he is not man of the job, and his rules are way more than the Talmud 600 do and donts... his ass cant mix without that direct input nonesense he yells about all the time?... you cant do it? give it to me, 90% i can make something good out of it and everybody happy... i wont even call him "elite", it more sounds like a poser who always have problems with everything... he is simply not a practical person, and more about show off about how his ass is important
@@dooshnukem32 "oh! who are you to insult my beloved dude!..." i know who you are definitely! a kiss ass!! i said the truth! he is being paid to deal with these AND MAKE THE BEST OUT OF IT, efficient and fast! thats the definition of the job itself!! with a milion dollar of gears in his studio, yet he cant deal with a distorted recorded guitar and he needs his fancy direct input thing?!
in some cases guitar and making music saves addicts! im a recovering heroin addict, i have 5 years clean now and owe it to music and picking the guitar up again!
Instead of double tracking I copy and paste but pitch shift one of the tracks. It doesn't sound 100% like normal double tracking but its easier and the wavy wacky sound is great for recording with less over drive.
I seriously learned how to double track my guitars and pan then left/right in 1998 the first time I recorded with a computer. It's such a simple concept, and so powerful, yet I'm amazed how many local bands I hear recording in mono. Not to mention, recording two rhythm guitars allows for cool things such as harmonies, and having one guitar rest sometimes for dynamics. If you want to sound professional, double track your guitars!
I don't record serious stuff but every once in a while I get the itch and I record some Judas Priest riffs or something and I always double track it's so simple yet so powerful.
@@JimSlimjimCassi most people having that problem, rarely talk about string stretching... ; my cheapest guitar has the most stable tuning (has a LP style headstock too), and i know how to give a nice and safe stretch right after installing new strings.
Had a band of “seasoned” fellas record in my studio ten odd years ago. The guitar player had a 60’s les Paul, looked great, played like a bag of wank and it refused point blank to stay in tune. I offered the use of my studio’s collection of decent, well maintained axes and the old chap was having absolutely non of it. Even going as far as to insult my collection. When I’d finished his band’s mix a couple of weeks later, have a guess what the only thing the rest of the band said....? “The guitars are out of tune”. He had to come back and record them again. At double cost. Weapon.
If you're gonna track a band I suggest that you get a whiteboard. It makes you more effective, you always know what to do and what you haven't done. And it distracts the bass player with all those pretty colors.
I've just begun recording at home, it's just been 4 days, still a baby at it and have loads to learn. I can't stress enough how timely this video is. Thanks a bunch Glenn!
Guys, he's only shouting at you because he cares! He doesn't want you to lose money from bad habits/incompetence. Listen past the screaming and pay attention to his words! The screaming is fun though not gonna lie XD
IF YOUR TRACKS LOOK LIKE THIS you may have entered Gear Gods "riff salads that don't even try to be songs that punish trey for exactly 3 minutes and 57 seconds"
13:21 Haha I love this guy. He screams and clips his make when conveying to all the idiots out there not to clip their guitars when tracking. This guy has as much passion about recording than anyone I've ever met. Keep up the good fight, Glenn! HUGE fan
I am an indie-pop musician (guitar, bass, vocals, drums) and I have notifs on for your uploads. So much valuable info here all for free? You, sir, are awesome. I don't even mind being yelled at, it's fucking worth it. Keep rocking \m/
Getting a tone that works when blended with other instruments is something bands should be sorting out well before they start recording... funnily enough, audiences at live gigs want to hear a good mix, too (& it makes rehearsal sound a lot better, & therefore more fun)
Finally! Someone that just clearly explained what everyone else couldn’t explain. I kept looking into why a DI was important not a single website could explain why it was needed. Time to sort out a DI for my setup then.
Hey glen, GREAT advice to switch off noise gate(s)!!! I once tracked an entire record with my noise gates nearly maxed out… Long story short, I realized that the mic/cab I used wasn’t working for the mix… and began re-amping… I had no idea just how bad the 60hz hum was until I had the cab/mic replaced, and listening back to the re-amp. I completely disassembled my guitar, resoldered everything with all new cables, pots, & knob; STILL THE HUM WAS THERE!!! I was so FRUSTRATED I steamingly/furiously (yet gently) placed my guitar back into its case, & didn’t come back for three days… Three days later, I plugged it back up, & to my surprise 60hz hum was completely GONE!!! I joked with my friend, saying that “my guitar just needed to heal up after that MAJOR surgical procedure” 😂 Then my girlfriend walks into the control room, flips on the light switch, & BAM!!! That NASTY 60HZ hum was back again!!!! It turns out that it was bad electrical wiring all along!!! And the interesting thing was, when I would turn a certain way in my chair, the hum would fade away!!! I have had this happen many many times over the years, and it seems like every time it’s a situation where changing the angle of the guitar makes the hum lessen or worsen, the problem is uuuuuusually an electrical wiring issue in the wall, never fails, always ends up being fault of some stoned & or hungover electrician!!! Go figure 😂
A lot of guitarists don't want to give the engineer a clean signal because they rely on effects to mask their inadequacies. Always remember kiddies, if it doesn't sound good clean, it's crap !
90% of metal riffs, at least in my estimate, sound like shit clean. Especially anything downtuned, Sludge Metal minus the distortion is awful. A riff may sound horrible clean but shine with the added texture of distortion - hence why the engineer would never want to just use that DI straight.
@@drpibisback7680 it may sound "bad" as in: "unappealing, and not good for a clean tone", but there should be no obvious errors in playing that are covered up by distortion. Pretty sure that's the point here. Yes, it's not going to sound "good" like it does when run through an amp w/ distortion; but there shouldn't be any sloppy playing that's just masked by distortion.
