Bunch of Newbie Questions :)

So here's some samples.

https://soundcloud.com/ianwiggs/rectotest
This is the Recto patch I've got going. I'm pretty okay with this one, except there's a lot of murk down below. I'll take Rex's advice and lift up the HPF to around 100ish. Cut was on. The tone also feels "sticky" to me and I'd like it to break up a little bit more. Whether or not that's from too much gain or not enough, I'm not sure yet, so any suggestions would be great.

https://soundcloud.com/ianwiggs/evhtest
This is the patch I've got going for the EVHMkIII. I KINDA like the top end breakup and love the way this thing chugs. However, I've managed to get that top-end breakup by using the 421 Microphone and a shitload of presence. It sounds great when chugging, but listen to the riffs after the chugs. When I move away from the low D string, everything feels thin and unsupported. I feel like I kinda tamed the bottom end decently but have lost too much of something along the way.

https://soundcloud.com/ianwiggs/evhrectobasstest
Here's the Recto\EVH put together with some bass.

NOTES:
#1) I still feel like I'm overcompensating a fuckload on the top end to beat out the murky bottom end. I know my Dynaudios roll off the top end fairly aggressively so let me know if I've overcompensated on some top end. It wouldn't surprise me if on other speakers this sounds like a total hissy mess.

#2) Soundcloud has altered the tones a little bit. There's normally a bit more body and less top end, but it's a reasonably accurate picture.

#3) The only processing was a limiter to make things nice and loud so you can hear stuff without having to crank it and squint.

So what I'm looking for really is a little bit more breakup without making things squawk. I am fond of a fizzy\shiny top end, but I don't want things to hiss. I love the way the EVH chuggs, but I like the definition of a Recto. Overall, I'd like both tones to be cleaned up a little bit, oh and a button that makes Scarlett Johansson give me a lap dance would be awesome as well.
 
So here's some samples.

https://soundcloud.com/ianwiggs/rectotest
This is the Recto patch I've got going. I'm pretty okay with this one, except there's a lot of murk down below. I'll take Rex's advice and lift up the HPF to around 100ish. Cut was on. The tone also feels "sticky" to me and I'd like it to break up a little bit more. Whether or not that's from too much gain or not enough, I'm not sure yet, so any suggestions would be great.

https://soundcloud.com/ianwiggs/evhtest
This is the patch I've got going for the EVHMkIII. I KINDA like the top end breakup and love the way this thing chugs. However, I've managed to get that top-end breakup by using the 421 Microphone and a shitload of presence. It sounds great when chugging, but listen to the riffs after the chugs. When I move away from the low D string, everything feels thin and unsupported. I feel like I kinda tamed the bottom end decently but have lost too much of something along the way.

https://soundcloud.com/ianwiggs/evhrectobasstest
Here's the Recto\EVH put together with some bass.

NOTES:
#1) I still feel like I'm overcompensating a fuckload on the top end to beat out the murky bottom end. I know my Dynaudios roll off the top end fairly aggressively so let me know if I've overcompensated on some top end. It wouldn't surprise me if on other speakers this sounds like a total hissy mess.

#2) Soundcloud has altered the tones a little bit. There's normally a bit more body and less top end, but it's a reasonably accurate picture.

#3) The only processing was a limiter to make things nice and loud so you can hear stuff without having to crank it and squint.

So what I'm looking for really is a little bit more breakup without making things squawk. I am fond of a fizzy\shiny top end, but I don't want things to hiss. I love the way the EVH chuggs, but I like the definition of a Recto. Overall, I'd like both tones to be cleaned up a little bit, oh and a button that makes Scarlett Johansson give me a lap dance would be awesome as well.

So I just listened to 'em on my phone with earbuds. Wooooooooowwwwwwww there's wayy too much top end and not enough bottom end. Even so, this is where I'm at right now and any general pointers would be awesome.
 
My first reaction: back off the gain a bit, and see if that doesn't give you some body back. There's not a lot of difference between those tracks, and I think it's at least partially because of all that gain.

Second reaction: play alongside a bass and kick drum, and see if you don't like your tones better.
 
yeah, still sounds like wayyy too much gain, and there's so much top end there couldn't possibly be a hint of mud. i have to wonder if what you are monitoring on isn't messing you up, here. if your monitors hype the bottom end and roll off a ton of top, you are going to hear mud and over compensate on the high end....it sounds to me like that is exactly what's happening here.
 
Not sure if you do this, for tweaking purposes, put a looper block 1st on your grid, Parallel to your main line, change the mix and dub mix to 100% and the type to mono. Record a loop and then tweak away. This gives the obvious benefit of not having to play while live monitoring and also for me makes it easier to hear what I need to, probably due to not having to multi task.
 
Cheers for the pointers. I'll give round 2 a crack today when I get home from work.

I am questioning my monitors a fair bit. These sounds on my monitors have half the top end and about twice the body. That's gonna make things awfully tricky in terms of setting up a great guitar tone. That surprises me because my mixes translate really damn well with these monitors. I guess they're not exactly cut out for the surgical-level sort of tweaking that I'm trying to do with the AFX.

I also notice I'm doing a fair bit of chasing my own tail. IE: I hear a problem and I compensate for it, which creates another problem until I've over-compensated on about 30 different "problems" that I'm left with a distorted, fizzy mess.

I'm used to throwing a 57 in front of a cab and having to pull it back\to the side in order to tame the harshness. That's totally not what's going on here!

I might set things up in an awfully basic patch, do maybe 15 minutes of tweaking, then see how that turns out.
 
Back
Top Bottom