How To Record Metal Guitar Like a PRO
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- Опубліковано 15 чер 2024
- In this guitar recording tutorial, I go over how to record professional quality modern metal guitars from home with the gear you already own, using Ableton 11 though these techniques can be used in Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, Reaper or any DAW. If you’re a beginner with recording, don’t worry as I go over every little important step of the process. I have been recorded by some of the best engineers out there and these are some techniques I've learned from them, as well as things I've picked up along the way. This video is coated in nuggets of information so don't skip over parts, even if you already know the basics.
I'm Brendon Padjasek of the band Structures from Toronto, Canada and welcome to my channel based on modern metal, djent, and deathcore music, production, mixing and song writing.
When I mix bands, I often times get guitar, and bass tracks that are not ideal. Either out of tune, out of time or just have some issue that I can't remove in post. With these techniques, you will be able to record flawless guitar tracks without spending any extra money.
Thanks for watching!
HEAR THE WHOLE SONG:
www.beatstars.com/brendonpadj...
The Episode This Song Came From:
• Metal Music Made QUICK...
Shot on:
Lumix S1 - Sigma ART 24mm-70mm f2.8
Lumix GH5 - Sigma ART 18mm-35mm f1.8
0:00 Intro
0:46 Important Practices
1:35 Begin Tracking
1:52 Notey Sections
3:06 Chugs
3:36 Noises
5:07 Bends
5:58 Lengths
6:06 Chords
6:45 Save Time When Possible
7:33 Riff Complete
7:52 Rough Take Comparison
8:08 Final Nuggets
8:36 REQUESTS?
#guitar #metal #recording
Let me know of any subjects you'd like me to cover here. Thanks for watching!
super informative, loved this! would you take a similar approach for recording bass guitars? i’d love to see some videos on that! keep up the amazing work!🤘🏻
@@bradsux666 Thanks for watching Bradley! Yeah I literally do the exact same thing with bass!
Using Ableton’s new comping to record in di/wet from a modeler like the Quad Cortex.
@@Riff_salad What is Quad Cortex? I've never heard of that before
Love your work
Do you have a video on your Ableton setting for recording guitar? I have so much latency in mine
You've got a nice vibe bro. Love structures too
Thanks Simon! I appreciate that haha. I find myself being much too serious when I’m filming tutorials but I try to give the information that helps me.
Thanks for checking out the channel!
For me as a beginner in recording guitars even for bedroom use only it's absolutely fantastic content! A ton of new things and techniques too learn from your experience! Can't wait for more vids!
I appreciate that Kamil and that's exactly why I made it. When I'm hired to mix a song and I receive guitar stems that aren't quite there, I'm made aware that I can show what I know and help. Thanks for watching!
Subscribed! Awesome channel man 🤘🏼 Love the quality of your vids and the musical insight you are sharing.
I appreciate that Devin! I try to give honest insight into what I know and what I do as a musician and although I don’t have all the answers, I might as well share what I know. Thanks for watching and subscribing!
I love that you record and produce in Ableton. A rarity.
Your instruction is clear, the stock video memes are gold, and you put this all together in such a linear, cohesive way.
Do you have production courses available or Ableton templates?
I appreciate that Dave! I’m planning out a few lessons/ tip videos for the future. What aspects would you like me to include? I’m glad I haven’t started filming it yet haha
I've always recorded in bits (i'm just not that good at guitar) and pieced it together Frankenstein-style and I always thought that it was OTT, but damn re-checking tuning for every note is a level of specific i never even considered, will have to try this out!
Yeah it’s definitely tedious but if you care about the listener having the best experience and you want your music to sound well produced and polished this is definitely the way to go. But like I said if I was doing rock or punk or rnb, then I do it in longer takes rather than short sections
thank you for the great and informative video!!!
Thank you for watching it! It’s how I record so I figured it would be helpful to others
new brendon video just dropped 😮
hahaha! thanks for coming out Cliff. Experimenting with different days to post so it may be a little unexpected for the next couple of weeks
so glad you decided to make a yt channel. shits tight man. when we gonna get some new structures tunes? lmao
Thanks for checking it out ! Haha hopefully soon, glad you dig the band. I’ll be posting every week until then
Thanks!