@@drpibisback7680 A good metal guitar track should sound clean and precise without any distortion on it. If you just mean shit because it doesn't sound metal, that's not the point. And if you think engineers never use DI's straight, you don't know what you're talking about. Plenty of world class metal engineers like Jens Bogren and Andy Sneap will add clean DI guitars back into the mix to add some definition and clarity. Some of the most coveted distortion pedals of all time do this too. It fattens up the sound and adds articulation.
As someone of about the same age who started in studio engineering on an old Mozart desk, I have to agree with every comment made in this video. Which is rare for me. One thing that is worth trying is splitting a guitar signal with a crossover at about 250Hz. Then you reamp both parts … but with appropriate settings for bass end and treble end. Always sounds meaty and avoids the normal issue with reamping the same signal twice.
Man, I've been a musician for 35 years, and a recording engineer for 29 years, among other music related jobs (live production and mixing, DJing etc) and still, I learn something new from every single one of your videos. Thank you so much.
3:21 And the next day of course the guitar player is like: Wow this sounds so much better. You're being rude, Glenn. Dude not only was able to notice the difference, but even admitted that he did. Can't you appreciate how much generosity it took a guy like him?
If anyone argues about the value of re-amping, the solo in Another brick in the wall pt. 2 was recorded direct and then re-amped... It's one of the prettiest sounding, most beautiful tones of all time... And I think it made a few bucks !!!
Glenn, I got about 4 scam calls during this video. so i just put my receiver up to my tv's speaker during those calls. some people in india got some free recording tips today. and at least one got yelled at. good job Glenn. keep up the good work.
+1 on the DI signal ALWAYS. I've been a software engineer for almost 28 years and we have a phrase: "write once, use anywhere". This is the exact same concept when it comes to recording a DI since the same performance can be reused when any changes in sound need to be made after the fact. Plus you there's a great comparison point that can be A/B'd since the original underlying raw signal will be the same. One thing I've learned as a guitarist myself: who knows that the hell I'm going to like a few days later? Maybe I'm going to want to run it through an amp sim I really like later instead and I'll just get rid of the amped recording. It opens you up to additional possibilities and won't pigeonhole anyone into a single sound too. A consistent baseline is of immense importance AND, as Glenn mentioned, it is also a safety net in case of catastrophic failure. You may lose the original recorded amped signal but you won't lose the original performance with it. I just looked over at my DI box and smiled.
The first point you made was the only mistake I have made when recording something I intended to release. I came into the studio with fresh strings, truss rod adjusted so my action was comfortable, but what I had neglected was to intonate my guitar. I hadn’t noticed until the producer asked me to play some notes on different strings then play the same note an octave up on the same string while his tuner was open. My intonation was terrible, he wasn’t very happy, but he fixed it for me and I got to learn how to intonate my guitar. Will never make that mistake again!
Yes, #9! Actually double tracking the guitars adds variation, nuance, and excitement to the sound compared to the copy pasta method and it's also fun to experiment with two different guitars, amps, and pickups, depending on what you're going for and what the song needs. Awesome tips, Glenn!
I haven't tried it as yet, but on another channel it was suggested to pan the reverb or effects opposite to the guitar track in question, so the reverb of the left guitar track is panned right and visa versa. Might be interesting.
@@424Recording It's straight from another video, Produce like a Pro most likely. (I don't think Glenn would mind the mention, he's collaborated with that channel.)
When I was part timing in a studio, I once saw a guy who insisted on adding a compressor before his DI box because "it makes it sound consistent", and the sound engineer was not impressed at all.
I recorded a band and the bassist used a compressor on his pedalboard. There was weird pops that got by the compressor from time to time. Really made the mixing process a lot of fun lol
@@ScottFuckinRitchie I actually tried that. Sounded great on it's own, but had to retrack everything without, as I got that nice extra sound that shouldn't be in the mix
Love these vids. I've been recording as a guitarist since 1979 and you never stop learning. Learning lots for my home recording sessions. Cheers Glenn👍
This is a Tough Love show. Are you going to act like the people he's screaming about, or did you learn the lesson? Go get a hug from your mom either way. You deserve it. And so does she.
if you become desensitised to his screaming your penis will work better and so will your guitar...long term side effects include keeping a job and doing a good job
I gotta say... The Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd gen is actually really doing it for me. I hesitated a long time before moving to a USB recording interface for instruments (mostly lapsteel guitar and violin) and vocals, but even after years of fumbling in cables and analog gain levels, I kept getting annoying noise in silent parts. The 3rd gen Focusrite blew me straight out of the water with it's ease of use, sound quality and signal-to-noise ratio. I'm sure professional equipment will make it even better but man, this €100 bundle of joy blew new life into my playing. Now I'm not a professional by any means and if I ever would have my shit professionally mixed/edited I would pay the mix engineer for DETAILED personal advice before ever sending it in. But for me and my simple home recordings? It's just awesome. One thing though: THE "AIR" SETTING IS *** NOT *** A REPLACEMENT FOR DOUBLE TRACKING!
Another things you should add. If you really want your "tone" find a tone that can sit well with the other instruments and not only sound good alone. A lot of time i listen to guitar sound that i can't realize what notes are played.
I did 3 decades of guitar repair and it warms my heart to hear the play authentically rant. When I saw a gibson case come in the shop it was either "let me guess ... broken head stock?" or "let me guess ... won't stay in tune?" depending on how pale the owners face was.
