Everyone always asks how to get that big huge guitar sound. Unfortunately, there’s no single answer to that.
There are a million factors at play, and lots of things I couldn’t possibly cover in a single article, but I’ll give you three tips today to help you move closer to that goal of getting that huge guitar sound.
1. Don’t start recording too quickly.
This is an easy trap to fall into, especially when you’re really excited about recording the next big hit rock record, but slow down, take a few minutes, even 15 minutes, to really dial in the right tone for the session.
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They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery.
As a home studio owner, you’re constantly trying to make your recordings sound “professional,” or at least on par with professional recordings.
Well, if you want your recordings to sound like pro recordings, have you ever actually tried to emulate a professional recording??
The Challenge
Here’s my challenge to you. Take a listen to some of your favorite songs, pick one, and try to re-create that song…from scratch…in your studio.
Listen to the song critically, pull out a piece of paper and write down all the elements you’ll need to capture, then get to work recording sounds that sound as close to that recording as you possibly can.
Will you perfectly emulate it? Nah. Probably not.
Will you learn a lot in the process? Absolutely.
A few things you will learn:
- A great recording always begins with a great song.
- The “sound” of a recording comes from the source.
- A great mix comes from great recording/production, not the other way around.
- Beginning with the end in mind is HUGE. Knowing the sound you want, before you record a single note, makes all the difference in the world. Suddenly you have a goal.
What do you say? Try it this weekend? Leave a comment and let us know. I’ll hold you to it…
[Photo Credit]
I’ve been listening to Paper Airplane* a lot lately. It’s the latest release from Alison Krauss and Union Station.
Man, it’s good. Go grab it if you haven’t yet.
I’m not a diehard bluegrass fan. I listen to it fairly regularly, but not all the time. But I highly recommend adding it to your regular listening rotation. There’s a lot to glean from bluegrass that you can apply to your own recordings, whether you’re working on an acoustic EP or a full-on heavy metal rock album.
So, what is it that bluegrass can teach you?
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I’m finishing up a fun little EP project right now. The artist is a phenomenal female singer/songwriter.
Early on in the project she told me she wanted everything to have a very acoustic, folky feel. Almost bluegrass. To that end, we avoided using drums or any heavy percussion, and we stayed away from “electric” instruments, like electric guitar and bass.
While this approach keeps the instrumentation fairly simple, it also poses all sorts of fun challenges. For two of the six songs, we sent the files to her brother to add some banjo/upright bass parts. They came back sounding VERY cool.
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On Tuesday I shared with you some tips for maintaining energy while recording. The general idea was that sometimes it can be difficult to play along to a metronome/click track without sacrificing some musicality.
I personally LOVE playing to a click track, even live. It just helps “lock” everyone into place musically.
I’m certainly not suggesting that you must use a click track on every recording session, but you may be wondering “Should I use a click track?”
What IS a click track?
Very quickly, let’s define a click track. It’s nothing more than a metronome, a steady “sound” that plays at an exact speed, measured in bpm (beats per minute).
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Yesterday I received the following question from Kyle:
Everyone has their own flavor on how they record, in terms of tracking everything to a click track, recording a certain group of instruments at the same time, etc. My question is directly related to this.
A little background… I have a progressive bluegrass band here in Michigan and we are currently recording our second CD, with much original material.
The first CD was tracked one instrument at a time with a click track. This was mainly because I didn’t have enough mics. (now I have 4) While the sound clarity and quality was pretty good, there was this “disconnect” that I couldn’t pin down to any particular instrument. We went ahead and released it anyway because we needed something to sell but I wanted a “tighter” sound.
On the second CD, which I’m about 60% done recording, I’ve decided to try recording the guitar, mandolin and bass, then track everything else separately. The music is MUCH tighter. I don’t have isolation booths so I am getting some bleed-over, so the sound quality is not the greatest in comparison to the first project. Plus, you get more imperfections because what are the odds that everyone will play the same take perfectly?
My question is: in a perfect world, which method of recording should I be spending most of my time mastering? What method do you and most engineers use? I see pros and cons on both sides and would love to know what others out there are doing. Thanks Joe. Love the site man.
Kyle is asking a question that all of us will ask at some point or another. Do we go for that live feel and hope for the best? Or do we track everything separately and risk the music sounding a bit sterile and lifeless?
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Beefy computer processors. Humongous track counts. More virtual instruments and plug-ins than anyone could possibly ever need. And it’s all relatively inexpensive.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather be a recording engineer in 2011 than 1981. There are so many advances in technology, so many cheap ways to get really good-sounding music. But is there a downside to all these options?
Absolutely.
Just because you can use 64 tracks on a song doesn’t mean you should. Granted, some songs really do need all those tracks to pull off the producer’s vision. But if you’re like me, sometimes you feel like all of your songs need to utilize all of this power you have at your fingertips. If your session has less than 24 tracks, you feel like you need to add some more to feel like you’re doing it right.
Wrong.
The Evolution of a Song
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A blank piece of paper…
That’s how every song/recording/production begins. A clean slate. A vast sea of nothingness.
Our job as musicians and producers is to fill that void with something good, to create something out of nothing, to make something beautiful. (Or at least something that makes people wanna break out a cowbell and start playing along.) 
That’s what excites me about music. I can sit down with a guitar or with a microphone, and an hour later I can walk away having created something…something that didn’t exist an hour earlier.
However, sometimes staring at that blank page or that empty Pro Tools session can be a bit daunting, if not downright overwhelming. Where do you start? Once you have a song, how do you figure out what instruments to add to the recording? The arrangement?
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Everyone always asks how to get that big huge guitar sound. Unfortunately, there’s no single answer to that.
