What is your favorite method of recording rock/metal guitars?

[VESmedic]

I wouldn't bother with them for a while because all I heard were the Two Notes boxes and they make everything sound dull and lifeless. The Boss and Suhr are what finally lead to me being convinced you could get a good sound from a load box. I did a lot of listening to every box I could find before deciding on a Suhr. I basically got it down to 4 tiers: 1. Boss, Suhr, 2. Fryette, Fractal, Red Seven, UA 3. Everything else. 4. Two Notes. I'd still be very happy with anything in tier 2. UA is only in tier 2 because it doesn't do high gain as well as the Boss and Suhr. For clean and crunch sounds, it might be the best. I haven't heard the one you mentioned. After doing my comparison I described my breakdown on someone's channel and had a back and forth with some head at Two Notes. They try to market the sound as "selected to work with the widest variety of amps". But, he admitted they know their products don't stack up sound wise, and that they are working on something better to try and compete. That was a couple years ago. I still don't see any new and improved Two Notes product.

I would LOVE to see two notes put something out on the same level as the driftwood or st rock IR, because I think they are really a great company that really brought all of this to the forefront in the modern age. And if they do put out something that is on that level, I’d probably buy it to use when im not micing up cabs. If they made something that sounds as good as the driftwood with the flexibility and features of the st rock, it would be a knock out of a product.

Driftwoods loadbox isn’t that popular, mostly due to marketing and them being a small company, but nothing I’ve heard comes close to this thing for pure “real” cabinet feel and sound, especially in the low end. It’s every bit as good in the low end as my real cabs, for sure.

 

[VESmedic]

Have to say, I've tried tons of amps sims/IRs, I personally think they're just gimmicky little toys. They don't sound good to me. I've even purchased the Spectre course on amp sims and been through it. Still not happy with any tone I've gotten from them. Amp Room and ML Sound Labs 5034 stand out as some of the better ones to me though.

Why would you buy that? Why do people listen to this fucking idiot?

Glenn Fricker doesn’t know shit.
He’s never made a real record.

ML sound labs IR’s are ok, but far too dark in a real mix.

Stop giving your money to idiot amateurs who don’t make records for a living.

 

[PatF]

You just need to figure out a few mix strategies for single guitar. Say like VH, guitar on the left with some verb on the right. Bass on the right with some verb on the left. Drums and vocals in the center.

If its a solo guitar thing. Put the guitar in the center and try to move some of the other things out of the way.

 

[WhiteShadow]

Why would you buy that? Why do people listen to this fucking idiot?

Glenn Fricker doesn’t know shit.
He’s never made a real record.

ML sound labs IR’s are ok, but far too dark in a real mix.

Stop giving your money to idiot amateurs who don’t make records for a living.

This particular course had some good info of amp sims and getting the most out of them. It did have some good info in it, and it DID help me improve the sound I was getting with them. That said, you're right, I can't stand Glenn. Seems that YouTube has led to the up rise of unexceptionals taking over and dominating the online space with mostly crap content. But I won't go into naming a bunch of names.

 

[RaceU4her]

i think we all way over complicate things with recording guitars. ive got a bunch of dyanmics, condensors, ribbons.. tried combos of all of them and lately i just been sticking a 57 or my D2 right on the center of the cone and thats it. i was pumped to watch the making of the new Exodus album which sounds amazing last night and they did the same thing, four different dynamics on the center of each speaker.

 

[VESmedic]

i think we all way over complicate things with recording guitars. ive got a bunch of dyanmics, condensors, ribbons.. tried combos of all of them and lately i just been sticking a 57 or my D2 right on the center of the cone and thats it. i was pumped to watch the making of the new Exodus album which sounds amazing last night and they did the same thing, four different dynamics on the center of each speaker.

Did they sum 4 mics together? I’d be surprised if they did, especially if it’s a sneap mix. normally when guys do that, myself included, it’s to audition each speaker and find which one I like the best with a stereo reamp track. You got a link to this video? Would love to see it!

 

[VESmedic]

This particular course had some good info of amp sims and getting the most out of them. It did have some good info in it, and it DID help me improve the sound I was getting with them. That said, you're right, I can't stand Glenn. Seems that YouTube has led to the up rise of unexceptionals taking over and dominating the online space with mostly crap content. But I won't go into naming a bunch of names.

