Putting in a little effort and research up front is the only way to make the guitar tone in your head turn out exactly how you want it to once you get into a recording situation. Here are some simple, yet effective, guidelines to get your tracks right the first time:
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New StringsStrings are one of the cheapest and best things you can do for your recordings. The last thing you want to do is spend months working on your music just to go into a studio to have it sound dull no matter how much treble you try and turn up. With dead strings, your track will never come to life. The same goes for your bass strings as well as your drum heads and sticks. When in doubt, change them! It may be a financial investment up front but the universe will repay you with the best recording possible.
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Know your equipment
I (like most people) love to sit down, plug in, and play…but it really is a huge benefit to understand all the nuances of how your equipment works, and how it integrates and flows. Before you record, take the time to learn your new gear and get to know how something effects your sound. You’ll never walk into a recording studio where the engineer isn’t an expert at everything in front of him/her. So you need to be your own expert. A great experiment is to have a backing track of your material (or contact us to get a track) and try different settings and play along to see how your sound changes (for better or worse). A sound that, by itself, sounds thin or harsh might sound huge and perfect once mixed in with other instrumentation.
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Cables – CABLES!!!!
“But I got a free cable when I bought my guitar”…great, now pick it up, walk over to the door, and chuck it as far as you can. In this instance, “free” does not equate with “good.” You don’t have to go out and buy $100-$200 cables to find something of good quality. Well below the $100, you can find Monster cables and Canare with Neutrik ends, but that should probably be the bottom end of what you consider. For $100 investment, I’d recommend you check out Mogami. Buy what is right for you and, after you play through your new cable for a while, try and switch back to your old “free” cable. You’ll be blown away. (Also as a side note the shorter the cable is the better your sound transfer will be. For example: in the studio, I tend to use 10-20ft cables. If you need to go longer than 20-25 feet, don’t worry about it; it won’t destroy your sound. It’s just something to keep in the back of your mind.)
- An honorable mention has to be made for picks (sticks if you’re a drummer, bows if you’re a violinist, etc…). Yes picks make a HUGE difference. Your guitar tone relies on your pick; it is the extension of yourself that accentuates the good frequencies and hides the bad frequencies. It’s the filter that allows YOU to have YOUR tone. You wouldn’t put cheap tires or watered down gas in your Porsche would you? …go check out Bluechip, V-picks, Timber-Tones…all great and unique companies with some awesome picks.
Dear Reader~ How do you maximize success when you sit down to record? Do you have certain failsafes you go through to make sure you’re good to go on the first downbeat?