Microphone Heaven.
Hardcore guitar tone
In my experience working at a music store
there are
two kinds of “hardcore” guitarists. One of them wants
a very compressed solid state sound without too much
high frequency cut. They are sometimes into bands
like Pantera and Slayer, and they say they want a
heavy, punchy distortion sound. The other group wants
a louder, fuller tube sound with lots of high
frequency clarity, and low frequency punch. They
sometimes say they are into Metallica, but also like
Atreyu, and AFI. This crowd says they want a punchy,
chain saw like metal sound, but they don’t want it to
be too muddy. Part of the confusion on the part of
the engineer arises from the fact that neither group
is always very good at communicating what sound they
want and sometimes their descriptions are almost
identical. They both want a great distortion sound,
but their ideas of a great distortion sound differ
widely in reality.
You can’t always find a guitar player’s desired sound
with the first settings you use, but it helps to have
someplace to start from. If the compressed, solid
state sound is desired you can always start with a
solid state amp. There are also a variety of
multi-effects processors designed to be used as
recording preamps, such as the pod, v-amp, or tonelab.
This is just a start, however. Usually a bit of eq is
required as well. Most modern distortion sounds
involve cutting the mids a bit and boosting the lows and
highs. You also have to adjust the level of gain to get
the desired amount of distortion. Sometimes having
too much gain can create a muddier sound.
Different guitars will have different sounding pickups
installed in them as well. You need to use a guitar
with quality pickups installed, and they also need to be
the right type of pickups. If you have a strat with
single coil guitar pickups, you are not going to be
able to get a very good hardcore guitar sound. Similarly
if you have a guitar with P90 style pickups, or old
Gretsch style pickups you will not be able to get a
hardcore guitar sound. Most hardcore guitar sounds come
from either moderate to high ouput passive humbucker
pickups, or active humbucker pickups (the most popular
actives being EMG's). The good news is that the same
type of pickups will work well for both the solid state
players and the tube amp players.
Although they often use the same guitars and pickups,
hardcore guitarists don't usually use the same amps.
There are lots of different brands used, so the same
settings do not always work on two different amps.
If you're trying to find a more modern tube sound you
should start with a tube amp. It's hardto get the level
of clarity desired out of solid state distortion.
The same eq is usually used here as with the solid
state amps. The mids are cut a little, and the highs
and lows are boosted. You need to be careful when you
cut the mids, as too much of this can create a flat sound
without any depth. Each amplifier brand has their own
signature eq sound, as well. Whichever frequencies the
bass, middle, and treble are centered around has an effect
on how the guitar sounds when you tweak the eq. If the
amp has a presence knob, turn that up to the desired
level. This will add more clarity and high frequency
sparkle (think of it as an ultra treble boost). If
the amp has a density knob, turn it up to the desired
level. This controls the amount of low end "cabinet
chunk" you get
from the speakers.
If a solid state guitar amp is being used, but a tube
amp sound is desired there are sometimes some viable
alternatives. Using a tube microphone preamp as a tube
overdrive can get a very clear crunchy hardcore sound.
It just depends on the mic preamp. Some of them have
enough of an input level control that you can plug the
guitar into the preamp and crank the input level all the
way, overdriving the tube. Some preamps will sound great
using this technique, and some won't.
Most mic preamps only have a single 12ax7, or a 12at7
tube. These generally work to give you a decent tube
distortion, especially when overdriven hard enough.
If the preamp doesn't give you enough input volume to
overdrive the tube quite enough, try using a volume
booster pedal before going into the preamp. You can
also use a graphic eq with a volume boost on it. As
with the other amps, you want to use a mid cut on the eq,
and a bass and treble boost.
Whatever amp and guitar setup you use, some fine
tuning will always be necessary. Spend some time tweaking
the settings on the amp until you get the desired sound,
or as close to it as you can. Remember that it
is easier to get a good recorded sound if the sound
you have from the amp is what you are looking for.
Spend some time talking with the guitar player if you are
recording them. Make sure you know what kind of sound
they are looking for. Some guitarist will have their
sound completely dialed in already, and others won't.