It’s because everyone has been put on the same platform. You can watch a video with bob rock or terry date, and then watch a video that is probably more put together and interesting by glenn fricker, even though it’s full of shit OPINIONS and flawed ideology when it comes to recording. That’s the problem. Never before could you listen to some idiot online at any point in time. And these guys are better at putting out contents than the guys who actually make records. Why? Because the guys with real knowledge who actually make records are doing just that and don’t have time for YouTube. If you have THAT much time to make YouTube videos, you are an amateur engineer at best, simple as that.

 

[RaceU4her]

Did they sum 4 mics together? I’d be surprised if they did, especially if it’s a sneap mix. normally when guys do that, myself included, it’s to audition each speaker and find which one I like the best with a stereo reamp track. You got a link to this video? Would love to see it!

about 13:30 they talk about it, sounds like they just record all four and then pick from there?? they should do a follow up sneap video on how he mixed it

 

[WhiteShadow]

When you mic an amp, is it advisable to set the knobs kind of down the middle and adjust with EQ later? Or do you try to achieve a perfect tone from the get go?

 

[HarryCooter]

Let me guess, the video was him saying you need to check input/output levels, make a few eq cuts somewhere around 4k, 2k, 400, and/or 200, and then that you should buy his IR pack?

 

[DanTravis62]

It’s because everyone has been put on the same platform. You can watch a video with bob rock or terry date, and then watch a video that is probably more put together and interesting by glenn fricker, even though it’s full of shit OPINIONS and flawed ideology when it comes to recording. That’s the problem. Never before could you listen to some idiot online at any point in time. And these guys are better at putting out contents than the guys who actually make records. Why? Because the guys with real knowledge who actually make records are doing just that and don’t have time for YouTube. If you have THAT much time to make YouTube videos, you are an amateur engineer at best, simple as that.

This is EXACTLY the problem.

The frickers of the world focus on the accessibility of the content, not the quality of the content.

Because their goal isn't even to make world class records, it's to sell bullshit and get clicks with their WAcKy oPinIoNs.

Let me guess, the video was him saying you need to check input/output levels, make a few eq cuts somewhere around 4k, 2k, 400, and/or 200, and then that you should buy his IR pack?

Highlighted the real goal of frickers "teaching"

 

[HarryCooter]

When you mic an amp, is it advisable to set the knobs kind of down the middle and adjust with EQ later? Or do you try to achieve a perfect tone from the get go?

You should kind of have a ball park of where you want the amp to be. After you do it enough you can tell what is being influenced by mic placement and amp settings. You could start with either. If you are still unfamiliar with it, I recommend spending a day just screwing around with different mic placements so you get a feel of your speakers. Each speaker will have its own character that you will get to know.

 

[VESmedic]

When you mic an amp, is it advisable to set the knobs kind of down the middle and adjust with EQ later? Or do you try to achieve a perfect tone from the get go?

It’s common thought process in general that you should always aim to get the source as close as possible to what you want. Trying to “add stuff back in” after the fact is harder than the internet would have you believe, while cutting is much easier. I always aim to go as big as possible into the daw, I can always cut later. But adding it back in especially low end? That’s a different story entirely.

 

[DanTravis62]

It’s common thought process in general that you should always aim to get the source as close as possible to what you want. Trying to “add stuff back in” after the fact is harder than the internet would have you believe, while cutting is much easier. I always aim to go as big as possible into the daw, I can always cut later. But adding it back in especially low end? That’s a different story entirely.

