Finding the Right Guitar Sound in the Studio By

Finding the right guitar sound inside the studio seems like a difficult sound for a lot of engineers and musicians. Let's break these down into simple steps that we can apply

Imagine and Describe your ideal sound: Make notes on what you want your ideal guitar sound to be, use it as a starting point to get towards a better sounding tone. Understand the design of the song and build the tone to that keeping the song/sound of the artist in mind.

If you have a song that is quite empty and you design a tone that sounds thin and brittle then the guitar sound in itself won’t be able to take up space in the song and won’t work with the rest of the instruments. The fullness of the guitar will make it stand out too much when it shouldn’t. Depending on what the song requires do you need to be more dynamic or do you need to drive the guitar amps more by playing harder which more pick attack.

1. Choosing the right Amp: As it is with making music, choosing the right piece of equipment for the right sound is extremely necessary. The reason you need a different amp for different genres or styles of music is that different amps highlight or accentuate very different sounds that is characteristic of that genre.

Below are the amps that can be used for various different styles: ▪Fender DeVille // Fender Twin Reverb: Great for Pop/Blues/Country/Jazz ▪Mesa Dual Rectifier : Rock//Metal//Pop ▪VOX AC50: Rock//Cleans ▪Marshall JCM 900: Rock//Metal

2. Choosing the right Guitar and Pedal I.Fender Tele: Great guitar for clean and shiny guitar sound II.Gibson Les Paul: Warmer and more rounded tone, better for driven sound III.PRS: Malleable guitar tone, great for cleans as well as high gain guitar tone, isn’t too bright intrinsically IV.Ibanez: Great for heavier stuff, not very great for cleaner sounds

Every guitar player and recording engineer should familiarize themselves with the electronics that go into building guitar amps, a little knowledge goes a long way. Even if you use a Fender’s single coils as opposed to a Les Pauls Dual humbucker, understanding the electronics will give you an idea as to why a certain guitar sounds a certain way. Try changing the position of your pickup on the guitar, this too has a very drastic effect on the sound of the guitar itself. Bringing the pickup closer gives you a much more full-bodied sound, experiment with all the pickups selected till you find a position where it sounds good.

3. Choosing the right guitar mics: We have all been in a position when we plug the guitar into the amp and get a great sound but the sound doesn't translate into the control room. Why does this happen? And how can this be fixed? The reason the guitar amps sound good inside the room and don’t translate into the studio is partly because of the microphone placement and microphone setup.

Below are few microphones that are common inside a recording studio to mic the cabinet: 1.SM 57: The standard, simple, point and record. 2.MD421: More pronounced midrange and body 3.C414: Brighter more balanced sound 4.e609: A microphone designed for guitar amps, great for picking up low mids. The general rule of thumb when micing a guitar amp is that the closer you mic center of the cab the brighter it gets and the more you mic towards to edge the warmer/duller it gets.

Gray Spark Academy write us: Thank You…