Any tips on making guitars recorded via a modeller/plugin sound less direct? There's something about all my mixes that makes the guitars sound very one-dimensional and too upfront, and obviously like a home recording.
I kinda know the theory with positioning guitars in a mix, ie use of reverb/delay and panning, and using LPF, HPF and EQ to give the impression of depth, but I don't think I've ever successfully got the sound that makes them sound like professional recordings.
What techniques do you guys and gals (I think there's one somewhere on here) use to add realism?
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One thing I saw on YouTube a week ago, but haven’t got around to trying yet is to record with the tone you want & commit to it. Then go from there. Too often I have a dry guitar recording performance I am happy with (in time, correct clear notes played etc.) & then I spend way too much time messing around Helix Native auditioning different amps to try & elevate the performance. They recommended saving the part (I think the example was drums tbh) to a WAV file so it can be EQ’d etc. but the fundamental tone is what it is.
I hope that makes sense?
Also I take it you have seen this Dan Huff video?
https://youtu.be/pWThQ0DuJr0
Having a good basic tone, and being in tune, is all that is needed to sound professional, but trying to make the guitar sound big will always need more than one track, but I'd say 3 tops.
A lot of modern metal uses stuff like quad tracked stereo guitars, but they are also very clinical in what they do with the eq, and often a lot of the frequency is cut to allow the drums and bass to sit correctly, the guitar just fills a very specific set of mid frequency, leaving room for vocals, solos are treated as something different.
It is the tiny differences in a double tracked guitar that help to make it fit the mix, because these tracks can be panned LR, and a third can be helpful in the centre for the gaps when there are no vocals, there is a fine line between a double tracked guitar and 2 different parts though, it can become a mess if there is too much variance, stereo delays and reverb do not have the same effect.
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There will be some specific things applicable here if he , or she, is trying to recreate 70's or 80's sounds via a digital modeller.
Compression, EQ etc, are all just tools in the toolbox to get to the final result, and there are no 'rules' as such, what might be appropriate for acoustic guitars, ie compression, might not be needed for a guitar recorded with distortion ( distortion IS compression in terms of level )
All the classic recordings of the 70s and 80s will have been done through chains of analogue equipment, and we are lucky today to have digital tools that can emulate that sound in a DAW, and one important aspect of the mix hasn't been discussed here - automation.
I think this is one pf the most important pieces of the puzzle, when trying to get a good mix, and is one of the parts that actually requires some artistic input rather than just expecting a piece of equipment, or technique, to achieve a sound.
It is best described as a form of dynamic compression applied across the entire mix, as a final performance of the track, and originally required actual hands on faders as the mix was mixed down to a final 1 or 2 track master, this was later evolved into automation which could be recorded and reproduced with flying faders on an SSL mixing desk.
Coincidentally, or maybe not, this was the pinnacle of modern recording, and again, we can now recreate this easily in a DAW.
I like to set up a mix with the desired sounds and initial levels, often by reducing my mix down to stem tracks which are simply audio files with all the track effects baked in, and then I spend a considerable amount of time using automation to help the elements have some dynamic movement during the playback.
When I think I have the mix finished ( it is never finished ) I bounce this out as a final Master version of the song, which can then be ' Mastered' as a separate process.
I find I get more 'professional' sounding mixes if I use this process, as opposed to setting the faders and sitting back.
For guitars the main issue is that everything else wants to occupy their frequency space, you get the top of the bass competing with the fundamentals then the vocals competing with the upper mids and the cymbals competing with the highs so making sure everything locks together right is the challenge (plus if your using synths they basically stomp on the entire guitar frequency range).
Having said that though the issues I would expect with poor EQ decisions don't sound like what you describe, typically the symptom of those kind of things would be overly harsh guitars or wooly blanket over the speakers thing rather than not sounding realistic.
Compression-wise for distorted guitars you shouldn't need much if any as they are already pretty compressed. Cleans are obviously a bit more dynamic so if you're getting a lot of transients but no body that could be a sign that compression would help but I typically try to make sure when I'm playing I'm articulating the notes how I want to avoid this as much as possible. Often treating the DI can give better results than compressing the amp'ed sound.