straighttothebar
First off thank you Beepster and thank you Jeff Evans.
Now that is some piece of advice right there. I knew I came to the right place.
 
I'd like to say a few words about amp sims.
I have tried amp sims before too, from the free ones (lepou, Ignite, Nick Crow lab,..) to the commercial ones (Amplitube, TH2/3, Revalver, Line6, Guitar Rig,..) but I personally find it hard to find and then KEEP a tone with them, because there are just too many variables and possible setups. For instance Amplitube: once you find an amp you like, the party begins: which cabinet? 4x12? 2x12? 1x12? brand? which mic? how many mics? mic position? room ambiance on? off? which speakers? Or rather a guitar impulse?
I admit, the tones you get out of it require much less work once recorded, like eq'ing compressing etc.. But no matter which amp sim free or not, I end up thinking, ok not bad, but this isn't MY tone, I didn't create it. Are you following?
 
I see both of you talk about taking out the lower frequencies out of the guitar, so there's more room left for the bassguitar. This is probably the best advice one can get. I played in a band for about 10 years and I always thought of the bassplayer as a friendly person to fill the stage, and do some heavy lifting afterwards. Now, years later, here in my homestudio, I realize, I was mistaken. The bassguitar is the glue that keeps the song together. I can see that. And yet, looks like I still don't pay enough attention to it. Time to shift my focus.
 
Thanks again for all the input.
 
Cheers

Check back on this thread. I'm in the middle of writing/tracking some stuff but if I remember I will post a slew of tricks and crap I've learned about sims over the past 4-5 years.
 
Might actually be helpful to refresh myself on a lot of that as well because I'm about to launch into a pile of complex metal/hardcore guitar tweakery.
 
In the meantime to get close to "your tone" just choose an amp model of the real life amp you usually use (or as close as you can get it) and for mics just use SM57 models for now. For metal one 57 set to "Edge" (edge of the cone position at 90 degree angle) and another set to 45 degrees and blending the two should be pretty foolproof. You can add "rear" mic as well for a bit of extra whomp but I find too much of that rear sound muddies things up too much for my style.
 
If you have an effects/pedal chain you usually use again find similar models (if you use common effects they are usually modeled just under different names) and set them up how you normally would live (pedal before amp > insert effects between head and cab > post effects after cab... etc).
 
Also to get the most out of the head models try inserting a simple Gain effect module or something that allows you to boost your dry signal before it hits the input of the amp head sim. Good amp simulations respond like normal amps would to signal boosting... and that is it will drive the virtual "tubes" harder to get more distortion. Check it out.
 
Also... do you own the full version of TH2 or just the one stripped down one that came with Sonar? Do you own GR5?
 
Cheers.

Beeps makes good metal tones.
 
This I know.

Tee hee!
 
Oh, you...
 
*blushes*

to me,
the balls in a good metal tone,
is about moving air, not adding bass, to guitars.
 
the microphone (say, a 57) needs to have that diaphrahm moving, and a well placed mic on a good sounding cab/speaker will get you most of the way there.
 
then, it's a matter of eq at mixdown, to allow the thump to happen, but not muddy the waters.
 
of course, the arrangement of the song comes into play,
and you have to have the bass and kick locked in as if they are one mechanism.
 
to get it to gell in the mix correctly,
you have to pick separate frequencies that the lowest point of the kick EQ, point of the bass, and then higher than those, the point of the guitar all have there own sonic space to thrive.
 
if you don't play tight,
it'll never happen no matter how you capture it or eq it.
 

I checked the track in SONAR:
It sounds like at least 4 layers of guitar, playing the same riff but panned hard left and right. It feels like some "Hard Opposite Scooping" at each side to let two tracks sound like one. This alone does make a riff sounds big....
The frequency response (Check it in PC-EQ!) is very straight over a wide area. He used different sounds settings for the individual tracks (left and right). This will add up nicely.
Even more important: The guy is really tight!
If you copy, mono, and switch the phase of the track you will get an idea of what is happining at the side spectrum.
I am not 100% sure, but without the bass guitar 90% of the punch is gone... Or, he panned just the mid and high frequencies of the guitar left and right - but that would be a real surprise.
 
Track = Great player + great recording and mxing techniques (+ cool riffs) 

batsbrew
to me,
the balls in a good metal tone,
is about moving air

 
I agree, but I'm afraid this is the problem for every "bedroom producer". Though I use an attenuator to push those powertubes a little more, the overall volume remains the same: too low, not nearly enough air gets pushed onto that sm57.
 

batsbrew
if you don't play tight,
it'll never happen no matter how you capture it or eq it.

Spot on. Eventually, in the end, it all boils down to one thing: talent. I'm very aware i'm a mediocre guitarplayer, actually, now that I come to think of it, I'm mediocre in alot of things, except for drinking beer, maybe.
But, at least for me, there's nothing that can grasp emotions and feelings better than music. In particular (scandinavian) deathmetal, should you want to know it. A well placed minor chord in between powerchords, a dirty ugly verse followed by a melancholic chorus, a slow harmonic solo,.. these things can express so many things from joy and strenght to sadness and despair, depending on the situation you're in, I guess.
There were many times I said to myself, what are you doing in here? There are hundreds of others, educated sound engineers, doing a better job than you making music, shouldn't you be outside and be happy, like 99% of the rest of the world. But I won't give up. Even if it's just one song, I will make it.
 
Haha, I really should quit the beer now.

vdd
Track = Great player + great recording and mxing techniques (+ cool riffs)

See, even vdd agrees.

vdd
 
Track = Great player + great recording and mxing techniques (+ cool riffs) 

Well, I have a great DAW. That has to count for something even if I'm 0 for 4, yes?

Have a look here vdd:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maA1wGBX7ag
 
There's more going on than what he claims right?

i think you don't have to be a great player....
 
you just have to have a great vision.
 
metal can be heavy, and simple. don't let that stop you from dialing in your scope of skill, and recording something heavy as phuck