Hey Glenn, I’m a college recording student recording on a second generation Focusrite at home, and I’d been wondering why my direct guitar tracks sounded like shit when my room tone was pretty solid. Thanks for clarifying why that is! Will definitely be investing in a direct box next paycheck.
you just said "avoid the first generation scarlett" and my 1st generation scarlett is giving me that "nervous Elaine" look from the memes. I'm not sure what to say about the general timbre of its sound, but Teh Clipping!!!11 is the problem. It's not that it doesn't have enough gain headroom in high-z mode, I don't think, it's just that you can clip the front end of the high-z input even if the gain knob is down. And that's bad. And that's why I have an AXE I/O Solo coming in today for my 'dedicated home studio'.
I use a Scarlet Solo gen 3 and I've been happy with it. I'm new to the whole DAW situation so I'm still learning my way around. Tips on guitar placement is helpful. I recently got an Ibanez RGIB21, it has active pickups and I am getting great recordings with it. I'm using the Neural DSP Soldano plugin and I love it.
That’s one thing that I can relate to as an artist as well. Everyone wants to blow up social media with their opinions on every single topic but no one wants to shut the hell up and communicate those thoughts and emotions into their art.
W.A.S.P. Live in the Raw would have to be on the list of any W.A.S.P. fan, the production was terrible. Whomever was responsible for the snare sound should be drawn and quartered! 🤪
Relationship of Command Elliot Smith Hugo Grayling and the Wilderness within (which is definitely my favorite, it's just REALLY obscure. Stream it if you haven't heard it. It's...brilliant).
Out of all of the UA-cam channels about how to properly record guitars at home, yours is the most comprehensive, and entertaining. Lots of fantastic tough love here. You’ve helped me tremendously within the span of mere days. Liked. Subscribed. Notifications on. Thank you sir may I have another.
As a guitarist I think when I go into the recording aspect it’s time to leave my ego outside of the studio. I can write a song and I can play a song live with no trouble but when it comes to the studio it’s a whole different beast. I admit I have red button syndrome (RBS)with my DAW which I’m trying my best to overcome. Very interesting concept of re-amping. . As always thank you for teaching us.
Anyone who says “that’s my tone,” just respond by saying, “when you don’t shower for a year, do you tell a girl you’re pursuing, but that’s my natural scent.” ??
I had a drummer like that , his girlfriend probably didn't notice but the band did and when I asked him to use deodorant it went down like a ton of shit .
Extra tips for the metal bedroom musician: at 9:45 #4 and how to find the good spots; Your pickups should not look at ANY source of static current. Your PSU, CPU and GPU are producing it. Your powerstrip produces it. Hell, even your radiator produces it. Next time you restring your guitar, before you take on the new strings, do the following: crank the gain as hard as you can (you likely use headphones anyway) and then use your pickup like a "detector". Go with your guitar around your room, as much as your cable allows it. "Scan" the area. You will notice how much noise there is. Make note of the noise pockets. And make sure your guitar points AWAY from them when you record. Track with headphones, turn off your studio speakers (you likely sit too close to them anyway). Guitar pickups are the most sensitive in the axis of the pole pieces. So the sides are less so. Thus, point your headstock towards the noisy parts, and you should be good. It's not just enough to turn around and find the right angle to play on that gives the least noise... if you still pick up noise from the powerstrip to your side. Another problem is; the USB cable of the audio interface, or lack of shielding of the audio interface itself, and your crappy cable that you keep using since 10 years. Those will all pickup extra. There is a reason why you try to avoid ground loops as much as possible, and a UPS with individual sockets is very much required in situations where you cannot resolve a ground loop. Oh and, you can de-noise your DI signal too, in case you didn't think about that :) I'm contemplating on making a video on what one can do to reduce electric interference and how sensitive this all is. at 13:32 before you record, hit the hardest allstring palm mutes you can and check the meter. Then do your most earpiercing pinch harmonics. Use that metric with half a DB buffer on top of that for your absolute level (and for safety, never go above -3db on mono. Some interfaces causing clipping if it gets louder than that). multistring Palm mutes should be enough because they are heavily bass laden and you usually don't have anything that is louder than your bass frequencies when you play (remember; decibels don't care about your perceived hearing. It's just linear amplitude). So they will produce the absolute loudest signal you can make. You still want to hit it as loud as you can, within the given limits, because it just means you have a much higher signal-to-noise floor. The worst enemy of every piece of music is the underlying, unwanted noise which multiplies with each track. 13:49 Because yeah, it is a lot before you hear the noise floor... but which noise floor are we talking about? The one that has the crappy converters and noisy, unshielded electronics? We're not talking about -144db here. We talk about home recording. There WILL be plenty of noise that remains static. So find your levels and hit it a bit hotter. Just don't go hotter than -3db. at 15:16 ... for everyone who still claims this is a nonissue because "the strings are not at the pickup". Sit down, take the thumb out of your mouth and think for a second. The string is one unified piece. It does not magically stop to vibrate only because it gets clamped over the bridge and the nut. The string continues to resonate, meaning it the motion goes BACK to the main string that the PICKUP is listening to. Nobody cares how your guitar looks like when you record. So put on the damn foam, will you? Thank you. And if you have floid rose springs: DEADEN THEM DEAD. Put a piece of foam in the cavity. Put piece of foam into the strings. Put rubber bands around the strings. Make them dead. They are right at the back fo your guitar pickups. They act like STRINGS. They distort the magnetic flux of the pickups from the other direction. So not only are they causing extra noise, if you have a REALLY bad case of luck, the phase inverted signal (because the springs are on the other side of the pickup, right?) can cause your guitar sound to be at a detriment and thinning it out. at 17:50 well, proper technique also eliminates that problem :) But hey, that's too much to ask for I guess. at 18:44 the only "cheat" one can use to get away without double tracking is to run the DI through an entirely different sound (and experiment with invert phase on the DI and amplified sound). Then give both tracks a minor, short reverb that is playing on the OPPOSITE channel. And then you pull the left track 2 milliseconds ahead and the right 2 ms late. It's less of a cheat but more of a stylistic choice, but if you want to feel how an improvised rhythm piece feels that you can't quite remember as you just recorded it, then this gives you an illusion to figure out if it works or not. And even if you double track guitars; do not use the exact same sound. Because the better and more consistent you perform these two tracks... the more similar they thusly sound... meaning the closer they get together in the stereo field. It's one of these paradoxes when being too good is causing issues. 22:17 only edit a copy of the DI track :) at 23:15 . Elixir Strings. You are broke, and they will save you not only money in the long run but actually retain your tone. Last but not least; your DI signal is not a safety net. It is much more than that. It is the quintessence of your PERFORMANCE. All of it. So treat it well.
