Recording Geetards

Phfew! What a busy summer this has been. Haven't had time to scribble down some drabble of what we've been up to. Well, now I've got a few minutes to run down the heydown of this monster we're creating.

A week after Copenhagen, we moved our gear to the studio and I started to record basic rythm guitars. The studio is deep in the middle of nowhere, so it's a great place to records. All the tranquility around, 200 year old house, perfect atmosphere. But still, it took nearly two weeks to lay down the rythm tracks because of the heat (no AC). My brain started to melt after a 8h work day, so had to take a couple of days off once in a while and work with a lot of rests in between takes. This time I also quad-tracked the guitars, which always takes time.

First week was all Mesa Boogie Double Rectifier (the rack amp I have) with my BC Rich Mockingbird (same guitar/setup you hear all over "Broken World"). The guitar has Rockfield Mafia pickups that kick ass. They truly Kick, Ass. This guitar in general sounds fucking awesome with basically any amp. Don't know if it's just me, just this guitar or what but it rocks.

On the amp, scooped out all the mids and tracked two guitars with this ultra mega heavy as fuck Thudnt-Thudnt sound. Oh the joy, oh the fun. The guitar is in E, so everything is played "normally" with a slow attack and muscular sound. Think of a bodybuilder, strong but slow moving. My point in this, we'll come to that later.

Second week was all about my 7-stringed Les Paul through my Peavey 5150II. The Les Paul is pretty awesome, as I don't care for the usual 7-stringed floating bridge ibanez type bolt neck superstrat fiddle. I'm smelling my own fart here but having a traditional good ol' heavy Les Paul with 7-strings and tune-o-matic bridge, Seymour Duncan '59 and JB is awesome. It also has a kill-pot to chop your sounds alá Buckethead "Jordan" (you know, from the guitar hero game), but haven't gotten around to using that yet.

Anyhooo, the Peaveys settings were pretty much the opposite of the Mesa, with a focus on the middle. Think of a scary, tall, angly guy with a knife. Tracked two tracks of this (left & right).

The point in this is the guitar arrangement. The E-tuned Mockingbird plays everything as one would play, E being the lowest note, to play D you'd have to go higher etc.

The 7-string can go as low as B, so every chord between B and E can go one octave lower than the Mockingbird.

Then the sounds. Mesa Rectifiers have a pretty slow, meaty, dense tone, the middle scoop being their trademark. The Peavey's on the other hand have a more biting, fast attack, middle focused, tight muscular tone.

As the mockingbird in general plays higher chords, it's ok to have a thicker scooped out tone, as the high notes don't muddle up that easy.

Then the 7-string, with it's low chords, muddys up easy, but playing it trough a middle boosted Peavey makes it clear, defined, but muscular and powerful because of the low chords.

So soundwise, Mesa brings the balls and power while the Peavey brings the clarity and detail. Arrangementwise it's just the opposite. Together they fill out eachother nicely to one big sound. Peavey's sound brings what the Mesa don't, and vice versa. And the low stuff doesn't muddy up while the high stuff doesn't sound weak. Then the bass will build up the foundation underneath, going one octave lower. Wall of sound baby :D. If I succeed, the guitar & bass is like a big fat juicy steak with tight and tasty chipotle sauce on top! Mmmm... :)

All rythm guitars we're recorded trough Mesa Boogie Rectifier 4x12 cabs, with a Shure SM57 + Neumann TLM103. For the peavey I'll probably just use the 57, while the Mesa worked well with both mics + a small blending with the "analog cabinet simulation" from the Recto Recording pre.

No stompboxes or effects other than noise gate on both, and a hint of compression on the Mesa through the TC Electronics G-Major (my basic rythm sound aptly named "Paskahousu"). I don't use that much gain too, maybe 14:00 on the Mesa and a 7 on the Peavey, sounds heavier (than an overcompressed, gain on 10, loudness maximized sound) when you use a 1,5mm picks and just beat the shit out of the guitar ;)

For clean guitars, I've used my Tokai Telecaster (with Seymour Duncans) trough my Mesa Boogie Mark III combo. Same mic setup but no cab, just the combos own speaker.

Also, did some random lead parts with my Gibson Les Paul Custom with the Mark III.

On the Mark III, I used MXR Phase90, Artec Resovibe and Vintage Chorus. The Phase90 kicks ass.

Next post will be about vocal recording, as that is what we're up to at the moment. But now I have to eat and get back to work... My pasta is probably cold by now.


PS. I'm now on a waiting list for an operation to straighten my fucked up leg. Walking with a cane at the moment...