Guitar tone arguments! how to get extreme metal tones to compliment each other

Brady_lynch_nz

Brady_lynch_nz

Member
Hey guys! Having an issue with the other guitarist in my band, I am very happy with my guitar tone and it sits in the mix really well, was worked on by the guy who is mastering our EP and he did wonders with it in my opinion. The other guitarist has just picked up an AX8 after using VSTs straight into the computer for the last 2 years, his tone is better than it was but to me it doesn't sound great, still muddy and fizzy, BUT he is asking me to re eq my whole patch to work better with his as he is saying it is causing his tone to have no definition. Am I being a dick by saying I think its his tone that needs the work because we were happy before?
Also is there any tips on getting 2 tones to compliment each other whilst still sounding like their own tone?
 
Maybe ask the guy who worked on your patch to help out your other guitarist with his tone. He might be more receptive to that guy's advice and that would save you from possibly coming off as a jerk to him. That's what I'd try first.
 
I will see how I get on tonight at band. I would love to get the guy who sorted mine outs opinion but he is in another part of the country haha. Anyone have tips on getting tones to work well with each other? I have always liked a more clean/bitey tone where the other dude loves the dark muddyness which I have never gelled with. To my ears our tones normally work well because he has the beef and I have the clarity
 
dont a lot of 2 guitarist bands actually use one rhythm guitarist on albums eg, Metallica, I think James handles rhythm duties on album vs live.
 
A recording might help. Very hard to give good advice when you do not know what you are advising on. Some one outside of the band that could listen to the whole band would probably be the most help.
 
If I get time this weekend I will try and get a recording of my guitar tone on its own. Will also see how easy it is to get my hands on some of the unmastered recordings of the whole band
 
If you have an Axe Fx II, my favorite workaround is to have everyone record with that (because better hardware, science, ect).

I write a patch that has 3 outs: 1 dry, one written by guitarist A (me), one written by guitarist B.

For every rhythm track you record you have a dry track (so the post production engineer can ReAmp or Kemper or whatever)+ two tones to choose from.

Let the engineer decide, they'll be more objective. If they're any good they'll get you the best result.

Anyway, I know you can't go back and start over with this one. That's just my trick for dealing with guitar tone egos.
 
I play in a somewhat extreme metal band, have toured fairly extensively with axe fx 2's doing all of our sound.
I've found our best results are from using the same patch and just tweaking the input gain or perhaps the gain of the amp block slightly to suit the output of each guitarists pickups.

EDIT: As for your other guitarist preferring his sound. Unless he's an audio engineer I'd take that with a grain of salt. Your tone was dialled in by the person who worked on your release, so presumably they got a pretty appropriate and good tone.
 
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