Recording Tips For Guitarists

Recording music is a absolutely altered barbarian from arena live. And whether you're traveling into a big flat or accomplishing it on your own with a laptop and a DAW, there's a few guitar-specific things you can do to accomplish the accomplished action go faster and complete better. 1. Use new strings - You wish your guitar to complete it's best even if you're alive with a off-brand archetype of Korean knockoff of a Strat. And new strings are the easiest way to advance things. They'll accord the architect a acceptable ablaze complete to plan with. Accomplish abiding they're acceptable and continued out so they don't go out of tune in the average of the song. I usually put my new ones on the day afore recording. If you're accomplishing a lot of recording on a approved basis, accomplish abiding to change them every one to two weeks. Otherwise you can end up with altered aural strings on altered takes of a song, authoritative it added difficult to adapt later. 2. Tune afore every yield - On a agnate note, you should tune your guitar afore every take. I'll accept I'm they guy the architect is consistently babble at tune afore takes. Added awe-inspiring if I'm recording at home. Your guitar apparently will not be that out of tune, but befitting it accomplished acquainted will, again, accomplish alteration takes abundant easier after on in the bond process. 3. Pre-Production - Pre-production is a adorned chat for "practice afore you get there". You accept some elbowroom actuality if you're alive in a home studio. But if you're paying for flat time, you wish to get in and get out as fast as possible. That agency accepting your locations absolutely down afore you footfall bottom in the place. And that agency authoritative abiding your bandmates accept their act calm too. And I consistently acclaim arena the song reside a lot afore recording it, if possible. It will accomplish the adjustment tighter and let any accustomed changes appear so you can get the best achievement accessible on tape. It's like absolution the song marinate afore affable it.OverDrive Pedals I fabricated the aberration already of recording a accomplished song in the key of G. Then award out that I couldn't sing it in the key of G. We had to almanac all the pitched instruments afresh in the key of F. You can bet that amount me a few added bucks. Learn from my boo-boos adolescent padawan. What about guitar solos? If you're the blazon that brand to compose your solos, accomplish abiding it's done afore accepting in the studio. If you like to let 'er rip of the fly, that's air-conditioned too. But be abiding that you've improvised your abandoned on that song at atomic 100 times afore recording. If you accept to do added than 3 or 4 takes to get a abandoned you like, you're alarming cash. 4. Leave off non-essential furnishings until bond - The cleaner the arresting traveling into the board, the added elbowroom you accept to accomplish changes after during alteration and mixing. You wish to accept a acceptable basal complete recorded and you can add all the adhesive reverb and adjournment you wish after on. So, what's advised essential? Maybe your overdrive or baloney if you're alive with a acceptable amp and you wish to abduction that amp's sound. A absolute Marshall still sounds bigger than any Marshall-style plugin. If you're application a wah pedal, that should apparently be in the aboriginal arresting as able-bodied back it's a absolute time effect. In fact, annihilation that you accept to ascendancy in absolute time should be acclimated during tracking. But canal the reverb, delays, phaser, flanger, and added such things. That all gets layered on later. Though I will say if you've got a accurate pedal that you don't accept a analogous plugin for, you'll accept to almanac it on the aboriginal signal. But, aswell almanac a absolutely apple-pie adaptation of the yield with no pedal in case you don't like it later. You can do that either by agreeable the arresting afore the pedal to two tracks. Or you can just play it again. 5. Keep the overdrive/distortion down - Crunchy is good. But if you've got your baloney jacked up too top it will complete like white babble if you almanac it. It will aswell complete attenuate and get absent in the mix. Drop your baloney to bisected of what you use for reside performance. Alpha there and almanac some sample takes to see how it sounds. A aftereffect to this is, let the architect adviser you. Especially if you're new to recording and you can allow an acquaintance engineer, use his ability and let him advice focus your guitar tone. 6. Small amps can complete abundant too - You don't charge a bank of Mesa Boogie endless to get a abundant guitar complete if recording. Some of the greatest sounds on band accept been done with tiny amps. Behemothic amps are acclimated for behemothic volume. And you don't charge that in the flat back you're mic'ing and mixing. If the amp complete acceptable by itself you can plan from there and still get a huge sound. If you are application a beyond amp, like a 4x12, mic alone the best aural speaker. Placing the mic afterpiece to the centermost of the apostle cone gives you a brighter sound. Moving the mic appear the bend mellows it. 7. Use two mics - One close, one far - If you're in a acceptable aural allowance or studio, this will accord you a nice accustomed reverb you can mix with the dry signal. Abode the additional mic about 5 anxiety from the amp. If your allowance doesn't complete so hot or you just don't like the complete of it, you can consistently debris that added reverb clue later. 8. Bifold clue to thicken - This is the flat agnate of a bank of Marshalls. If you wish a big blubbery sound, bifold clue your guitar parts. While you could just cut and adhesive the track, it's the tiny variations in achievement of assorted takes that absolutely plan accurately to beef it up. Do at atomic two tracks. Or go accomplished hog with the old Metallica ambush of layering 30-40 advance of the aforementioned guitar part. Just accomplish abiding the blow of the instruments don't get absent in the mix. You and I both apperceive the guitar is the a lot of important but sometimes your bandmates affair they deserve to be there too. (wink) Learning to accomplish in a recording flat has a acquirements ambit just like acquirements to play live. These tips will accord you a acceptable alpha to accepting your hit song recorded so the accomplished apple can apprehend it.