Tuning and Recording + interface

The_real_crab

The_real_crab

Member
I'm kinda embarrassed to even post this ....I'm not a newbie player, an average player but not new ... but I am new to recording. I record guitar mainly with my AxeFxIII.

This question may sound odd ...When I record, the guitars always sound outta tune slightly. Intonation is pretty good on my guitars so is there a trick to how you guys tune up? I searched the internet but never can find a good answer ... Just looking for some advice to get the best sounding recordings I can. My guitar always tend to be sharp. You think something this simple would be something I should know/understand ... I'm a bit embarrassed and even frustrated asking. I'm using the AxeFx III tuner. I spend the majority of the time trying to get tuning correct and it's never sounds correct to me. Tuning for recording is driving me nuts and kinda kills the flow with the amount of finicky time spent.

Also, when recording ... Do you guys use the AxeFX as the interface and run the daw session through it or just use the AxeFx as an input (I use UAD Apollo interfaces) ... asking for latency purposes ... hard to find these answers to simple questions. I currently Use USB recording and use just the Axe as an input and the output is my Apollo ... My axe outputs on the back go to a 2nd set of monitors for monitoring the guitar and I'm not monitoring in the daw, just using the Apollo as playback of the session while recording

Here's an example of the recordings we do to give an idea .. Velvet Revolver cover of 'Slither'

I think you can probably hear the tuning issues more with this Zep cover of Dancing Days ... especially in the chorus but to my ear they both examples sound out of tune

Any advice or help would be much appreciated .. oh, I did search ... many hours searching
 
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Sample rate mismatch maybe? Set everything (interfaces, DAW project) to 48 kHz, 24 bit to avoid any mismatches or on-the-fly resampling.

Also, make sure software monitoring is turned off while you are recording so you don't hear the signal through both the Axe III and the Apollo at the same time. Any latency difference between them can cause weird phase and chorusing issues.
 
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Since you said they tend to go sharp when you play, do you think it could be how hard you're picking when you tune vs how hard you're picking when you record? Hitting the string harder will result in the note going sharp. Just throwing out theories!

As far as recording, I 100% use the axe as my input and output when recording. If I want to mix or do anything that's not related to recording guitar or bass I just switch my audio preferences to my usb interface to make things easier.
 
Thanks ... Maybe just a heavy picker/fretting hand?? Does anyone ever set the tuner to -5 or even -10 cents? I'll try that and see if it helps. Something that should be the most basic of things causes me the most issues!!

I'll try running the whole daw session through the axe when I record/tracking and switch back to the UAD when mixing
 
When you say that your guitar is slightly out of tune, do you mean with itself, or out of tune when compared to other instruments?
 
Im gonna say with other instruments ... although intonation may play a part for the solo sections.... anyone ever tune to the 12th fret for soloing? Just trying to make it sound the best it can.
 
No one ever taught me this and I've never found anything online, but I tune two different ways depending on the part I am recording. If it is a part that requires heavy picking, I will tune to the transient, otherwise I will tune to the middle of the tail.

Take that with a grain of salt - I could just be doing some goofy self-taught thing :cool:
 
Thanks ... I tried tuning open notes, fretted notes, harmonics etc. I tried James Taylor tuning and that seems a tad bit more stable in a recording

I'll try your method of the attack and middle of the tail and see if that helps.
 
If you tune to the "attack" of the open strings you will be in tune when you play notes. You can always have a tuner running while you are playing as see what is happening as you play. See if and how far you are going out as you play once you have tuned. (single notes may be in order)
 
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Try a 'sweetened' tuning, like Peterson's Strobo Stomp. I have a Turbo Tuner and tweaked one of the presets to a sweetened tuning and it helps a lot. Also check the nut on the guitar; if the slots are too high fretting from the 1st to 5th frets will cause the notes to be slightly sharp.
 
JoKeR III said:
Try a 'sweetened' tuning, like Peterson's Strobo Stomp. I have a Turbo Tuner and tweaked one of the presets to a sweetened tuning and it helps a lot. Also check the nut on the guitar; if the slots are too high fretting from the 1st to 5th frets will cause the notes to be slightly sharp.
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I do this. I have one of the "sweetened" tunings as a tuning offset configured on the AxeFXIII.
 
Sweetened tuning? is that a preset with the Peterson tuner? Is their app version any good?? or typically use their hardware version?

I have a Wolfgang, a Suhr Strat and a few Les Pauls. I mainly use the Suhr and my R40 Les Paul ... they seem to have better intonation stability. Maybe I should use the Wolfgang more??

For live theres never much issue ... even live recordings don't sound all that bad but recording in my DAW, thats a whole other story!!

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I'll try them out and see how newer recordings sound
 
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