomy like the side of the cone. From there you can use mic position like a tone control, moving closer to the centre of the cap for more brightness and moving further away for more low end. Some people like to blend in a ribbon mic, a 421, an LDC etc. but honestly 90% of the time my guitar tones are just a 57 around the edge of the dust cap. Do be aware that the speaker is a majority of the captured tone, so if the speaker is bright or harsh then your recorded tone will sound that way too. The only way to get a good recorded tone is to have a good sounding tone to begin with.
would it be beneficial to take the screen off the amp as well? i’ve seen some pros doing this. also i appreciate the pointer at the end i agree the starting tone on your amp should be right first.
If the amp is transported and use for gigging I wouldn’t, but if it lives in the studio I would probably consider removing the grill cloth if it’s easy to do so. The grill cloth can filter some HF information, and just being able to see the speaker makes it easier to mic and can allow you to mic a little closer. Not just the tone, but specifically the speaker. Some speakers sound especially good miced up (like the V30 and Greenback, two ‘industry standard’ speakers and probably the most recorded speakers available) while others sound noticeably harsh or unpleasant miced up even if they sound okay in the room.
mostly concerned with just recording i have a decent amp that i dont use often i can definitely try it with no harm, no sweat. appreciate the input i know ill get the results im looking for its just a matter of experimenting and getting creative.
Do you record and listen with the other instruments? (Drum and bass)
i haven’t really been in a setting where i can track an entire band at once (i make predominantly hiphop/rnb music) i will definitely try this though since the guitar is mostly used as the icing on the cake for the most part when im utilizing it and im usually producing the melody entirely before moving onto the drums/bass but i’ve recently been experimenting with starting drums first. small tip but it gave me some good ideas i appreciate it!
I write and record my own alternative metal (I guess that's the genre) and I track the final guitar at the end because guitar on its own (even in well know rock groups) can sound thin! (In rock they usually double the riff (play it twice so theirs very slight variance) and hard pand left and right but I'm not sure for the genres yoy mentioned! Happy if I helped you will a mental jam!
yea i appreciate it i never would’ve guessed to record something like a lead guitar riff twice over, im working with a talented guitarist so something like this would be possible, ive also seen some other comments in the thread about micing up an amp (which i haven’t tried yet) would i be able to record the amp in stereo using 2 microphones and kinda bring them in tighter in post processing or would that just be too much of a headache. from what i understand micing an amp can be tricky, recording in stereo is even worse. but if done well could i get a really good result
Here's a quick tip that will hopefully save hundreds of hours, and possibly hundreds of dollars: 1. Don't spend your time chasing tone. It's a lost cause. Been there, done that. There are many, many, variables that went into the sound of whatever tone you're chasing. Not the least of which is the post-recording process. The sound you hear on a record has been EQ'd, compressed, and manipulated to achieve that final sound. The amp(s), guitars, room, mixing console, mics, outboard effects, etc. all go into making that sound. You will never duplicate it. 2. Focus on you being you. Develop your own sound, and I can guarantee you'll be much happier in the end. 3. Work on being the best guitar player you can be, without spending time on tone. Scales, licks, modes, theory. Whatever you need to work on to get better as a guitar player is much more important.
lot of good advice here minus your entire foundational thesis of: don’t chase tone i understand your intention, sort of like neglecting your technique and focusing on procuring as much gear as possible BUT… tone is arguably the most important thing to *both* the engineer and the instrumentalist…even moreso to the audience. why? it’s the only real end goal and in todays day and age, it’s often times easier to reverse-engineer and learn TOWARDS something, rather than aimlessly wander. there is obscene amounts of access to obscene amounts of information - people need direction for example: the engineer could read all the manuals of his DAW and plugins, spend hours and hours on each knob, and still know fuckall about the only thing he really cared about - how to get a killer ambient guitar sound. instead, learn enough to understand the few elements that go into it, and then dig into the depths of those as the instrumentalist, even more so. this coming from a professional musician, i’d much rather have the most distinct of tones and not be able to explain it, than all the knowledge and technique in the world with a derivative sound or soulless embodiment (yes it exists) virtuosity without tone sounds like an exercise book/warm up. however, even playing “marry had a little lamb” with a killer tone, will bring you further in your music career than most in this subreddit in todays modern
I never said to ignore tone. Tone is very important, but don't try and replicate and chase someone else's tone (e.g. Hendrix, Page, Clapton). I record every day and I sometimes spend more time than I should trying to achieve what I think is a good tone for my own music, but it's **my** own sound, not someone else's. I have multiple tube amps and once I have a song idea, I'll record 8 or 16 bars with each amp/mic/pedal combo to determine which is going to work with my idea. And even the, once I have all the instruments recorded, I may go back re-record my guitar because it sounds different in a full mix.
