Recording illiterate. ((Nu?)Metal?)

[ninjahata]

I think I'm a little too amateur for this site haha.. I started recording myself 4 months ago without any knowledge of how.

I need some advice on how to go about recording this style(ish) of music and the steps I should take to begin reaching that goal. There's some equipment issues I need to take care of first I'm sure:

What I'm using

-Shure SM48 mic for vox and guitar (Marshall AVT50 Vol:3.5)
-Bass = Direct in (No bass amp )
-Vox = Direct in (Ran file through winamp preamp EQ )
-Drums = Fruityloops
-BR-600 (Recorder)
-Cool Edit Pro 2.0

What's the most practical thing to learn or purchase for my situation? A new microphone? A new microphone isn't it? It is huh? Damn!

Main focus: Guitar and recording style
Warning: Bass guitar is annoying / Vox styling is obnoxious to most

[lividone]

What interface/soundcard are you using? Are using any preamps for guitar/vox? What type of sound are you looking for?

Edit- Nevermind I see you're using the Boss digital recorder. Are you recording everything on the BR 600 and then exporting a stereo mix to CoolEdit? I've never liked the sound of those portable digital recorders. After realizing the recording interface you're using, the remainder of my post may be irrelevant to your situation. [/edit]

The guitar sounds like it's plugged direct from an FX board..which leads me to believe that the mic on your cab is ran direct to a standard soundblaster/ AC
'97 soundcard. Is this correct? Either that or the EQ in CoolEdit or on the Amp is extremely scooped or overly brightened ( no mids ).

You say you want to focus on guitar tone/mix, so I have to assume you're not happy with that part of this track. First things first. Did the actual performance sound anything like the recording? If it did, start with the source ..i.e. the amp. Get the tone as you want it, there first. If the recording/mix sounds completely different, then I'd look at mic placement and EQ settings in CoolEdit. Finally, if the recording sounds completely different than amp tone and the EQ settings are flat in CoolEdit, I'd look at equipment shortcomings (or possibly different software...I have no experience with Cool Edit).

[brandondrury]

I think I'm a little too amateur for this site haha

Nope. This site is for beginners and everyone.

The drums have meat in them, but the kick drum and snare have no bite in them. They should have more "crack" in them.

Metal is not easy to mix. You have the low end of the guitars, the loud bass, and the drums are fighting for the same frequencies. The bass in particular seem to be taking up the wrong space. It sounds like it's farting out.

On a mix like this, I would start by making sure the drums and bass sound good together. From there, I'd start pulling up the guitars slowly until I started hearing conflicts or areas where they are fighting.

The guitars aren't bad to me. At least not yet. I think the drums and bass are the bigger problems.

Brandon

[sfxman]

The performance is very cool. I agree with Brandon in that the drums and bass are fighting, which leads to a fight with the guitars. In general, it sounds a little boxy. If the bass is mimicking the guitars, you might consider removing a little more of the low end from the guitars to make room for the bass.

A/B this mix with early Pantera and listen for the difference. Maybe try to emulate that sort of mix at first and then go off on your own. Also, in the first section, are the vocals panned slightly left? It sounds like in the second section, the lead guitars are panned dead center, with the vocals in a stereo spread. I only had time for a cursory listen though. Since the performance was solid, you could easily clarify this sucker with a little fine tuning in the EQ and panning department. Good luck and keep it up!

-B

[ninjahata]

Ya, I suppose the next thing I'm trying to achieve for recording is to get rid of that boxy sound my recordings have. The best (maybe only) technique I know for that is having 1 of 2 rhythm guitars pan to the very left and right channle. What's the best way to improve this issue? Hardware? Software?

[brandondrury]

The best (maybe only) technique I know for that is having 1 of 2 rhythm guitars pan to the very left and right channle.

I hard pan electric guitars because I think it sounds cool. I'm not sure if it had any effect on boxiness.

Brandon

[Strangedogs]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

I hard pan electric guitars because I think it sounds cool. I'm not sure if it had any effect on boxiness.

Brandon

Me too - it adds "oomph"...

[ninjahata]

I found that I was putting all my drum tracks in stereo since it was the default wav export setting which made it sound 'boxy'. Whoops X\

[brandondrury]

Are you sure? Why would drums exporting drums in stereo make them sound boxy?

I'd expect rendering to a mono track would reveal phase issues that could be increase boxiness (but usually boxiness is more of a room acoustics thing than a phase thing....but not always).

Brandon

[ninjahata]

I realized the drums were fighting with the guitars (hard panned L/R.) So now that the drums are all centered with only the bass to "fight" with, the guitars sound wider and the drums are clearer sounding in my opinion instead of having a L/R umph channel battle.

(The vocals do a little channel switch too because long story short, there was about 4-5 different vocal takes I tried making sound "wider" and as a result ended up with that little switch before it hits the chorus.)

I linked the new version of the song that has the drums centered