Amp sounds great, track sounds muddy.

[mickeyboy]

Hey everybody,

I got pretty good guitar equipment (not boasting, just looking for help) and my guitar sounds beautiful through my amplifier. When it comes to recording though, my track tends to sound kind of muddy, as if it had been recorded using a direct box (well, not that bad, but not as good as the live sound) I generally use a SM57, placing it 2" away from the speaker (on/off axis) to capture certain frequencies, and sometimes a use a condenser microphone (MXL2003) which sounds great with vocals and acoustic guitar.

I need to make use of certain signal processors to make my track sounds similar to the original, but I don´t know if my track should sound great in the first place.

Any ideas??


Thanks a lot!

[shylessness4924]

Originally Posted by mickeyboy

Hey everybody,

I need to make use of certain signal processors to make my track sounds similar to the original, but I don´t know if my track should sound great in the first place.

Any ideas??

Thanks a lot!

hey

Just wondering, where do you record your tracks? cos the room where you record influences a lot the quality.


alex

[mickeyboy]

Thanks shylessness for you reply.

I usually make my recordings in my own room, which is probably not the best place in the world to make recordings, although if I use a close-up mic technique, the reverberations of my room (or the lack of them) should not affect the sound that much, am I right?

Thaks again

[DT Chris]

I have the same problem, though you may disagree to the quality of my guitar amp (Fender M-80 Chorus).

I don't want to steal the topic, but add to it, I have the same problem with it always sounding muddy on recording, but sounds good live.

Here's a mono sample track(1:31).
SM57 2" off cone
M-80 Settings: Reverb: 0 Gain: 6 Contour: 2 Presence: 2 Master Volume: 3

Current setup is simple. Amp and makeshit baffle, as in the following pictures;
Mic Placement


Makeshift Baffle] My guitar 'room' is actually my bedroom, I put baffle in front of it to cut down the leakage to the outside, but I don't know if this is effecting the amp sound or not..

You may notice the amp is 'off the ground'. I did that so I could dial in a guitar sound at 'ear level', but again I'm not sure if that will change the characteristics of the amp as well, being elevated.

Sorry to add to your thread, Mickey, but I believe the answers you might get will apply to me as well

[shylessness4924]

Originally Posted by mickeyboy

Thanks shylessness for you reply.

I usually make my recordings in my own room, which is probably not the best place in the world to make recordings, although if I use a close-up mic technique, the reverberations of my room (or the lack of them) should not affect the sound that much, am I right?

Thaks again

Hey

You should actually watch everything around you : does your floor as carpet? do you leave next to a highway(ok maybe not a highway but u know...)? In ur house, do you have ...machines that make sounds (it goes from the fridge to the tv; everything ruins ur sound)?

And If you're pretty sure that your environment is just fine, maybe you should tell us wat u use for recording? Mixer? wats ur soundcard(is it the one you had when u bought the computer or a better one that u bought)? any pedals?


alex

[liquidair]

You know, one thing you may wanna try, is to make a sort of tunnel using a desk chair and a comforter draped over the amp on one end and then to the chair on the other. This will minimize the room's influence, even when close micing. They do this to kick drums alot when they use a second mic a little farther out, it prevents too much leakage from everything else. Try this, you should get much better sound.

[brandondrury]

When it comes to recording though, my track tends to sound kind of muddy,

I've struggled with this in the past, but have gotten past it.

#1 If the amp sounds muddy on the recording, the amp IS muddy. It's as simple as that. While recording techniques come into play here, they don't come in that much. Try 5 drastically different placements with a 57. If the result ends up with mud on the track, than the amp is muddy.

#2 You are making a recording, not just playing guitar (by itself). The needs are different. You didn't mention if your guitar sounded "beautiful" with a full band or by itself. What an amp sounds like by itself has nothing to do with how an amp sounds in the context of a full band.

#3 The bass has to fit somewhere. Don't get me wrong, some recordings have some meaty guitars. Most of the time, "meaty" guitars are an illusion. There usually isn't that much low end in recorded guitars. They are just recorded and mixed in a way that makes them appear to have more meat in them than there really is.

#4 Maybe your tastes suck. It took me a long time to learn to like the sounds that sounded good on recordings. Now, I hear tones (that I used to like) and cringe. The rules are different. Listen to your studio monitors and forget about listening to the amp. In fact, I used my guitar fort to isolate the sound of the amp, so I never hear it. I don't care what the amp really sounds like as long as I like what is coming through my studio monitors while tracking.

#5 DO NOT RELY ON BANDAIDS!! Yeah, that's right. Don't give a heart attack victim a band aid. Get in there and do some surgey on the real guts. In this case, this is the guitar and the amp. Tweak the amp to sound good on the studio monitors by focusing on improving the source. Moving the mic an inch or two will make a difference, but probably not an excrutiating difference. However, moving the lows from 3 to 1 on my Rivera make a HUGE difference.

Brandon

[DT Chris]

Originally Posted by liquidair

You know, one thing you may wanna try, is to make a sort of tunnel using a desk chair and a comforter draped over the amp on one end and then to the chair on the other. This will minimize the room's influence, even when close micing. They do this to kick drums alot when they use a second mic a little farther out, it prevents too much leakage from everything else. Try this, you should get much better sound.

If you're talking to me, or both, it will be something I will try and see if there is any tonal difference.

[Jroye82]

I have a fender deluxe I'll record everynow and then. I'll stick it in a closet with a sm57 on it. I have a piece of auralex foam with a hole cut through it that I'll stick the mic through - it will sit right on the end of the 57 right on the amp - really close micing with as much isolation as I can muster.


Also ran through a bellari tube mic pre ($179.00) and I get decent results with it.- www.bhphotovideo.com/ images/items/380776.jpg

Also if you want some punch and some clarity to everything invest in one of these. www.grandmas.com/shop/ images/BBE482i-front.jpg
-BBE sonic maximizer

4 knobs and I use it on almost every project at some point.
Its so great - really.


Also - what kind of guitar you recording with - this does make a difference - type of pick ups? new strings? old strings?

[brandondrury]

Also ran through a bellari tube mic pre ($179.00) and I get decent results with it.-

I really doubt if the mic pre is going to clean up the mud is his recording. Although the right mic preamp may give him 1-2% improvement in texture.

-BBE sonic maximizer

These are not all they are cracked up to be. It's really easy to get into fizz mode with these things. Sometimes things are dark for a reason. Using BBE Sonic Maximizers on mics and such is kind of like using Meth to stay up late doing a college paper. I'd stick with coffee (and that isn't exactly GREAT for you!!).

There are some serious mixing problems that Sonic Maximizers can cause. I know of zero professionals who come close to liking them.

Here's a mono sample track(1:31).
SM57 2" off cone
M-80 Settings: Reverb: 0 Gain: 6 Contour: 2 Presence: 2 Master Volume: 3

Not a bad sound at all! For some riffs, this tone would be fine (as you can hear in some of your samples) but on other riffs, it's got too much low end in it. Of course, on a recording of a real song, you'd want to tweak this for each part.

With that said, you didn't mention the setting of the lows. If the amp has too much low end, get rid of it. It's quite common for me to record with the low end on zero.

Brandno