Recording & Mixing Lead Electric Guitar

ALEXANDER MAGAZINE^{^{^TM}}

2002 Late Spring Issue

VOL III - ISSUE 3 - May 10, 2002

Recording & Mixing The Lead Electric Guitar

BY BOB DENNIS

INTERMEDIATE RECORDING TRAINING - PAID SUBSCRIBER ONLY ARTICLE - FREE ACCESS UNTIL JUNE 25, 2002 ISSUE

Initially Capturing Clarity And Size

A good rock lead guitar should sound "right there" and "big" (read that as "Huge"). There should also be a clarity of the notes being played. These factors create a conflict in the microphone setup to pick up the instrument.

The "big" sound of the guitar comes from placing a microphone several feet away (10-15 feet). The clarity comes from a microphone being placed very close to the speaker (2-5 inches). The distant microphone is not clear and the close microphone is not big-sounding.

If you tried to use both a close and a distant mic, the clarity would get worse because of the time difference between the microphones. Sound travels at a speed of about 1/1000th of a second per foot. This makes the distant microphone get its signal 10-15 ms. later than the close mic. This time difference blurs the attack and clarity of the guitar.

A technique that can give you both clarity and size is to use both microphones but to delay the close microphone before blending the two mics. You would want a delay unit that would delay the signal 10-15 ms (one ms per foot of distance) and insert this in the channel you use for the close mic. Now when you blend two mics, you will get a sound that is both clear and big.

Remicing & Double Amping For Clarity And Size

Some guitar players will "split" their signal and send it to two guitar amplifiers. Placing microphones to pickup and record both amplifiers will often give a bigger guitar sound. Blending of the two amplifiers often effects the clarity of the guitar part.

Remicing a guitar involves the recording of the signal sent to the input of session amplifier so that it can later, in the mixing process, be sent back to a different guitar amplifier in the studio, which is again miced. It is important to record a "direct signal" during the original session, which allows this re-micing technique to be used in the mixdown process. Figure 1 shows the setup to record an additional "direct" track for later remicing.

Fig 1 - Recording Additional Direct Signal

Equalizing The Lead Electric Guitar

I have taken a Yamaha 02R preset and modified it according to my experience at recording and mixing rock rhythm guitars. Remember that library settings are just a beginning point in equalizing your tracks during mixing:

Rock Lead Guitar

Yamaha Name E.G. Distortion 2 New Name: Rock Lead

Stock Parameters:

LF: + 4.0 dB at 315 Hz with Low Shelf Response

LMF: - 8.5 dB at 1.05 kHz with 10.0 Q

HMF: + 4.5 dB at 4.23 kHz with 4.0 Q

HF: +4.0 dB at 12.6 kHz with High Shelf Response

Suggested Parameters:

LF: + 6.0 dB at 265 Hz with 0.7 Q Peak Response

LMF: - 0.0 dB at 1.05 kHz with 2.0 Q

HMF: + 4.5 dB at 4.23 kHz with 2.0 Q

HF: +4.0 dB at 8.0 kHz with 0.7 Q

Why: The LF boost gives body. The peak response reduces interference with the bass line. The HF boost accents the upper harmonics of the guitar that are boosted because of distortion.

Further Changes: With multiple rhythm guitars present, increase HMF boost frequency to 6.35 kHz and possibly increase the Q. Reducing 1.05 kHz can increase the distinction between rhythm and lead guitars; the LMF frequency may need to be changed slightly towards 800 Hz when multiple rhythm guitars are in the production.

Description: Distorted Rock Lead Guitar

Lead Guitar Reverberation

The main sound will be gotten with the standard Large Hall program, but a small amount of chamber reverberation will be added to thicken the reverberation. To view "basic reverb" (hall and chamber) recommended settings, go to the Basic Mixing Reverb Libraries article.

Doubled Electric Guitar Recording & Mixing article in this issue will give you additional mixing ideas for improved electriuc lead guitar sounds.

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