Thanks, Glenn! Just recently got the Rupert Neve RNDI-S going into SSL2, can get to the mark with gain at 0, 4K kicked in is nice - cleanest signal I’ve ever heard. NO noise! Glad to know I’m doing all the other things right for someone who is first a composer/engineer and classical pianist/singer, drummer, then finally “guitarist” hahaha. (I even play bass but try to be careful so that I can still walk and chew gum simultaneously.) Oh and thanks for the foam idea! That’s fu(king killer!
Thank you VERY VERY MUCH for this Glenn!! I'm just getting into recording my guitar playing and I want to do it right and NOT waste my money. I will be buying a Countryman DI box soon and am eagerly awaiting your Focusrite 3rd-gen shootout!
Check this out: I also bought myself a $100 Gazebo / Pergola (200cm x 200cm) and placed it in my basement on a noise absorbing rug. I left the outside "walls" off and placed moving blankets on all five sides. Got myself a 10M led strip for the inside and some bass traps in the corners and foam on the inside off the blankets. Super easy set-up for recording with my D18 and singing at the same time straight into my iPhone using the Roland Go Pro mix. Call me cheap but I just love my little "tent" inside my basement. Nice and cozy. Love your channel man!!
GLEEEEEeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeEEEEEEEENNNNNNN-ah! Finally you came 'round mentioning the fabulous String Butler - which definitely is a must have for any Gibson (at least LP or SG)! I am following your channel since times imermorial and already thought I had to be the one pointing this neat little device out to you... Of course this won't change your attitude towards Gibson in the slightest (WHY WOULD YOU HAVE TO BUY AN EXTRA KIT TO MAKE A GUITAR THAT ALREADY COSTS A SHITLOAD OF MONEY STAY IN TUNE!?!?!) - but this thing really works wonders. And whoever has the money to buy that particular brand should not bitch about a few extra bucks to make his axe studio worthy. I definitely hooked up all my Gibsons with it! Another thing from my experience: Gibson guitars don't give in easy, you have to learn your way around every one of them! Don't expect to pick up a Gibson and immediately get a great performance - there's plenty of technique and skill required (but this is true for any instrument you're trying to master... Looking at all of us - and especially you Bass players out there ;) ) Thanks also for all the advice in your show! Every "trick" I picked up from you and tried out helped me getting closer to the sound I am trying to capture! FUCK YOU from Germany!!! PS: If you're ever around the Stuttgart area next time - just hop on by. I am currently building my very own studio/rehearsal place (which should be finished around end of Sept this year) and would love to get your opinion...
Yeah man, good call on people spending their money on guitars and not on the recording equipment. Gotta look at it as an investment. The record you put out is representing you as a musician or your band. My first interface was the Tascam US1800 and then after a decade, upgraded to the Scarlett 18i20.
New strings... at least a day or two old, let them stretch properly and let the neck set in, especially if you change the string set gauge. Also, after a day, CHECK THE INTONATION and set it up if needed
I have found that changing the string gauge changes the intonation about 99% of the time, so this one is a must. It may move the neck and need a truss rod tweak as well. And yes, new strings S-T-R-E-T-C-H for a while. You can pre-stretch them a bit when stringing the thing, but at least a day's wait if you're recording, for sure.
I am always impressed by his compression and clarity when he screams at the top of his lungs. Good stuff, Glenn. Also, where is the bass plugin video?!?!
Can confirm with the Gibson tuning issue. Toured and played many shows with a 2006 Gibson faded SG went out of tune every song about halfway through the song. Ended up replacing it with a Epiphone Les Paul, and never had an issue with the tuning again!
A second tip for #4 - it can help drastically with electrical noise if you plug your amp and your computer into different circuits in your home. Also hell yeah Phil X!!!
Same here...fuck me! This explains a lot about the issues I ran into recently when recording my active pickup Schecter Hellraiser into my 1st gen Scarlett 2i4. Although, I did manage to get the input signal down to a reasonable level. But can I get a refund!? 😵
Why do I love the energy of these videos so much? It's awesome finally catching up on this channel and seeing honest, frill-free reviews that aren't so polished (and clearly sponsored).
Looking forward to 15 things in the home studio. I feel like I'm going to know most of them but I always watch content for those few that I didn't. Have you done any empty room vs treated room videos with a before and after in the same room? I'd watch the shit out of that!
Spit out my drink at... "GET THIS YOU CHEAP FUCK!" BASS PLAYERS: What's DI? Nah man my Drug Inventory is good and plus I just recently bought new strings... (10 + years ago). I'm ready for the Studio. Wait what songs are we doing again?
When he said make sure your instrument is in recording shape, my heart sank for a sec. I took Epiphone Probuckers and a Tune-O-Matic tremolo system and put it into my $200 Amazon Les Paul. Besides the cheap electronics it came with, it sounds amazing with the upgrades. Surprisingly, it plays better than my BC Rich Warlock. I just got a Jackson JS34Q, and I know it's not the best thing in the world, but it looks great, and is my first guitar with a Floyd Rose bridge.
