Recording Slash....

Need a helping hand to make sure you do it right, first time? Got some good advice to pass on, so no-one makes the same mistakes you did? This is your forum.
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Greg_L
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Recording Slash....

Post by Greg_L »

I thought this was pretty cool. Not that I'm some Slash fanboy, but I am a fanboy of big loud Marshalls and how to record them. Lots of detail and sound examples in here.

[BBvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz65qfc ... e=youtu.be[/BBvideo]
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miroslav
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by miroslav »

Hey,,,,the point of the MV is key if your amp has a MV.
If you dime it, and really push up the front end...you get crunch, but at that point it's over-compressed and a bit mushy.
If you back off the MV 1-2-3 clicks (depends on the amp), you hit a sweet spot where the amp actually sound louder, but it's just that you're taking out that compressed mush and you get the more bolder/rounder crunch tone.
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by Greg_L »

Yup, the "tipping point" on a MV amp is important.
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ido1957
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by ido1957 »

Cool video - nice to hear the differences with the mics and the eq he's done. Gives you all sorts of ideas what to try.
People want something for nothing, they want it right now. Either they can't tell quality or don't care but feel it is important that everyone agrees with them.
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by Greg_L »

ido1957 wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2017 4:10 pm Cool video - nice to hear the differences with the mics and the eq he's done. Gives you all sorts of ideas what to try.
I might revisit the one mic way out front for lead tone. I used to try that and never really liked it, but I'm a little better at this shit now. Maybe I can figure it out.
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rammer24
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by rammer24 »

Re-amp!!!!!!!! :D
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rammer24
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by rammer24 »

Holy shit! Even these guys with their expensive Les Pauls are talking about tuning issues. I don't feel so bad now.
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ido1957
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by ido1957 »

Yeah my G string is not that bad but I do tune a bit "off" on my Gibson. Strat doesn't have that issue as far as mine goes.
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by Greg_L »

Both of my Lez Paulas stay in tune really well. I gently sanded the nut in the grooves to smooth the transition to the tuners. I'm also not a hard picker that digs in like a mongo. I glide. Lol. Anyway, I can go through a whole set with no tuning problems and don't need to do anything crazy to sound in tune.

The problem with LPs and SGs are two-fold:
1) The 3+3 headstock makes the G string take a kink from the nut to it's tuning peg. It's not so much a problem for the D because it's a wound string.
2) The break angle. The tilted back headstock on a Gibson adds another kink for the strings. So the poor G has to change two directions just to reach his tuner.

All of this conspires to make a LP or SG a bitch to stay in tune if the nut isn't just right. Fenders, PRS, or any guitar with a flat headstock or inline tuners usually don't have these problems.
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rammer24
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by rammer24 »

That explains it. It's almost always my G that gives me trouble. Sometimes the B string, but usually the G.
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by Greg_L »

rammer24 wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2017 6:18 pm That explains it. It's almost always my G that gives me trouble. Sometimes the B string, but usually the G.
You can fix it yourself very easily but you have to do it very carefully.

Get some feeler gauges and some very fine sandpaper. Use the feeler gauge that matches the string gauge for the slot you're gonna work on and wrap the sandpaper around the feeler gauge. Just one wrap. Make a V in the sandpaper and put the feeler gauge in it. You're basically making a tiny file. Gently sand the nut slot towards the tuner. Don't make the nut deeper and don't sand the fretboard edge of the nut at all. That first contact point where the string enters the nut from the fetboard needs to be left alone. Don't mess with that. But the back half of the nut slot can be massaged to make that turn towards the tuner easier. I did this to all of my Gibsons and they all stay in tune very well.
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JD01
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by JD01 »

That was a really good video. Lots of good tips in there, particularly as I'm working on dialing in my tone at the moment. I'm definitely gonna stick to dual miking, even if I barely use it, will be good to have a little something else to blend in a bit.

My Crimson headstock has a break angle, but it only suffers with tuning problems when I move it from Wales to Bristol and back on Mondays and Thursdays. When it's stabilised it's pretty solid.

My Washburn suffered from the les Paul g string occasionally and I had that professionally set up which improved it and It has a brass nut.

My telecaster was terrible, g and b were always slipping flat, I had loads of bends to do in the band I was playing in at the time and it was really annoying. I don't miss that guitar even though I loved it when I got it.
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by rammer24 »

I have this stubborness about me that won't allow me to use more than one mic. I'm a bit OCD about these kind of things. I tell myself that I HAVE to be able to get a good sound with one mic, an SM57, like millions of great recordings that have come before me. I know there's nothing wrong with experimenting, using more mics, using a room mic, etc....But I still can't get away from the feeling that I shouldn't NEED any of that.

