What is the seret of the pros.....

[Terry Wetzel]

when it comes to great recorded guitar sound. I'm fairly new at digital recording but I'm an old timer on guitar. Over the years I've recorded in studios where the band just went in and recorded tracks but left the production and engineering up to the experts. I was usually pleased with the recorded sound of my guitar on these sessions. This was before Jimmy Hendrix and Clapton changed the sound of Rock guitar. I always preferred a clean but dynamic sound and at times on ballads, guitar sounds like Chet Atkins or Mark Knophler. Can anyone out there help me improve my home recorded guitar sound to a more professional level. I rarely record from my amp because of buzz and hum. Can anyone tell me if the ground lift switch on the direct box will prevent the noise from being recorded? Is there danger of electrical shock there if I lift the ground? I usually go direct in to the mixer via direct box. That seems to have helped some but it still sounds thin. My Fender tweed, reissue amp has a preamp in/power amp out circuit which the manual says is for recording and or effects loops but the retailer says that's a missprint and that it's used for two amps(?). How do the pros achieve that dynamic guitar sound?

[derker]

I'm no pro, but the facetious answer would be "lots and lots of experience." :) It's IMO a matter of knowing what you want and taking steps to get there.

Recording an amp without a mic (via DI/Line out/Preamp out/attenuator/etc) has never yielded me acceptable results without some extra work. You can get decent results using a cab sim (usually through software) and tweaking EQ, but at that point I'd personally just go 100% software.

I don't think theres much of a risk of shock by lifting the ground on a DI box. If you're trying to get rid of a ground loop, I don't think theres any other way to do it.

[julyen]

Hi there,

I would definitely second that, if you want to record with an actual amp, the best way to start would be to get a "standard" mic like the Shure SM-57 (or SM-58 which is basically the same but with a "round head" that is a bit more versatile if you want to record vocals with it as well). For years that's how I recorded my guitar. Line-out and other direct connections always sound a bit "unnatural" for lack of a better word, for me it is not so bad for clean sounds, but I would never record something with distorsion or similar effects with a direct line (it sounds like "bees" as my drummer would put it!). You sense it lacks "depth".

Then you can try with different microphones but it can become expensive quickly, and as derker said, plugins and simulation is a much cheaper, not to mention versatile, way to explore.

Personally I haven't used an amp for many years, and though I'm no pro, with something like the eleven rack or axe fx we're reaching a point where I get very satisfying results and can fool some pros! :) And you have much more control if you want to work on your sound and/or recording technique and not depend so much on the room and a myriad of other factors that can vary even when you think "nothing changed".

I hope this helps!

Julien

[Terry Wetzel]

Thanks to both of you for your advice. As I've stated in other forum topics, I'm not only old but old school when it comes to recording. I do have digital recording hardware and software but I still like an analog front end. I do use the SM57,(have'nt tried the 58 yet). I bought a Fender blues deluxe, tweed reissue that has an effects loop that has 2 jacks. One is preamp out, the other is power amp in. It works great for effects. The owners manual states that these in/out jacks also serve as a recording direct out, (I assume they mean the preamp out). when I tried to record my guitar using the preamp out jack I barely get an input signal to my mixer. I've also tried a direct box. The worst thing with the amp is a terrible buzz! So bad I can't use it. The retailer says it's because my guitars have single coil pickups! He also says the jacks are for using two amps,(but that's not what the owners manual says! I know that sc pups can cause an amp to buzz, but there are things you can do to overcome the problem, like turning guitar volume all the way up and controlling overall volume from the amp. Positioning the amp/guitar relation can also help. When I say this amp has a terrible buzz, I mean Terrible! In the past I've owned several Fender amps like the Super Reverb and never had this problem. I failed to mention that this amp is very loud, even on 2! I use a little Fender practice amp instead for recording. The headphone out jack makes for a great guitar preamp to the board but the recorded results sound thin and not very punchy).