Jump to content

Fattening up guitar sound without doubling???


Recommended Posts

Probably too many variables to pin down exactly, but whenever I record my electric guitar through my mic’d amp the sound is very thin compared to commercial recordings of electric guitars being recorded through mic’d amps. Are there certain ‘things’ one can do in the mix to fatten the guitar sound...make it thicker sounding? Reverb, stereo spread, detune, delay, etc.? Should be possible without doubling the guitar parts I would think?

 

An example, or reference track, of what I am comparing my guitar sound to would be the guitar sound on VH’s 1984 album....a song like Girl Gone Bad. There is only one guitar playing...no doubling of guitar parts in other words...and the guitar sound is huge.

 

Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Girl Gone Bad Eddie used his Flying V thru the Marshall.

He didn't use the echo doubling yet that was a signature sound in Balance.

It was still guitar on the left, reverb to the right. A great reverb, very clean.

But his guitar sound is not really that thick, it's just great midrange, lots of it actually. Nothing compared to the low end you hear on guitars today with all the modern amps.

 

And also remember it's a trio with lots of space for the guitar to come out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Girl Gone Bad Eddie used his Flying V thru the Marshall.

He didn't use the echo doubling yet that was a signature sound in Balance.

It was still guitar on the left, reverb to the right. A great reverb, very clean.

But his guitar sound is not really that thick, it's just great midrange, lots of it actually. Nothing compared to the low end you hear on guitars today with all the modern amps.

 

And also remember it's a trio with lots of space for the guitar to come out.

 

Thanks, Triplets. When you say guitar on the left for GGB, you mean panned slightly to the left? It's definitely not panned hard left like the first few VH albums...at least to my ears. Also, what kind of reverb is typically used on electric guitars like with 1984? Plate?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
Sounds pretty left to me on headphones. Hard to say if it's hard left.

Yeah, they used the EMT plates on the first album. They used hardware reverb on 1984, not sure what. No plugins back then.

 

I spoke with an audio engineer who said he's fairly certain the reverb used on GGB is the famous Lexicon 224:

 

l.jpg.4209a417a0c1ca7b775f9912e7f5f7e8.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What mic are you using?

 

Are you checking mic placement by listening while moving it?, an inch of movement can make a massive difference, as can the angle if you're using something like an SM57. But i'm sure you know that already, but just checking.

 

You need to get the sound right at source, spend more time there with the guitar sound you want to obtain. Set the tone and presence on your amp and monitor the incoming via headphones into Logic while moving the mic around. Make sure you're getting a good level too by checking the meters in logic.

 

After that Compression and EQ, obviously, is a sure way of getting a fatter sound. Also by dropping out frequencies which may sound muddy will make it pop out the mix more, particularly when used with compression.

 

But! The big element here is that maybe you're comparing your own work in progress project to a commercially mixed and mastered song. i.e. are you comparing apples with apples here? Even though your guitar sounds thin during the composition/production stage, have you completed a track through mixing/mastering to see what the final results are?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...