I had one person who wanted to record alone some demos to seek out new band members. And so we did. I never stopped to question why all the previous ones had left. It turned out to be a fantastic fustercluck. Two bar punch ins, horribly intonated guitar, wanting to change tempo after recording the song with one guitar, and so on. The best part was still the pronunciation of the word "abyss". In the middle of a dark heavy riff he kept singing "a bus". Which I was too tired to point out. Overall, it matched everything else in the package. Never finished the two songs we started. Good times.
I was an inte.... I mean, part-time worker at a studio, and one day a rapper was recording. The rap sounded convincing, but when he got to the chorus we all spontaneously started laughing out loud because he couldn't sing at all (happy positive chorus). The doors to the controlroom went up, the producer came out all bleak and tired and proclaimed "Sigh....another rapper that think he can sing.... ;-( ". Rapper & producer spent the rest of the day butting heads in over the worlds smallest plastic-keyboard, trying to make him hit the notes, basically teaching him to sing his own somewhat simple chorus (same 3 lines over and over). I don't think I'm ever going to forget that chorus.
As a young man I did recording sessions for TV music using a beat up Squier Strat which was in poor condition and very hard to play but I just about got by. After a few years I 'upgraded' to a Charvel. It was wonderful to play - the action low - the neck as smooth as a cashmere codpiece. The pickups were also far superior and sounded great thru my gear. However, after a few months we noticed that something was missing - something had been lost in the upgrade. My producer wisely suggested that I had lost the 'struggle' in my sound as I was no longer fighting with my instrument. I went back to the Squier and all the angst returned. Even the simplest of lines sounded hard to play because they were.
Recently i was fed up with struggling with noise in my Di signal. Im usually makes demos with virtual amps and always had to put 2 noise gates or a noise reduction and a noise gate before the amp. I Started to change my position in the studio and realize that just by keeping away from the computer aprox 4 feet it drastically change the level of the noise for the good. Thats a great advice!
11:40 a cheaper way to fix the tuning problem on Gibsons is to wind "in reverse" around the tuning post. This reduces the G string break-angle at nut. Also use .10 string gauge
@@DonaldRickert Yes, it is mandatory on any guitar without a locking nut. Although in my experience a Strat for example it is less likely to go out of tune even without graphite
If you have ANYTHING near you wired to a dimmer turn that dimmer all the way off before recording. There is a ceiling fan on a completely different circuit in my house that winds up causing all kinds of bizarre sounds in my Guitar recordings. It took me ages to piece that together. DI boxes, interfaces, cables...I tried everything. That fan is on another floor and it sill destroyed take after take from like 50 feet away.
Hey Glenn, if you want to make a shoot out with scarletts, I can send you my 1st gen! Only if you fuck up the returning process and send me the 3rd one tho
Some good advice here. Mic position (if you use one) before touching the EQ. Adopt that philosophy throughout. Where you are standing (or sitting) with those interference-loving pickups & that interference-loving circuit... super important. These fundamentals bear reminding us all of at any time. Stick to the ground. Whoever says "fix it in post" is OUT. Like, too many of us are like this; "I'm not worried that the stool creaking here and there... I'll chop it out in post-" - rather than just going and finding a noiseless thing to sit on... When Cool Edit first appeared it was like a revelation... it was AMAZING. It didn't take us long to go crazy with it. Less is more, across the board. Bless y'all out there, stay healthy and FFFUUUUUUUUUUCCCKKK YOOOOOOU!!!
Bruh, you got me as far as the Copy and Paste. Half the time I just copy and paste the guitars because I just get tired and wanna satisfy my impatient tendencies and keep moving forward
I'm a Fender guy. I bought my Stratocaster in '87. I seem to recall Pete Townshend saying that he decided the Telecaster was the best guitar because he once chopped an amp to bits with one and when he was done it was still in tune.
On a particular tour I once asked the same question to a particular rockstar, his answer was simply "boiled beer" (let it cool before you apply) - research it :)
Awesome video! If I had to add anything it would be: Spend the time to get a good monitor mix. That was the biggest hurdle for me. My first sessions I had latency I hadn’t understood how to correct (monitor the instrument being recorded through your hardware, not the DAW, unless you absolutely need what the DAW is doing) and make sure that you can hear both your guitar and the track as clearly as possible because that will get the best timing and bends. Tune with the best possible tuner. I’ve tried tuners that say that two audibly different pitches are in tune with each other, especially clip on and plug in based tuners. Last but definitely not least, try to feel it. Don’t turn it into some clinical thing where you are so focused on perfection and getting take after take to the point where you are not really allowing inspiration to be part of your performance. If you are comfortable on stage, try and tap into that feeling when you’re going for a real take. If you are more into jamming, try to pretend you’re in the middle of a super vibey jam. This is another area where good monitoring comes into play.
@@TheWetToaster in electric guitars it isn't as important as acoustic guitars. I have built many. It's the electronics that matter most. That's why electric guitars can be made from so many different materials like acrylic, wood, metal, glass etc. Many guitars for instance are plywood. Not the kind you build a house with, but hand made, soft core and with hardwood top and back...If it's painted a solid color with no grain viable sometimes the vaneer is skipped as it's not needed for aesthetics. Guitar still sounds good. Friend of mine has an 8 string that would be otherwise too heavy if it wasn't made from softwood.
Just saw this video (new subscriber) and figured I'd post this for the first gen scarlett users out there. Put your channel in "line" mode, then run your guitar through a buffer (or literally any stock Boss pedal in bypass) to reapply the high end frequencies. Works really well and, to my ears anyway, is basically indistinguishable tone wise and gives you way more head room with the gain knob before you clip the scarlett preamp. Hope this helps.
