2 amp tracking with one pass - hard rock

[mbman]

I'm a believer in less gain for recording and multiple passes.

Martin

 

[trashedlostfdup]

i just tried my orange rockerverb and mesa tremoverb. together and it was pretty massive, but i am still an amateur when it comes to recording though.

i have had long luck going with a tremoverb and a splawn nitro.

 

[reverymike]

Yes, in general, if you are going for a hard rock sound, lower your gain. I'd set it right at the cusp of being 'too low' for you, and then dial it back a hair more. When you double the part, it's going to sound like there's more gain (because there will be).

My last record, I tracked one side with a Vox AC30 and a Bogner 101b, and then doubled that with a SLO and Marshall Superlead. Each cab had 2 mics on it so there was a LOT of choices when it came to creating the tones.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Yes, in general, if you are going for a hard rock sound, lower your gain. I'd set it right at the cusp of being 'too low' for you, and then dial it back a hair more. When you double the part, it's going to sound like there's more gain (because there will be).

My last record, I tracked one side with a Vox AC30 and a Bogner 101b, and then doubled that with a SLO and Marshall Superlead. Each cab had 2 mics on it so there was a LOT of choices when it came to creating the tones.

Again I agree with everyone above.. you have to lower the gain on your amps when you track. All that saturation is flub/fizz city when you listen back. Something about the mics or preamps imparting their tone on things or the way they pick up sound means you really need to dial it back. Lead work you can get away with more gain but even there, use less than you would playing live. Probably best to track while you listen to what is coming through the mic rather than just live in a room because you might feel like you are fighting it more. I think back to those old AC/DC albums where it sounded almost like the amps are set clean. All the gain is coming from how hard they hit the strings. Add in the bass and drums and it sounds heavy and cutting.

 

[reverymike]

Yep, in the studio it seems that the higher the gain, the thinner the tone.

 

[skoora]

If you're only doing one pass, a delay panned either all the way left or to the right in relation to the dry can make it sound nice and big without being washed out.

I don't know if it might make much of a difference but you could do a pass of one setting of the recto with 6L6's and then pop in 34's and use the opposite channel setting (vintage vs modern per se), EQ differently, hopefully even have a different speaker choice for a second pass. Also using a different guitar could help.

Otherwise as suggested a Marshall/Vox or Tweed/Brown Fender driving hard would be a great mix with a recto.

 

[JTyson]

We run all of the above
1 Fortin JMP Cali++ set to serious gain levels with a V30 Marshall cab with an SM57 into a Avalon mic-pre, and a Royer R121 into a UA LA610, each to its own track, then do another take with the head switched to a Friedman modded plexi with less gain but more teeth using the same mike and mic-pre setup on the same cab going into 2 more tracks. The tracks are panned L/R 80% according to the heads. This setup is for heavy rhythm work, we do leads totally different.
Hands down the best recorded tones I've ever gotten

 

[Guitarnobody]

Marshall JCM800 (or the green crunch channel on a DSL) blended with a Recto. I think that's how Soundgarden tracked rhythms for Superunknown.

They both work perfect with each other

 

[tubortski]

I don't know if it might make much of a difference but you could do a pass of one setting of the recto with 6L6's and then pop in 34's and use the opposite channel setting (vintage vs modern per se), EQ differently, hopefully even have a different speaker choice for a second pass. Also using a different guitar could help.

So simple! Great idea!