Professional Sound

[Gas Hed]

How is it that the pros sound so clean recorded and even live in most situations? What I'm getting at is a recorded guitar part sounds so crisp, no feedback, noise, etc. Is it a matter of good mixing, good noise suppression? What are they using in their signal that I'm not?

 

Of course, there is the harsh reality that I'm just a sloppy player.

[Prages]

You have to keep in mind that in addition to the guitar, amp, and player's ability, what you hear on CDs also has about a million dollars worth of studio gear to make is sound the way it does.

[Gas Hed]

You have to keep in mind that in addition to the guitar, amp, and player's ability, what you hear on CDs also has about a million dollars worth of studio gear to make is sound the way it does.

I've got about $100 buck I could spend on a pedal - I wonder how far that would get me.

[cross.bones]

Also take into account time. A band or guitar player might spend 3 days on one song getting it right.

[55gibby]

Not to mention mic quality, engineers ability, mixer quality and the ability to apply about 1000 over dubs.


This also doesn't take into account the facility used to record in (yes, the room makes a difference)

[Musicscotty]

I've heard players on these forums getting great results from low cost recording gear - and in many cases low cost guitars.

The key to getting this would be to experiment with tones and see how they come out when recorded. Sometimes a guitar tone that sounds great on its own just wont sound right when it's put up against a backing track or just another guitar.

I'm not saying that you should spend years chasing the perfect tone. Just take some time to see what works best in a mix.

Also, it's not everone's thing but guitar FX software has come a long way in the last few years. If it's purely for recording you could do a lot worse than use something like Guitar Rig to get good results.

[55gibby]

and another thing...


don't go by wha you hear when you play it. Go by what you hear in the recording. I did some studio work a song for a local singer. The engineer set up my amp for the tone he was after. Live it sounded thin, brittle and a harsh. On the recording it sounded great

[headless]

I'd like to know how this guy gets such a good sound live--especially his vocals, given the recording situation:

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=2534862

[wartoxin]

 

don't go by wha you hear when you play it. Go by what you hear in the recording.

 

 

true, there are so many issues, but I don't listen in the same way while I play. You can even use echo to "test" what you just played.

 

I usually have to prevent noise from being there in the first place, I can't remove it without ruining things. Pros do things you wouldn't expect like holding unused strings so there's no string noise .