No problem at all. The foolproof way of making any guitar sound good in a recording, given you have the right strings
I love that tone my dude. Djenty but still has that chunk to it. 🤘🤘🤘
Thanks I appreciate that. I try to make my guitars audible while still being heavy as hell. I have some other guitar tone based videos as well
@@BrendonKPadjasek nice, I'm going to go check them out. I'm currently redoing my tone. I'm leaning more towards "Currents" like tone maybe touching on MIW and Dark Divine. But I like to mess around and see what I get and make these other bands tones just a building block for tones.
@purity6sic6mc that’s a great idea. Which amp plug ins are you using ?
Hey Brendon, thank you for the content, it's great and really helpful! Have you thought about doing videos about vocals and incorporating vocals into your songwriting videos?
Hey I appreciate that a lot! Thanks for watching. And definitely, I have a vocal based video coming up in the future. Moreso how I record and layer vocals for emphases, based on other requests. I'll tag it here when I release it.
@@BrendonKPadjasek thanks, I will be looking forward to it!
Also sorry for misspelling your name, fixed now
@@chr0my850 No worries at all! Thanks for correcting it haha
sick vid bro!
Thank you my brother! I had fun haha
#storyblocks hahaha
Hey Brendon! Great vid once again and am gonna use your advice for a project I'm in now.
Also, this is unrelated, but will you and Structures ever perform live?
That’s awesome! Thanks for watching and you should have a very tight record if you end up following those steps! And thanks for listening too, not sure what lays in store for shows in the future.
Great video! How have you not jumped on the evertune train yet?! Would be a totally gamechanger for you.
Game changer for a lot of things. But not for bends. Since you set that threshold point for the evertune , you might be bending but it will only kick in at that threshold point. So tracking bass for it is tough. That being said I would absolutely kill to have an ever tune guitar at some point
I am so glad i saw this. I was feeling like a sham doing it all separate like that lmao
Don’t feel ashamed. Very pro record I’ve been a part of has been recorded like this. String noise is too much of a real thing haha. As long as you can play the riffs live or at home and do it right you’re not a sham haha.
So you actually went section by section recording and editing at the same time. That's definitely a lot of work! But it sounds very cool!
Exactly! It's unfortunately how the professionals do it to get ultimate results. I saw a video where they recorded August Burns Red guitars like this, but a slower BPM and without drums, just to make sure they were perfectly tight. It's tedious but if you want a tight and clean result, its the only way. As well as blocking the strings you're not using
awesome fkn video !
Eh thanks so much! A lot of people don’t like hearing that this is how it’s done but, this is how it’s done haha
Dope video dude 🎉
Dude, thank you! Hope you been keeping well and hope that amp is crushing for you! Thanks for checking it out
@@BrendonKPadjasek it’s been absolutely crushing my man :) thanks so much and keep these videos coming!
@@stevenkenny6586 So glad to hear that! That amp provided everything I needed for the longest time. And thanks brother! I'll be posting weekly. Is there anything you'd want me to cover in a future video?
@@BrendonKPadjasek I would love a kind of basic drum programming video actually! I could absolutely use some pointers!
@@stevenkenny6586 Sick! Most people are asking for drum related videos oddly enough so that is going to be one of my next ones!
Hey Brendon!! My band and I have had a tricky time figuring out your signature "cat scratch" sound. Can you please confirm if this only works on open-pole pickups? We noticed this only consistence between your videos and ours, where you use open-pole pickups and we don't, is there something to this that we aren't picking up on?
Shouldn’t matter which pickups. I can do it on my strat with single coil. It should only be a matter of where your hand is while pushing the strings into the pick up. Experiment with different positions. On some of my guitars I have to go closer to the neck pickup! Hope that helps
Show us how to make drums sound real pls (Fills, Velocity and double kick) ty
Can do my friend. I might do a general drum writing one, based on a past suggestion
BETTER DRUM Parts for GUITARIST
ua-cam.com/video/uq2cDnbqIHA/v-deo.html
As well as
Mixing MIDI DRUMS to Sound REAL | The Missing Ingredient
ua-cam.com/video/vEzPIM85fOk/v-deo.html
Hope these help!
Thanks i found the chanel
could you pls show some rock song writing tips?thanks
Sure could! What genre of rock specifically? Like modern rock or classic rock if I dare call it that ?
Hey man, big fan of yours!
What are your thoughts on evertune bridges? With staying in tune being so essential to recording, is there a reason you didn’t use one here?
