Quote:
Originally Posted by yep
4. This is huge: get in touch with your parametric EQ. For reasons unknown to me, digital guitar effects, even when they sound quite good, tend to leave a certain imprint of fizzy trash at certain frequencies, most often in the 2kHz~11kHz range. Set up a parametric eq with a sharp boost (say, +10dB with a Q of 3 or higher), and sweep around that upper midrange. What you are looking for is places where the EQ'd guitar sounds like a steady-state whine, with no change between notes, chords, beats, or whatever. Ten-to-one says you find at least one such frequency. When you do, zero in on the most obnoxious, offensive frequency (the one that sounds most like high-pitched fan noise, for lack of a better example) and turn the boost into a cut. You'll have to play around with Q and cut amount to find the best compromise, but a one or two such rips can make a huge improvement in a fizzy or nasal guitar tone (analog or digital, but digital amp emulators seem to be the worst offenders). You might find similar offenders in the lower mids, or anywhere else. It's trial-and-error to figure out how much and how many cuts you can get away with before killing the guitar sound, and sometimes it works better BEFORE the distortion/amp simulator, but usually after. But once you have it set up, it tends to work pretty well as a preset/template for that guitar sound.
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Great thread! Thanks for the advice so far. I've jsut started working on recording/mixing my first album, and for a variety of practical necessities, and I'm using primarily digital amp sims and sampled drums, so any help I can get is appreciated. I get some great sounds from Guitar Rig, but sometimes the high gain amps do have a nasty fizz going. Hopefully this will help.
I'm wondering -- you mention the pre-amp push-back when using a physical amp. I have an old Crate Powerblock that I sometimes use as a DI box - just to warm the tone before it hits Guitar Rig. It's solid state, but actually quite warm. Would this restore that push-back?
Thanks again.
Finally -- there's another great thread starting up that is a great pair with this one:
The Metal & Hard Rock Production Thread
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=68501
Thanks to the Reaper community for being so eager to share!