Ive reverted back to this video a bunch now and the biggest thing that helped me was the tip on not recording so close to my laptop and turn the guitar a different direction
Cut "BUT MY TONE" - and keep it as your default notification sound 😂😂
I think I'm just gonna do that 😂
he is not man of the job, and his rules are way more than the Talmud 600 do and donts... his ass cant mix without that direct input nonesense he yells about all the time?... you cant do it? give it to me, 90% i can make something good out of it and everybody happy... i wont even call him "elite", it more sounds like a poser who always have problems with everything... he is simply not a practical person, and more about show off about how his ass is important
@@SamYaZdian and uhh, who exactly are you again? Oh, no one? Hmm 🤔
@@dooshnukem32 "oh! who are you to insult my beloved dude!..." i know who you are definitely! a kiss ass!!
i said the truth! he is being paid to deal with these AND MAKE THE BEST OUT OF IT, efficient and fast! thats the definition of the job itself!! with a milion dollar of gears in his studio, yet he cant deal with a distorted recorded guitar and he needs his fancy direct input thing?!
@@SamYaZdian I listened to your music. I'm good on listening to anymore of your opinions, thanks.
in some cases guitar and making music saves addicts! im a recovering heroin addict, i have 5 years clean now and owe it to music and picking the guitar up again!
Awesome! Glad to hear it!
That’s AWESOME dude !!!!!
Killin it dude
Good shit dude.
Awesome! Keep it up!
"Keep your signal out of the red"
Glenn: *screams to the point his signal clips repeatedly*
Double tracking is great. It taught me that my timing is shit and I need to practice more 🤣🤘
Don't we all?
And then you record the bass and it is even worse
Instead of double tracking I copy and paste but pitch shift one of the tracks. It doesn't sound 100% like normal double tracking but its easier and the wavy wacky sound is great for recording with less over drive.
I find slight in accuracies to be acceptable because it gives should say it can give a mix a certain ambience
Thank you Glen, for giving a 78 year old acoustic player and complete newb at electric guitar stuff, essential and esoteric knowledge. Bless you sir!
The cops came to my door thinking there was a domestic dispute.
I told them i was listening to Glenn Fricker!!
I seriously learned how to double track my guitars and pan then left/right in 1998 the first time I recorded with a computer. It's such a simple concept, and so powerful, yet I'm amazed how many local bands I hear recording in mono. Not to mention, recording two rhythm guitars allows for cool things such as harmonies, and having one guitar rest sometimes for dynamics. If you want to sound professional, double track your guitars!
It's always blown me away how so many people don't know the simple concept of doubling.
I remember when I first learned that, it was a revelation. My recordings sounded a lot more pro after that. I like to pan them 45 degrees.
I don't record serious stuff but every once in a while I get the itch and I record some Judas Priest riffs or something and I always double track it's so simple yet so powerful.
Even with Bandlab on an Android, I have found panning my Les Paul left and my Telecaster right sounds really good.
Its not that I don't get the concept but I suck on guitar and can't play the same thing twice easily lol which is on me ofc
Me: Uses focusrite 2
Glen: hurts my feelings
Me: Buys countryman and focusrite 3. Throws away Les Paul. Buys foam.
lmao focusrite 2 is one clipping bastard
This video left me wondering where I can get a hold of some premium nut foam
I'm sure Glen is over exaggerating the tuning problem of the LP, I have one,
and do not have the issue once the strings are properly stretched out.
@@JimSlimjimCassi most people having that problem, rarely talk about string stretching... ; my cheapest guitar has the most stable tuning (has a LP style headstock too), and i know how to give a nice and safe stretch right after installing new strings.
You're on the right track!
Had a band of “seasoned” fellas record in my studio ten odd years ago. The guitar player had a 60’s les Paul, looked great, played like a bag of wank and it refused point blank to stay in tune. I offered the use of my studio’s collection of decent, well maintained axes and the old chap was having absolutely non of it. Even going as far as to insult my collection.
When I’d finished his band’s mix a couple of weeks later, have a guess what the only thing the rest of the band said....?
“The guitars are out of tune”.
He had to come back and record them again. At double cost. Weapon.
If you're gonna track a band I suggest that you get a whiteboard. It makes you more effective, you always know what to do and what you haven't done. And it distracts the bass player with all those pretty colors.
I’m a bass player, and I’ll admit, pretty colors are pretty sick.
Beat me to it!
I've just begun recording at home, it's just been 4 days, still a baby at it and have loads to learn. I can't stress enough how timely this video is.
Thanks a bunch Glenn!
And todayyyyy? 🎶👉🙂
Yes update!!
Guys, he's only shouting at you because he cares! He doesn't want you to lose money from bad habits/incompetence. Listen past the screaming and pay attention to his words! The screaming is fun though not gonna lie XD
I love the shouting👌🎤
My guitar ego says I'm awesome and I don't need advice, so I'm here just for the screaming. Also, I've been a bass player in a couple of projects.
IF YOUR TRACKS LOOK LIKE THIS you may have entered Gear Gods "riff salads that don't even try to be songs that punish trey for exactly 3 minutes and 57 seconds"
I'm LMAO at him getting red-faced and screaming at all the idiots out there. Funny stuff, and god info too.
Fucking facts
13:21 Haha I love this guy. He screams and clips his make when conveying to all the idiots out there not to clip their guitars when tracking. This guy has as much passion about recording than anyone I've ever met. Keep up the good fight, Glenn! HUGE fan
I am an indie-pop musician (guitar, bass, vocals, drums) and I have notifs on for your uploads. So much valuable info here all for free? You, sir, are awesome. I don't even mind being yelled at, it's fucking worth it. Keep rocking \m/
Enjoy!
