Recording palm muted guitars- bass out of control

[bkremer]

I have learned more in two weeks from this DUC than the two years on my own. Here's my scenario...

Heavy music- I think the whipper snappers call it Post-emo-grind-hard-core-emo-core-screamo. Being a child of the 90's, I listen to real music. I have deciphered this strange classification of music- Post-emo-grind-hard-core-emo-core-screamo is actually latin for 'we can't play our instruments worth a crap and think a little stage presence will get us a record contract.'

Anyways, God bless 'em, they account for a significant portion of my business thanks to one record I did that got a lot of attention.

The guitars sound good right up until they palm mute. When they palm mute, the bass is stupid loud and muddys up my mix. The solution I use currently is.....

Let them set their crappy 5150 however they want and use EQ to take bass away later. The downside of this is that I lose bass when they arent palm muting and the tone can sound thin. How have you all dealth w/ such things?

Should I be rolling the bass off before I record to pro tools? Tell those little punks that the bass guitar is for bass, not their crappy 5150?

[Keith Owens]

Post deleted by Keith Owens

[gonzo99]

For the stuff you've already recorded, maybe you could just automate the EQ to switch between settings? That way you can have the sound you want in the non-muted sections and a low-mid or bass cut in the muted sections. [EDIT- I would draw this rather than try and do it in real time ]

Another option would be to cut and paste the muted sections to their own tracks and EQ them independently.

cheers
gonzo

[bkremer]

wow! thanks, you were right, that roar is hiding in the lower mids more than the bass.

[GothicV]

I would try a few things;

tell them to lower the gain (sounds much better recorded, you get much better clarity) and lower the bass if it sounds too bassy to your ears.

Try either turning the mic a bit towards the center of the speaker to lose some of the bass

Record the palm muted sections on a different track




If you want to change the eq for those sections it might be faster to duplicate the tracks and just automate the volume (if you can spare the tracks) -0R- duplicate the tracks and apply the eq changes to the entire duplicate via audiosuite and then cut the parts you need, move them into the existing track and crossfade.

[nerhal]

Originally Posted by bkremer

I have learned more in two weeks from this DUC than the two years on my own. Here's my scenario...

Heavy music- I think the whipper snappers call it Post-emo-grind-hard-core-emo-core-screamo. Being a child of the 90's, I listen to real music. I have deciphered this strange classification of music- Post-emo-grind-hard-core-emo-core-screamo is actually latin for 'we can't play our instruments worth a crap and think a little stage presence will get us a record contract.'

Anyways, God bless 'em, they account for a significant portion of my business thanks to one record I did that got a lot of attention.

The guitars sound good right up until they palm mute. When they palm mute, the bass is stupid loud and muddys up my mix. The solution I use currently is.....

Let them set their crappy 5150 however they want and use EQ to take bass away later. The downside of this is that I lose bass when they arent palm muting and the tone can sound thin. How have you all dealth w/ such things?

Should I be rolling the bass off before I record to pro tools? Tell those little punks that the bass guitar is for bass, not their crappy 5150?

been recording 5150's for years and dealing with all of these punks with no talent and also grew up in the 90's. my advice: become a better musician and engineer. sheesh

[BrendanClace]

You guys are pathetic. I find this thread extremely offensive, and hope that the aforementioned band finds a real engineer to produce their music, rather than someone that has no idea what he/she is doing.

5150's have been used on albums for YEARS in this type of music and they sound incredible. In no way are they crappy at all.

Perhaps you should learn to mic an amp properly first, and then complain if you still can.

"real music"

What defines "real" music?

I'd like to see a definition for that.

I think that a lot of my friends in the industry producing bands just like this one, and those bands becoming successful should be a testament to what is popular amongst teens these days.

Music evolves....get over it and get over yourself.

/rant

EDIT:

An honest answer:

Record the guitars direct and reamp later.

[albee1952]

Okay all, take a deep breath and lets get back to audio. How you mic an amp can have a huge effect on the tracks so maybe letting us know how(in great detail) you did these tracks will allow some suggestions on other ways that might help. After the fact, everyone seems to be forgetting the old trick of side-chaining a compressor so you have frequency dependent compression(which might work wonders in this case).

BTW, saying "I stuck a 57 on the grill" is not exactly great detail. When I use a 57(not my first choice, but maybe yours) I start with it pointing at the spot on the speaker where the dust cap meets the cone(a flashlight can help here), pointing straight at the grill but an inch away(just a good starting point). If this is too bright, I start moving toward the edge of the speaker(usually stopping before the surround part of the cone and movong away from the grill, following the cone's taper). These days I use a ribbon(same position but maybe 2 inches off the grill). More details please as I'd like to help

[Kris75]

I actually thought it was a humorous post

This plug in is expensive, but worth every penny. Never automate low mids on an eq again.


http://www.brainworx-music.de/en/plu...x_dyneq_bundle

[Benoni]

Sure hope the OP wasn't waiting for an answer this whole time

Talk about thread resurrection, original post date 11-30-2004

OP is probably using Reaper now anyway