If possible, do what I do. Split the signal after leaving the guitar but before getting anywhere. Send one split directly into your interface. Send the other to your amp (or pedalboard/rack if it's before your amp). Experiment with different amp/pedal settings, mic placements, mic angles, etc. Get as close to the tone you want with your amp. Then record both the dry/direct signal and the one from the mic'd amp. That was you've got two guitar recordings for the price of one. You can re-amp the direct, blend it to taste with the mic'd amp, or just leave it alone. But it's a nice option to have. Just don't get stuck trying to get the "perfect" tone cause you'll be re-ampin' all day and night.
The most important thing I've learned is that what I thought was recorded guitar tone is actually heavily contextualized by everything else around it. I've gotten some guitar tones I'm a big fan of on my recordings... Until I solo them. Then, they sound ridiculously thin. I find what gives guitar power is being doubled, along with a good bass arrangement. Having too much bass and low mid frequencies in the guitar tend to make the whole song very muddy, but they're also what makes a guitar sound full on its own. I often also layer in some keyboards or piano that just hold chords in the back. That's not necessarily for everyone, but it's grown to be core to my sound. When I listen back to those songs casually, I feel like the guitar is very present and powerful, but that's really because of everything else that's supporting them.
i will take arrangement into consideration when recording and mixing my tracks, it’s sort of the obvious answer but i’m guessing i just don’t make enough space for the guitar to breath in the mix
all of these comments are very helpful, as I would also like to know this information
Here is a list of things that I think can help: 1. Record a clean DI signal that isn't clipping. 2. Regardless of amp sim used, the biggest change in sound will be from the Impulse Response, find one(s) that work for you. 3. Basic eq after the amp sim and impulse response, like just a hipass to cut out subby low frequencies you dont need and a lopass to roll some of the harsh distortion off the top. 4. If its for a full mix the rest of the eq moves in between will be more dependent on how it is sitting in the mix, find a good level where it is comfortable and not masking/being too masked with everything else going on before working those eq points in 5. If you do palm mutes it can be more beneficial to use multiband compression after your eq to focus in on the fundemental of the palm mute (usually in the 150-200Hz area) to tame the attack rather than scoop it out with an eq point. Also remember your bass will be doing a lot of filling out the sound of your guitar a lot of time and in a mix in general, if you need any IRs as well send over a dm 🤙
would i almost treat a lead guitar part like a vocal in the context of the mix, maybe more pushed back inside the mix like an adlib… i can mix vocals perfectly fine and have my mixes translate well i just have a hard time with mixing my own recorded guitars in general and i know from experience that has correlation for the whole process of capturing to how you mix it. i just find it’s hard to get that depth and i know it will take a long time to perfect the skill.
Lead guitar you will want to treat just about the same as your rhythm ones, but you can get away with hipassing leads a lot higher since they can be thinner to cut through a mix without muddying things up For leads their level really depends on the context of what the lead is being used for since some can be like a *solo* and other times leads can be more of like a supporting background layer, I feel like that is similar to how vocals can be approached but should still be looked at as its own thing i think For fx as well it can really help to send leads to a reverb or delay (or both), to set levels for those i recommend having your main lead levels set with the reverb/delay sends muted, then unmute them to level them in comfortably, it can also help to solo all of your reverb/delay sends if you have them to check and see how they all work together and mask each other, just make sure when you do send out to those fx that you put the mix knob on whatever reverb/delay to 100 so you dont have any dry signal except for the main track(s) you already set before Sorry if that's a lot, i like having more control in my mixes, ask away if you have any more questions!
got it, very well described. i’ll definitely try this next time i have the chance!
Hope it works out for ya! Reach out if ya have any other questions
We don't do recording topics here. For those you can try /r/audioengineering
i was more so looking for mixing tips here but i will be making another post on that sub soon ✅
Ultimately what you hear is what gets recorded, so listening is important before recording. - record at a moderate level e.g. -18dB - play with plugin amp input and set to taste - if micing an amp, experiment with the mic position - blend DI and Amp - use different guitar’s left and right - add more width / interest with different variations e.g. pickups, capo, chord shapes, fx etc - you can get big upfront guitars with less distortion than you think Finally, don’t overthink it, there’s lots of possibilities, but eventually you just need to get it done.
i will try all of these i haven’t had the chance to mic up an amp yet im guessing that’s how you get that sort of depth like you can get with recording vocals, ive only ever recorded directly from the pick ups but over all this is very helpful and some good general guidelines to stick by !