That's like fricker/internet myth number one, that you have to constantly cut low end at every stage of the signal path

It's way the fuck easier to cut it in a daw than it it is to "add it back in" - and affects the tone less negatively

 

[VESmedic]

about 13:30 they talk about it, sounds like they just record all four and then pick from there?? they should do a follow up sneap video on how he mixed it

Yea it sounds like they are picking their favorite speaker from each cab, and going from there. This is something that again, the internet idiots don’t ever talk about: at the end of the day, speakers are a lottery. They really are. Most of us all know that 4 speakers in the same cab are all going to sound different, sometimes vastly so. And this is a great standard practice everyone should adopt before recording anything: dead center mic each speaker in your cab with a single 57, and see which one’s timber/tonality you like the best for a specific song, mix, record, whatever. I know for instance, that the bottom right speaker in my Mesa traditional rips HARD, especially compared to the other 3 V30s. I know that the older Marshall celestion vintage speakers from 1992 I just bought are much more forgiving with micing than the newer ones, and again all 4 sound VERY different. This is kind of my new rabbit hole I’m going down, constantly buying and flipping speakers, all V30s/Marshall vintage mostly, and picking the ones I like the best. Because it’s really a crapshoot. 9 times out of 10 when people compare company A’s IR of. Mesa or Marshall cab vs company B’s Mesa and Marshall cab IR’s, they are generally hearing that they like one speaker better than the other: not necessarily that the capture or mic position was wrong. So yes, there are tons of Mesa IR’s out there, as well as Marshall IR’s: but the speakers are all vastly different, always. Trying different IR’s of the same cab/speaker from different company’s is akin to what I’m doing, just in the digital world. My point is, while it costs money, I would try out as many IR’s as you can ( if you are an IR guy) even of the same cab, because they will be totally different just by the nature of speakers being a lottery in the first place.

 

[VESmedic]

That's like fricker/internet myth number one, that you have to constantly cut low end at every stage of the signal path

It's way the fuck easier to cut it in a daw than it it is to "add it back in" - and affects the tone less negatively

Remember that time that people say you can’t dime the low end on a recto and that’s completely nuts? Shocker, I do it all the time. And so do guys I know who actually make records for a living. The internet is full of complete bullshit when it comes to recording, unlike anything I’ve ever seen in any industry.

 

[DanTravis62]

Remember that time that people say you can’t dime the low end on a recto and that’s completely nuts? Shocker, I do it all the time. And so do guys I know who actually make records for a living. The internet is full of complete bullshit when it comes to recording, unlike anything I’ve ever seen in any industry.

Especially from the YouTube guys like fricker.

He's just a hobbyist who found a way to monetize his hobby.

 

[WhiteShadow]

I feel completely on my own lol

 

[HarryCooter]

Especially from the YouTube guys like fricker.

He's just a hobbyist who found a way to monetize his hobby.

Can't necessarily blame him for trying. I'd love to monetize this hobby. If anyone owns a studio that wants to give me a side job.....?

 

[VESmedic]

I feel completely on my own lol

Don’t get me wrong , I personally think it’s great that so much information is readily available. It really is. But it also forces people who don’t know anything/are new to music or playing or engineering or whatever, and pre conditioning them how to think, because “ they saw it on YouTube by someone with 400k followers, this guy MUST know what he’s talking about!” And that is just not ( obviously) the case at all. If you come in to this world with already preconceived notions about things/ideas you know nothing about, your doomed from the get go. There’s tons of guys explaining things on YouTube as if they know why they are doing what they are doing in the first place, and they just don’t. Because they aren’t real engineers. They take a bunch of ideas from guys who actually make records, and spin it into “advice” that is just one part of the very big picture.


Perfect example. The Andy sneap “C4 multiband trick”. This was all the rage for the longest time. It was/is a technique Andy used to help control low end/ bloated out of control low midrange of the guitar. And it’s a great technique, everyone uses it in all kinds of different ways other than just guitars. But guys would put up videos with ANDY’S SETTINGS as if they were going to be the holy grail setting that would transform your amateur mix into a sneap production. What they don’t realize, or didn’t at the time, is that those settings Andy used when he was interviewed and brought the C4 trick to the masses, was from one very specific session, on a very specific mix, with a very specific guitar track. It’s NOT going to work automatically on yours guitars/your production. So you had guys running around talking about this technique as if they actually understood it, when they didn’t in the least. So while it’s great that this kind of information is readily available, what a SMART person would do is listen to someone talk about that multiband compression technique, listen to their guitars on their mixes, and figure out how to apply something similar; IF it even needs it in the first place, which is an entirely different subject all together. They wouldn’t just slap “Andy sneaps settings” on the C4 plugin and say welp, this is the way to do it, I’m an engineer now!