I always hesitated from getting one because I don’t know how it may limit playing technique.
Hey I appreciate that a lot! Thanks for watching. Evertune’s are great , but I don’t have a lot of money and for a band that bends a lot they’re suck to record only because of that threshold you set for bendiness. When I was tracking bass for Northlane’s Alien, Jon did all the guitars with evertune and my bass didn’t have it. Basically when he did a bend , the first say, 1/4 of the bend wouldn’t move, and then it would start from after that threshold, instead of starting from 0. So my bass bends would start from 0 and technically be out of tune for that initial threshold period.
They’re still great and if I had the opportunity I’d get one. But I used this guitar to track None Of The Above and it sounds amazing. This $500 guitar?
I don’t think they would limit you too much other than that.
Thanks for asking!
@@BrendonKPadjasek That’s some great insight based on some legendary albums. Was hard for me not to geek out. Thanks!
No worries at all! Unfortunately it’s just the way it goes with recording metal and the production value that’s expected nowadays. All egos aside, all that matters is that it sounds good, and then you learn to play it tight live.
I just switched the pickups in the rg8 and it sounds amazing.
Do you have a band ?
@@BrendonKPadjasek That’s exactly what I did lol. My first guitar was an rg8 (399usd at the time) and I just swapped the pickups with a Seymour Duncan Nazgûl and sentient. Definite improvement in sound (even though the guitar center dude said it wouldn’t work xd). Knowing my rg8 is enough to sound like Structures or Northlane is a real motivation booster for pursuing the instrument right there.
My biggest complaint with my rg8, and something they definitely don’t tell you about 8 strings is they’re big, and big guys look good playing them. It may sound like an obscure/niche complaint but a lot of people who have 8 strings should wear a warning label saying I’m 6’0 lol. Basically the ergonomics of playing were more important than I thought (large hands, long arms and strong shoulders are favored here). Makes me consider the benefits of a 7 string or baritone 6. I refuse to get a standard guitar because it must be 26.5 scale length minimum to get my desired sound, and 6 strings is just too generic haha. Not an excuse for playing my guitar though, I just need more practice and soon enough I’ll be able to get all my musical ideas through.
I don’t have a band, am currently a bedroom guitarist (yeah edgy) attending uni, who loves modern metal and believes in the core scene becoming mainstream in the near future. We gonna make a comeback!
@@Robert-qn4ox yeah I have the Pegasus and Sentient. I also have small hands and its mad difficult. It took a while to feel comfortable riffing and not just chugging haha. I also find that I write very different on the 7 string vs. 8.
It's important to know what you want going into it so that's good you're aware of your desired sound.
Hey Brendon I'm a massive fan of your work and somehow just discovered the channel. Pretty much binged it in two sittings lol
I know it's kind of an old video but perhaps you could help me. Last year I home-recorded guitars for my band's second EP (Where the Waves Are Born - Sundered for context). We actually took a pretty similar approach also using Ableton, save for waaay less polishing and tuning that I'll make sure to do next time 😅Even though the playing itself turned out pretty decent our producer did say that our way of tracking IDs could get some improvements in the future. We recorded using a Scarlett 6i6 straight into Ableton. Do you have any ideas not crazy on the budget that could make the tracking better? I literally have zero clue what to do to the signal.
Cheers and all the best man!
Thanks so much for checking out the video and the music I've released. I would 100% just make sure that the guitars are recorded in the way of this video as I'd believe that's what he's referencing.
Make sure they're in tune and on time and you can't go wrong. Without spending a lot of money on a preamp and a more expensive interface. I love my UAD interface conversion and pre amps
@@BrendonKPadjasek Thanks for taking the time! Eager for new Structures soon 😊🙏🏻
Thank you for watching! And yeah I’m eager to release some new stuff. Not sure when it will be haha. Takes time as you know.
Also I forgot to mention that I mix bands, and when I mix guitars that were recorded on less expensive interfaces I’ll often throw a preamp plugin before the amp sim just to juice it up a little bit. So it’s not absolutely necessary to get a new interface for guitar recording
@@BrendonKPadjasek I sure do haha. That's fantastic to hear man massive thanks again ♥️
No problem
do you use more set of strings because of this method? how many strings usually per a 5-6 song ep lets say? a lil fanboyin but been watching your shit excusively since i found it a couple days back, very strong material my dude! cheers!