That's just my OCD, suborness, obsession, whatever you want to call it.
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by JD01 »

rammer24 wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2017 6:59 pm I have this stubborness about me that won't allow me to use more than one mic. I'm a bit OCD about these kind of things. I tell myself that I HAVE to be able to get a good sound with one mic, an SM57, like millions of great recordings that have come before me. I know there's nothing wrong with experimenting, using more mics, using a room mic, etc....But I still can't get away from the feeling that I shouldn't NEED any of that.

That's just my OCD, suborness, obsession, whatever you want to call it.
I totally understand that. It's what I want to get too. Part of the reason I want two mics there is so I can adjust the blend between takes while keeping the same guitar.

The best tones I've got had pretty much all been with a 57 only.
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by rammer24 »

Yeah, no I posted my thoughts after reading yours, but it was in no way directed at you. However anyone captures a sound is completely cool. I was just making a statement on my obsessive way of thinking, which isn't always a good thing.
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by Minerman »

The album "Slash" is killer...great tones & great playing there...plus there's a bunch of guest performers like Lemmy, Dave Grohl, Iggy, & more on that album...

+1,000,000 on the amp's sweet spot, every amp I've recorded has it's own spot where it sounds the best (to me)...The Blackstar HT-5 sounded best to me with the volume dimed, through a 4x12...The DSL100 was around 6, but by the time I got it wound up that high, it was loud enough to kill a small animal...The Chupa was a little more controllable, it depended on what the "Era" was set on...In "plexi" mode it was around 7-8, in the "80's" & "modern" mode it was around 6-7, which was a lot more manageable because of the volume drop in those modes...The EVH to me sounds best around 5-6, if I push it past that point, the EL84's get kinda flubby to me...

Re-amping is great too IMO, as long as you get the di performance, it'll come through whatever you run it back through...I gotta admit, the Radial RMP I have was a good decision for me, I use it every time I record guitars...

Cool vid...
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My music @ Reverbnation :minernuggs:
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miroslav
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by miroslav »

rammer24 wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2017 6:59 pm I have this stubborness about me that won't allow me to use more than one mic. I'm a bit OCD about these kind of things. I tell myself that I HAVE to be able to get a good sound with one mic, an SM57, like millions of great recordings that have come before me. I know there's nothing wrong with experimenting, using more mics, using a room mic, etc....But I still can't get away from the feeling that I shouldn't NEED any of that.

That's just my OCD, suborness, obsession, whatever you want to call it.
Funny...I've pretty much almost always just used one mic, in all different positions...but this weekend I was tracking some guitars, and for some reason, decided to mic each of the speakers in my 212 with its own mic, since they are two different speakers.
I used two of the same mics (AKG D1000E) and I put them in the same position for each speaker, same distance...and then I blended them together at my mixer, and recorded them as a one track.
At first I was going to do the pussy thing...:D...and track them each to a track, and save the blending for the mix...but then I figured, fuck it, I can hear how they sound right up front, so might as well blend them to taste and put them together to one track. :P

I like how they came out...I may do this again.

Otherwise...there was a time when I would on occasion put a second mic in-line, but like a couple of feet back...or shit like that, then I got to be the same way as you...and figured I should be able to get a good guitar sound with one mic, instead of all this fucking around with a bunch of mics and worry about the blend later on. They do that shit in the pro sessions only because the engineer, the producer and the artist are all puckered up about possible changes later on...so just like capturing the extra DI track as a safety for possible reamping...it's all about CYA so you don't have to re-track.

Me...I don't care if I have to re-track. It's my time, my recording...and I'm never so hung up on some one in a million take that I may never capture again...etc.
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by Greg_L »

I like two mics right up on the speaker. I always do one pretty bright and one pretty dark. The thickness and clarity when tracked like that can't be achieved with just one mic. Don't get me wrong, I'll happily use one mic all day every day. I do believe that one should strive to get good results with just one mic. I feel plenty confident with using one mic and getting good results. But with two, I usually just like it better. Having said that, I'll pretty often just mute one of them and go with just one mic track anyway.
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miroslav
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by miroslav »

So you put both mics on one speaker...or one each on two speakers in different positions..?
Greg_L wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2017 8:50 pm Having said that, I'll pretty often just mute one of them and go with just one mic track anyway.
See...that's usually what happened to me in the past when I used two....but this time I liked them blended.
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Re: Recording Slash....

Post by Greg_L »

miroslav wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2017 8:54 pm So you put both mics on one speaker...or one each on two speakers in different positions..?
Usually on the same speaker.

I have on occasion mic'd two different type speakers to blend them, but most of the time it's just two mics on one speaker. One at the dustcap seam, one near the edge.
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