Old 10-24-2021, 10:49 AM   #1
Jae.Thomas
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Default RE-creating a song for a vocalist

Hey there,

I was given this video from a friend:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k3fk70qlxm...small.mp4?dl=0

his band broke up, and he's "just" a vocalist and songwriter so needed someone to re-create the entire tune -

I took it on, and here's what we came up with a week later:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v8qqgm95rj...aster.mp3?dl=0

I am just not happy with the lead guitar sound. It's passable, but I'm finding it so difficult to get good tones, and I'm wondering what the hell im doing wrong. Just even setting up simple amps in almost any sim, it doesn't sound good enough to me.

I think I'm going to need to get a better DI, or a splitter from my amp and just record a mic'ed amp as well as a DI signal.

It could also be because most of this stuff is first take, and im probably sitting in front of my pc, half stoned and just vibing.

And those takes were good enough that I don't want to replace them -

and perhaps my noise reduction plugin is taking too much out of the signal.

either way, here it is, any thoughts appreciated.
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Old 10-24-2021, 10:57 AM   #2
karbomusic
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I don't know that the guitar solo tone is bad, as you said, certainly passable, sounds like it's down to personal taste mostly. It's really dry though, perfectly legal but just in case that's what's missing and not realizing it.

You could add a smidge of verb, you could also just stand a mic up in the room, solo the solo guitar, and record the guitar and room sound on another track (as it comes out of the studio monitors) and blend to taste. That would make it sound like you recorded it in your room verses a reverb algo. Any method is fine, just tossing out ideas to keep you busy. Maybe a smidge of compression if not already there.

I pretty much refuse noise gates on guitar, just a personal preference. I have no reason to think that's a problem but noting.
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Old 10-24-2021, 11:00 AM   #3
Jae.Thomas
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I've tried all the reverb stuff and it doesn't sound right to me. I don't get it.

I think it's a me problem haha

and yeah, it's pretty dry but the distortion seems odd to me no matter what I do.

i also used the variax for some of it, and there's no noise with that, and it's a great tone so I don't really know. I'm ok with it for now, but it needs improvement for the next one


OH WAIT

you said to mic the room... interesting yeah mayhbe
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Old 10-24-2021, 11:03 AM   #4
karbomusic
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jae.Thomas View Post
OH WAIT

you said to mic the room... interesting yeah mayhbe
It's an old trick I used to use yea. You can do that with mono (one mic) or stereo (two mics). Now you could do that with a reverb VST, you just need to use an ambient setting that is short and sounds like a room, not some huge wet reverb space.

But recording your own room sometimes gets us out of the preset territory and it's instantly unique to you.
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Old 10-24-2021, 11:04 AM   #5
Jae.Thomas
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I really need to set up some tones and write down what guitars sound good for what when im NOT in an altered state so when I am, I can just pull it up and make some shit happen
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Old 10-24-2021, 11:10 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jae.Thomas View Post
I really need to set up some tones and write down what guitars sound good for what when im NOT in an altered state so when I am, I can just pull it up and make some shit happen
It isn't a bad idea to have a "go to" tone or two that usually fits what you normally do - especially something that generally works so you can use it when inspired. I do find it a good idea to simplify that in some way. You get simplification by default with an amp and mic because you don't have to deal with 300 presets and FX to choose from like with a SIM and option overload is a real thing. That can definitely make it hard to find the right tone.

Conversely, a great guitar tone in a mix is 100% dependent on what it is competing with in the mix. So, I tend to fit the guitar tone to the track which means it may or may not sound 'fantastic' by itself. Now with someone like Kenny Wayne Shepherd (random example), they are building the mix around the guitar and making everything else fit around it. But unless it's a guitar hero record, that's not a good approach.
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Last edited by karbomusic; 10-24-2021 at 11:16 AM.
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