Any Guitar recording and mixing tips?

[BronyMetalMix]

Hey guys,
I'm very happy with this. After about a year and a half I FINALLY got my AudioBox USB to work. SO this means I can expand my sound,record guitars and maybe even vocals. ^_^ No webcam mic recording anymore!

Little test if you wanna hear how it sounds(Also guess the song :3)
https://soundcloud.com/notewise/guitar- ... st/s-rpwqD

Anyways, with this big thing for me, I wanted to ask you all. Do you guys have any tips on recording, mixing maybe even mastering instruments compared to VSTs? Anything I should be on the lookout for when doing so?

Thanks,
Note Wise

[Firefrets01]

Recording your guitars in stereo is a great way to improve thickness. Now I should explain that I don't mean stereo tracks, but playing a part, panning it mostly if not all the way left, then play the same part again as close as possible to the original and pan that one equally to the opposite direction. Also repeating the process running through a similar, complimentary amp sound and layering them together can work really well.

EDIT: Silly me, I should have called it double tracking (Found out the proper name for it right after I posted this).
Also, a light chorus can thicken sounds up nicely too. Adjust your input volumes of your interface to that you come close to clipping during your loudest playing (palm mutes are a good way to check this) an you can get the best singal-to-noise ratio. Be careful not to actually clip though. If you're using a physical amp, try placing the mic off-axis of the speaker as well as playing around with different mics. Using two mics on the same cab works well too (Only if it has multiple speakers. Two mics on one speaker can cause phase cancellation). Anyway, hope this is helpful to you.

[JSynth]

Mic placement is really important for guitars. Where you place your mic on the amp, how far the mic is from the amp and at what angle the mic is at can all make a big difference from your sound. Spend some time figuring out where the sweet spots are on your amp before you try to record a whole track.

Also, I wouldn't recommend using Guitar Rig or other virtual amps. I did that with one of my songs and it didn't turn out so great.

[BronyMetalMix]

Mic placement is really important for guitars. Where you place your mic on the amp, how far the mic is from the amp and at what angle the mic is at can all make a big difference from your sound. Spend some time figuring out where the sweet spots are on your amp before you try to record a whole track.

Also, I wouldn't recommend using Guitar Rig or other virtual amps. I did that with one of my songs and it didn't turn out so great.

Are you sure..? Cause honestly I'm using it and it's sounding fine so far. Maybe it's all about mixing it down right ad making sure tones match good. I'm sure quite a bit people use it cause they don't have many amps and want a different tone.

[Acsii]

Generally double tracking (real or artificial) is a good idea for guitars. Most of the time I do triple tracking and do mid and two sides to give it width but still maintain a centre image.

[S.P.P]

Generally double tracking (real or artificial) is a good idea for guitars. Most of the time I do triple tracking and do mid and two sides to give it width but still maintain a centre image.

If you keep getting shitty takes, pick your best and add chorus. It emulates multi-tracking.

[CitricAcid]

Generally double tracking (real or artificial) is a good idea for guitars. Most of the time I do triple tracking and do mid and two sides to give it width but still maintain a centre image.

If you keep getting shitty takes, pick your best and add chorus. It emulates multi-tracking.

Or if you're having trouble with takes, you can record really short takes. I suck at guitar, so when I had to record it recently, I had to basically record each chord in its own take, since I couldn't cleanly transition between them.

[Acsii]

Generally double tracking (real or artificial) is a good idea for guitars. Most of the time I do triple tracking and do mid and two sides to give it width but still maintain a centre image.

If you keep getting shitty takes, pick your best and add chorus. It emulates multi-tracking.

I normally duplicate and add a short delay to the track

[BronyMetalMix]

Thanks for the tips guys, but is there anything I should avoid doing when recording a take? Right now, I'm doing my best to make an unmixed, rough cut of how I want the song to sound. With the placement of the audio and all the instruments, so i most have rough takes of the guitar.

When doing a real take is there anything I should avoid trying to do? I run my guitar through my AudioBox USB Audio Interface. Also...any vocal tips? Cause I'm using a pre-made vocal accapella cause it's a cover of a song.

[Vivix]

While recording, and testing your tones, one advice is to play it like you mean it. Get into it and make it sound dynamic, rather than being too careful and sound flat. You want a good base, especially if you are using VSTi's or other setups where you can reamp, a good dynamic base leaves you a lot of room to tweak while mixing. And spend some time, once you got a rough mix down with potential final takes, check it again with rested ears in a few hours or the next day.

[GhostXb]

This thread isn't dead yet right? Anyways, just thought I'd throw in my two cents.

I gotta disagree with Jsynth. I personally love virtual amps, they've come a long way. I'm not a big fan of Guitar Rig (except for bass amping), but I'm quite fond of Amplitube and GTR3. My go to amp for djent and rythm guitar is Amplitube with a tube screamer and their soldano model, while I love GTR3 for its lead tones.

Mixing plays a big part, especially for virtual amps. A common mistake people make is they make their tone too bright and fuzzy. Usually from too much gain and distortion. I find doing some sharp scoops in the higher ranges helps make the tone sound more natural.