6 thoughts on “Show 99 – Noisy audio and doubling guitars

  1. Great show you guys! I agree..Parts by guitarist need to be changed for the relationship within the track, Problem is, and I was once apart of this group…”You dont know anythin about recording,,yet you think the way the to do it, is the way you decide”… I wish I had listened more to the guy recording my band, instead of putting my foot down on “my ideal sound-within the way I want to do it”
    I like Jon’s advice of what’s your favorite record…this was pulled on me, where I did not want any effects on my vocals, but the engineer wanted them…

  2. Good show.

    Regarding guitars. I read something once, I think about the recording of Alice in Chains Dirt (kind of a textbook of metal guitar recording, for me). They’d record all the distorted guitar sounds you’d expect. Doubling, etc. But one other thing they’d record is simply the electric guitar unamplified — just a mic pointed at the strings.

    And then they’d mix a bit of that back in to add a little more clarity to the overall sludgy guitar sounds.

    Anyone ever tried that?

  3. Great show.
    One thing that I have done in the past when thickening out guitars which is a simplified version of Jon`s thing of altering the blend of mics on the cab.
    My trick was to use just one mic and vary the distance from the speaker with each pass – it does help when getting the layers to blend together more successfully too and a real sense of depth can be achieved.
    Cheers,
    Don.

  4. Hey Guys,

    Been meaning to ask this for several weeks now. A few months ago I did sound for a friends Pink Floyd tribute band. At the end of the show, I mentioned to the drummer (who was sending a stereo mix of his electronic kit to the board) that his levels were way to heavy – I had his faders at best at 25% and his levels were in the red. His response was “well, were they distorting? Because unless you can hear distortion, it doesn’t matter what the meters show”. I know it’s always a good idea when tracking to leave head room, and assumed the same for mixing live. What are your thoughts?

    Thanks,
    Andrei

  5. Hello,

    Perfect timing on the multiple guitar track advice – it makes a lot of sense and inspires creative thought on other ways to get some change into the mix. When you turn your eyes onto multiple vocal tracks, do you try to get a different sound on each (altering mics and distance from, eq, compression, etc.) or do you treat them all the same and rely on the subtle variations of the performance to separate them just enough. Since we’re at it, could you just comment on bass as well.

    Thanks and holiday cheer from Memphis, TN!
    Mike

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