@@SpectreSoundStudios Thank you Glenn!!!
Getting a tone that works when blended with other instruments is something bands should be sorting out well before they start recording... funnily enough, audiences at live gigs want to hear a good mix, too (& it makes rehearsal sound a lot better, & therefore more fun)
Finally! Someone that just clearly explained what everyone else couldn’t explain. I kept looking into why a DI was important not a single website could explain why it was needed. Time to sort out a DI for my setup then.
I agree. I didn't get it then. I get it now. Thank you, Glenn.
Hey glen, GREAT advice to switch off noise gate(s)!!! I once tracked an entire record with my noise gates nearly maxed out… Long story short, I realized that the mic/cab I used wasn’t working for the mix… and began re-amping…
I had no idea just how bad the 60hz hum was until I had the cab/mic replaced, and listening back to the re-amp. I completely disassembled my guitar, resoldered everything with all new cables, pots, & knob; STILL THE HUM WAS THERE!!! I was so FRUSTRATED I steamingly/furiously (yet gently) placed my guitar back into its case, & didn’t come back for three days… Three days later, I plugged it back up, & to my surprise 60hz hum was completely GONE!!! I joked with my friend, saying that “my guitar just needed to heal up after that MAJOR surgical procedure” 😂 Then my girlfriend walks into the control room, flips on the light switch, & BAM!!! That NASTY 60HZ hum was back again!!!! It turns out that it was bad electrical wiring all along!!! And the interesting thing was, when I would turn a certain way in my chair, the hum would fade away!!! I have had this happen many many times over the years, and it seems like every time it’s a situation where changing the angle of the guitar makes the hum lessen or worsen, the problem is uuuuuusually an electrical wiring issue in the wall, never fails, always ends up being fault of some stoned & or hungover electrician!!! Go figure 😂
😂
A lot of guitarists don't want to give the engineer a clean signal because they rely on effects to mask their inadequacies. Always remember kiddies, if it doesn't sound good clean, it's crap !
90% of metal riffs, at least in my estimate, sound like shit clean. Especially anything downtuned, Sludge Metal minus the distortion is awful. A riff may sound horrible clean but shine with the added texture of distortion - hence why the engineer would never want to just use that DI straight.
@@drpibisback7680 it may sound "bad" as in: "unappealing, and not good for a clean tone", but there should be no obvious errors in playing that are covered up by distortion.
Pretty sure that's the point here. Yes, it's not going to sound "good" like it does when run through an amp w/ distortion; but there shouldn't be any sloppy playing that's just masked by distortion.
@@drpibisback7680 A good metal guitar track should sound clean and precise without any distortion on it. If you just mean shit because it doesn't sound metal, that's not the point. And if you think engineers never use DI's straight, you don't know what you're talking about. Plenty of world class metal engineers like Jens Bogren and Andy Sneap will add clean DI guitars back into the mix to add some definition and clarity. Some of the most coveted distortion pedals of all time do this too. It fattens up the sound and adds articulation.
As someone of about the same age who started in studio engineering on an old Mozart desk, I have to agree with every comment made in this video. Which is rare for me.
One thing that is worth trying is splitting a guitar signal with a crossover at about 250Hz. Then you reamp both parts … but with appropriate settings for bass end and treble end. Always sounds meaty and avoids the normal issue with reamping the same signal twice.
Man, I've been a musician for 35 years, and a recording engineer for 29 years, among other music related jobs (live production and mixing, DJing etc) and still, I learn something new from every single one of your videos. Thank you so much.
My bass player went to buy new strings, he just returned, said his drug dealer doesn't know any drug called new strings.
:D:D:D
Funny: cause it’s real
Also, I posted a few weeks back and auto correct used “your” instead of “you’re”.
Now Glenn probably thinks I’m stewpid.
3:21 And the next day of course the guitar player is like: Wow this sounds so much better.
You're being rude, Glenn. Dude not only was able to notice the difference, but even admitted that he did. Can't you appreciate how much generosity it took a guy like him?
If anyone argues about the value of re-amping, the solo in Another brick in the wall pt. 2 was recorded direct and then re-amped... It's one of the prettiest sounding, most beautiful tones of all time... And I think it made a few bucks !!!
I learned that recently and it blew my mind. Definitely recording to a DI now.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but recording direct won't make you sound like David Gilmour lol
@@stimpsonjcat26 I don't think that was being implied anyway?
@@matturner6890 jokes bro
I have nothing against reamping but i believe the way i play is very much connected to what îm hearing, levels of distortion etc....
Glenn, I got about 4 scam calls during this video. so i just put my receiver up to my tv's speaker during those calls. some people in india got some free recording tips today. and at least one got yelled at. good job Glenn. keep up the good work.
glen your are exactly right i spent 1200 dollars on a guitar and only spent 100 dollars on my entire recording setup
+1 on the DI signal ALWAYS. I've been a software engineer for almost 28 years and we have a phrase: "write once, use anywhere". This is the exact same concept when it comes to recording a DI since the same performance can be reused when any changes in sound need to be made after the fact. Plus you there's a great comparison point that can be A/B'd since the original underlying raw signal will be the same.
One thing I've learned as a guitarist myself: who knows that the hell I'm going to like a few days later? Maybe I'm going to want to run it through an amp sim I really like later instead and I'll just get rid of the amped recording. It opens you up to additional possibilities and won't pigeonhole anyone into a single sound too. A consistent baseline is of immense importance AND, as Glenn mentioned, it is also a safety net in case of catastrophic failure. You may lose the original recorded amped signal but you won't lose the original performance with it.
