Recording Tone Problem/Question

jmshaff

jmshaff

Member
So, I’m going to preface this by saying I love my Axe Fx 2, It's been a game changer for me. Now the problem I am going to describe I’m sure in no way has anything to do with the Axe but somewhere in my process. I'm not going to claim to be a production genius at all. That being said if you want to hear some of my clips I will link them here after my question.

First here is my chain. Fractal out XLR to Motu 8 pre recorded with Sonar X1 monitored with Yamaha HS-80m's

Here's my problem. When I record I set up my patches mono. I do this because when I track I do the traditional stereo pan, record 2 separate tracks pan one hard left one hard right and then whatever for layers. My tones are set up very simple, generally drive, amp cab maybe eq set up for high gain. I get things dialed in to where they sound great, record the right and then record again and pan left. The end result of that ends up being (generally) a muddied sort of blanket over the speaker sort of sound. I have to fix it by generally exaggerating the eq on the axe, or most generally I just deal with it and add some EQ in the post in sonar. While this is workable its a pain and really no fun. I also record guitars with cabs from time to time. I have a mesa 2x12 in an iso box and I dont have that problem. I can generally get a relative tone and double track it and away we go.

Now the difference I suppose is I am usually running a single channel when I mic. When I dial in the axe fx I do have both right and left running into my motu when I dial in my tone. Then when I record i'm just capturing one side. My concern is, not only with recording but i'm getting ready to go out live with my Axe using it direct for the first time. The plan is to run one side to our IEM board and the other to the house. But i'm starting to fear that the sides are maybe not the same because of something in my set up. Does that make sense?? It's also possible I suck. That is an acceptable answer!! But any suggestions would be helpful!!

Thank you,

Matt

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hey matt, i do the same thing and with similar results. you probably just need to brighten up your preset just a bit. or maybe even make a separate preset slightly brighter or a bit less bottom and track each side with its own preset. i on the other fix it this way.....

i record with the same preset 2 times. pan them left and right, then i'll make a stereo aux. i'll bus the outs of the tracks to the ins of the stereo aux track then i'll add an eq just to sweeten the top end. im very happy with my results..maybe it will do the same for you..
 
xemckidx said:
hey matt, i do the same thing and with similar results. you probably just need to brighten up your preset just a bit. or maybe even make a separate preset slightly brighter or a bit less bottom and track each side with its own preset. i on the other fix it this way.....

i record with the same preset 2 times. pan them left and right, then i'll make a stereo aux. i'll bus the outs of the tracks to the ins of the stereo aux track then i'll add an eq just to sweeten the top end. im very happy with my results..maybe it will do the same for you..
Click to expand...


Yep, thats pretty much exactly what I do. Stereo bus,eq and fix it that way. I've found that when I try to brighten it up from the Axe I almost have to brighten it up to where its almost harsh to listen to. I have also noticed that I end up shaving the bottom end off when its all said and done. Weird how when you track like that the bottom gets bigger but the top seems to get weaker!!

Thanks for responding!!!!!!!!
 
well it definitely thickens it up. recording and live is 2 different worlds. i run my high end way less live but if i track like that i have to brighten it up a bunch so now i just get it as close as possible using the amp eq settings in the axe then i usually run an api 550b eq on it. love the way that sounds.
 
Low freqs have much more volume than high freqs. If you stack them up, the lows will be even louder, masking the weaker highs, which causes the "illusion" of the highs being too low.
Generally speaking, when recording guitar, I would do a 100-120Hz (at least) low cut and 7k-9k hi cut to fit the guitar in the mix and then adjust from there and it's always a good idea to cut freqs (via an eq) instead of boosting them (e.g. instead of raising the highs, try lowering the lows).
 
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I would go for an exclusive recording patch. Since you are recording mono tracks I suggest to keep this patch mono as well, like this you can make sure that not half of your signal is missing in the recording. Something else is very important when recording: if you are double tracking high Gain rhythm guitars (and of course this is the way to go, if you want a fat heavy sound you have to go for at least two tracks, if not more) then be aware of the fact that frequencies and also gain will be adding up, so if you are using a patch with a lot of gain and a huge low end, then double track, the result can easily get muddy and very undefined. In this case reduce gain and try to trim the frequency that is over the top, double track again and see if you are getting closer to the sound you are looking for.
 
I found that with recording the AXE that it works nicely if you go into the Cab block and cut the lo end with the lo cut, still seems to retain the tone you want but kills some of the low end that can muddy up the recording
 
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