Thank you so much! I appreciate that! I try to make videos that I feel aren’t made yet or missing important information.
Usually every 2 - 3 songs switch strings.
So I’d say 3 packs for a 6 song ep. At the very minimum 2
@@BrendonKPadjasek thanks! yeah, your channel definitely got all those videos! props for that and for not trying to sell me another plugin like the other 90%
what you think about eq matching DI-s? can that help in a sos situation? or its never gonna sound good?
@@wtpmikee thanks for noticing haha. On my channel I won't suggest an amp that
1) I don't personally love and use (which is why I haven't done very many reviews)
2) Doesn't have a free trial so you can try it for yourself
I haven't tried EQ matching tbh. I feel like recreating something will come close, but why recreate something when you can make your own sound? That's my ethic at least
@@BrendonKPadjasek it wasnt hard broski its refreshing to watch something genuine. fair points! sadly im guilty buying plugins without demoing them then realising they are worthless garbage haha.
with the eq matching i meant to match an older string to a new set if that makes sense? you 100% right tho recreating tones are a good practice but i started to dislike "generic metal" (?!?!) cuz everything sounded the same. being unique is everything especially nowadays when even the next door granny putting music out
@@wtpmikee OHH I see what you mean. I haven't tried eq matching since my days of mixing on analog gear and having to recall mixes
LOL I would love to hear what my grandma would make musically
I have archetype petrucci and I’m using standard GarageBand as my daw. But I have no idea how to do a eq, or compression. Where do I start? Do I run a eq before the amp plug-in? Im so lost on how to get it sounding good so any advice would be helpful!
I would say (if you can) look into getting reaper since it’s a free DAW and quite more expansive than garage band to my knowledge. But I don’t ever really put and eq before the amp.
Afterwords for sure. And you likely won’t need to compress the guitars as they’re quite compressed from the amps.
Are you asking more for tracking advice or mixing advice ?
@@BrendonKPadjasek I’ll definitely look into it man. and I guess a little bit of both honestly. If you could just run through how you set up the tracks and then mix (guitars, drums, bass). I just don’t know the steps of going through it honestly.
Usually I write the song, with programmed drums and not perfect guitars
Then record them as in this video
Then record bass and make sure the bass is in tune with guitars (especially bends)
Then record vocals and layer them the same way in my vocal recording/ mixing tutorials
and then I begin my mix.
I have videos on all of those topics as well if you’re interested. They are technique based so they’ll work in any daw
Hey Brandon. Can you do a video about getting levels correct for each instrument in a mix? Maybe I haven't looked enough but no where gives a specific figure. Thanks dude
A lot of people have been asking about that. Which interface do you use? It varies
@@BrendonKPadjasek focusrite 2i2 3rd gen
Okay what happens when you leave the volume at 0 and track? Also what kinda pickups are you using ?
@@BrendonKPadjasek I use reaper so I usually turn the gain up on the interface for recording to right before it starts clipping like what I've seen in Mischa mansoor videos , not to sure about zero. As for pickups I use a 7 string with EMG 81-7&85-7 , I feel the active pick-ups push the preamp a bit more than passives.
Interesting. IMO as long as it doesn’t clip and you’re in the yellow at max, you’re good. That’s what I aim for. Not yellow constantly but the peaks in fine with. On my apollo , one of my guitars clip at 0 and it sounds gnarly. (I think in a cool way)
If it doesn’t distort when you listen to the raw DI you’re good
Stock footage game on point.
Hahaha it’s so funny cause someone else said it was too disturbing and not to use them. Now I’m confused cause I thought they were hilarious
Thanks for checking it out Jordan!
@@BrendonKPadjasek ❤️
@@BrendonKPadjasek I think they’re hilarious
hey man! what're you using for guitar tone on this? sounds huge
Thanks my friend! I'm using the STL Tonality Will Putney plugin for this one! Awesome amp. I often blend that with the Fortin Nameless or NTS for final guitars. This is just the STL though
@@BrendonKPadjasek oh sick! i had a feeling it might’ve been the putney. was that the blend you guys used on none of the above, or was that something different? loving the new content btw!
