Trying to find Metal Guitar Sound

[Guitarfreak]

Originally Posted by PeterSimonRussell

sorry don't know enough about digital recording to know what to do with though!

Well, I'll try to help. If you did EQ boosting of the low range of the kick drum...DONT. If you didn't, then I think a notch cut (extremely thin cut with Q value of above 10 or so) around the 200Hz range give or take 100Hz in either direction. After that, EQ the 3-4kHz range up a few dB to give it more 'whack' but not too much or else it will sound like banging on a metal trashcan lid.

[Sentence27]

Okay. I did that, but there is not so much difference I think. I will post two samples of only the kick. The old one and the new one. At least it doesn't have so much echo (or whatever is it when talking about drums) now.

[guitargod09]

how are the drums recorded?

[guitargod09]

there are some muddying mids in the kick, get rid of them . compress the kick more with a fast attack and a relatively short release time. raise it about 60-80 hz and 5khz ish about 3 db

[tiberius]

I agree with GuitarFreak, get a real amp, preferably a valve amp.
My experience of guitar amp sims is that they can sound ok for lead if you put loads
of reverb on and hide it in the mix, otherwise like for a half clean half dirty sound they
are totally bogus. I can usually spot them instantly.
Also, what happens when you have got some songs together and want to start a band.
Are you going to rehearse with a real drummer and bass player with the guitar going
into a laptop running guitar rig and out of the PA?
Amps are not necessarily expensive either, I got a vintage 50 watt marshall head for
£300 and it even powers the speakers! You can use any second hand guitar speaker
cabinet. Cabs are indestructible.

[crimson_713]

What kind of EMG's do you have? 81's? 80's? 85's? 60's?

Dual 81's or the 81/85 set are pretty good for biting tones, but the 81/60 set is my favorite.

EMG's aren't bad, but you have to know how to use them. A friend of mine had EMGs, but he uncovered them and didn't use the battery, just used them as passive pickups, and they sounded ok. I do agree in part with Guitarfreak, Duncans are better than EMG's.

If you're using just the emulation software, you should try a dry DI input, which means that an active signal will overload the input and give you a nasty, hazy sound. That's why I prefer passive pickups unless I'm going straight clean tone or running it through an amp.

[awaken1]

sounds much better! Has more life to it!!

[Sentence27]

Originally Posted by guitargod09

how are the drums recorded?

Drums are actually also MIDI from Addictive Drums so for MIDI they are quite good, if you thought it is real. But I can still try to fix them with your tips.

But yes I am going to buy better amp (I have one not so good at home), but I am now on exchange student year and I have only my guitar and soundcard with me so I just try to play with them.

I think those EMGs are 81/60, but I don't exactly remember now and it wasnt' written on the top of the pickup.

[misterviet]

Yeah you definitely need to cut the mids on the kick. I usually boost the low end and then double the kick track, and have the second one boosted in the high end to give the click. That gives it the click, and the umph at the same time without the mud so its very clean.

[garageband]

Find the resonant peak of the kick and suck it down major with a Q of about 6 at about -5dB. It's not too loud, per se, just untamed.

The guitar in the second is more dynamic, but barely so. Still very little in the way of any contour or definition or any sort of variability. If you can split the raw track to another instance of the sim with a lot less crunch, you might save everything else you have going tone-wise with the sound and get a deeper sound.