@@Orion-jr6fi I appreciate that. Thanks! I believe Zakk used his own STL Tones for the album. I reamped it using a couple amps butt he ended up using his and they sounded amazing. Stay tuned! I'll be posting more frequently
Nice video! thanks for the helpful tips!
I have a problem with my 7-string guitars...even though the sound card gain is at a minimum, the sound still clips, especially when I play the lowest string vigorously...what could it be due to?
Hey thanks for watching! I have the exact same problem with the guitar I used in this video. The pickups are just too high output. Does your interface happen to have a “pad” switch on it?
@@BrendonKPadjasek yes! i have a behringer umc404 and i have both line/inst and pad switch...do you recommend using the pad switch?
Try it out and it should be like 20 db quieter. I also have my input at 0 on the interface for the most part
@@BrendonKPadjasek ok thank you so much!
Let me know if that works!
So you never play through with one take?
How do you perform this live?
I always make sure it’s playable. If it’s not playable, I rewrite it.
The only thing stopping me from doing one take is string noise/ fret rattle/ general string noise or bends not being in tune with one another.
It’s how you get that modern recording sound. That’s why I say you can’t have an ego with it. If you can play the part , that’s cool but 9.9/10 times you’ll need to take it in sections. Distortion messes a lot of things up
"if they out of tune they sound wrong" -BrendonKPadjasek
Under utilized words to live by hahaha
How do I get rid of the scratchy pick noise when recording?
Like right when the pick hits the string or somewhere in the middle of the hit?
@@BrendonKPadjasek Like right when the pick hits the string.
I know it adds to the sound when doing chuggs but if I'm trying to do a riff or melody on the higher strings I always get like a high ping or scratch noise from the attack.
@eidolon8816 hmm I guess there’s 3 things you could do
1, just continue to cut the waveform until the ping is gone. If that cuts to much of the pick sound:
2) eq a very narrow frequency and remove the ping from the DI before it hits the amp
3) it might be your other strings ringing out so mute the ones you’re not playing with a cloth or with your fingers lightly
@@BrendonKPadjasek Thanks I'll keep testing stuff.
@eidolon8816 lmk if you still cans get around it
Do you mix any bands via Internet? 😅
Of course! Thanks for the interest! Send me an email to brendonpadjasek@gmail.com
@@BrendonKPadjasek 🤯 Sick! My band isn't exactly ready yet but hopefully soon!
@@Elevada I'm always around, so feel free to e-mail me whenever. Thanks!
I record my demos each section at a time, then one day I went into the studio and the producer decided to have me record like this, it made me feel like I was “cheating” and my guitar parts felt overallly edited till I went in my car and compared the demo with the actual song and I loved how much tighter and cleaner it sounded! 🤘😁
Absolutely felt the exact same way. Obviously it’s important to make sure you can play the parts, but not having string noise and being able to hear every note with clarity is kind of unbeatable
Changed my life haha
very nice tuto but pleaaaase no video insert…so disturbing !
Haha I’ll keep that in mind. I found them funny but I can definitely see that being disturbing to some haha
@@BrendonKPadjasek I am coming from GB and I miss a virtual drummer in Ableton that can built a realistic drum part in one clic. Do you have any suggestions ? Thanks.
Oh unfortunately I have not heard of one like that for Ableton. You’re best bet is using the midi grooves already built into Ableton. Either using the stock drum racks or the groove templates
@@S-dr7jx Have you tried the built in midi grooves in ableton?
@@BrendonKPadjasek if you means to build from scratch a drum part, no. It will sound too artificial and I am really old school for the drum parts. What do GB or logic pro is really nice. I am thinking to try ezdrummer but…$$$. Btw, i am completly new in ableton (3 days!). GB is too limited, Logic need a mac…so I am trying to find something good om Windows. I tried ProTools but …. too complicated. I want to focus on guitar and composition not on pitch, pouthch and patch ! Ableton seems to be very good, but I miss a virtual drummer.
Oh, so this is why modern music sounds robotic and lifeless
And clean!
Brandon. A real pro would learn the part and play the part all the way through. What you are doing sucks the life out of music.
@jjrockjaw what are you doing?
@jjrockjaw the beautiful thing is, if you want there to be “life” you absolutely don’t have to do the steps in this video. But I personally would love if you made a video how you record guitars so I can learn how to add life to recordings from a pro
@@jjrockjawno, a real pro wouldn't record music in the first place. Music only has life when it's played live