I just looked over at my DI box and smiled.
Glenn: "Banjos aren't very metal"
*Rob Scallon entered the chat*
*Revocation entered the chat*
Metal kazoo and banjo.
*Glenn's point stands strong*
*Mastodon entered the chat*
The breakdown from White Devil by No One Gets Out Alive has entered the chat.
The first point you made was the only mistake I have made when recording something I intended to release. I came into the studio with fresh strings, truss rod adjusted so my action was comfortable, but what I had neglected was to intonate my guitar.
I hadn’t noticed until the producer asked me to play some notes on different strings then play the same note an octave up on the same string while his tuner was open. My intonation was terrible, he wasn’t very happy, but he fixed it for me and I got to learn how to intonate my guitar. Will never make that mistake again!
Yes, #9! Actually double tracking the guitars adds variation, nuance, and excitement to the sound compared to the copy pasta method and it's also fun to experiment with two different guitars, amps, and pickups, depending on what you're going for and what the song needs. Awesome tips, Glenn!
I haven't tried it as yet, but on another channel it was suggested to pan the reverb or effects opposite to the guitar track in question, so the reverb of the left guitar track is panned right and visa versa. Might be interesting.
@@Dave-Rough-Diamond-Dunn That sounds cool! I'll have to try that out. Thanks, Dave!
@@424Recording It's straight from another video, Produce like a Pro most likely. (I don't think Glenn would mind the mention, he's collaborated with that channel.)
@@Dave-Rough-Diamond-Dunn that's a great trick for lead parts, but it sucks huge balls on rhythm.
@@alexeypolevoybass You'll have to tell Warren at Produce like a Pro!
6:14 I always walk away learning something new from this channel!
When I was part timing in a studio, I once saw a guy who insisted on adding a compressor before his DI box because "it makes it sound consistent", and the sound engineer was not impressed at all.
Ugh.
I recorded a band and the bassist used a compressor on his pedalboard. There was weird pops that got by the compressor from time to time. Really made the mixing process a lot of fun lol
@@ScottFuckinRitchie I actually tried that. Sounded great on it's own, but had to retrack everything without, as I got that nice extra sound that shouldn't be in the mix
@@igorjakobsen1694 that's the thing. If you want to use a compressor just use it you don't have to pu it before the DI
Love these vids. I've been recording as a guitarist since 1979 and you never stop learning. Learning lots for my home recording sessions. Cheers Glenn👍
Comes in wanting to learn how to get better at recording.
Leaves wanting a hug from his mom from all the shouting.
(I'm joking I love this guy)
But he tells us to stop bitching and does more bitching than anyone I've ever worked with!
@@louaguado995 the yelling thing was entertaining for exactly 4 videos
This is a Tough Love show. Are you going to act like the people he's screaming about, or did you learn the lesson? Go get a hug from your mom either way. You deserve it. And so does she.
if you become desensitised to his screaming your penis will work better and so will your guitar...long term side effects include keeping a job and doing a good job
I gotta say... The Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd gen is actually really doing it for me. I hesitated a long time before moving to a USB recording interface for instruments (mostly lapsteel guitar and violin) and vocals, but even after years of fumbling in cables and analog gain levels, I kept getting annoying noise in silent parts. The 3rd gen Focusrite blew me straight out of the water with it's ease of use, sound quality and signal-to-noise ratio. I'm sure professional equipment will make it even better but man, this €100 bundle of joy blew new life into my playing. Now I'm not a professional by any means and if I ever would have my shit professionally mixed/edited I would pay the mix engineer for DETAILED personal advice before ever sending it in. But for me and my simple home recordings? It's just awesome.
One thing though: THE "AIR" SETTING IS *** NOT *** A REPLACEMENT FOR DOUBLE TRACKING!
Another things you should add. If you really want your "tone" find a tone that can sit well with the other instruments and not only sound good alone. A lot of time i listen to guitar sound that i can't realize what notes are played.
I did 3 decades of guitar repair and it warms my heart to hear the play authentically rant. When I saw a gibson case come in the shop it was either "let me guess ... broken head stock?" or "let me guess ... won't stay in tune?"
depending on how pale the owners face was.
Hey Glenn, I’m a college recording student recording on a second generation Focusrite at home, and I’d been wondering why my direct guitar tracks sounded like shit when my room tone was pretty solid. Thanks for clarifying why that is! Will definitely be investing in a direct box next paycheck.
It's worth the money & a good one will last your lifetime.
you just said "avoid the first generation scarlett" and my 1st generation scarlett is giving me that "nervous Elaine" look from the memes. I'm not sure what to say about the general timbre of its sound, but Teh Clipping!!!11 is the problem. It's not that it doesn't have enough gain headroom in high-z mode, I don't think, it's just that you can clip the front end of the high-z input even if the gain knob is down. And that's bad. And that's why I have an AXE I/O Solo coming in today for my 'dedicated home studio'.
I use a Scarlet Solo gen 3 and I've been happy with it. I'm new to the whole DAW situation so I'm still learning my way around. Tips on guitar placement is helpful. I recently got an Ibanez RGIB21, it has active pickups and I am getting great recordings with it. I'm using the Neural DSP Soldano plugin and I love it.
A load of really great tips even for someone like me who just records at home. I've never heard of taping strings but it makes so much sense!
“Retune your guitar!”
Me: laughs in Evertune
“Foam!”
Me: ah fuck.
Actually lol’Ed at that!
@@SpectreSoundStudios Just goes to show, no matter how much you think you’ve solved, there’s always room for jackassery.
Much love, fucko!
@@Torrment "JACKASSERY"--LOL!!!
That’s one thing that I can relate to as an artist as well. Everyone wants to blow up social media with their opinions on every single topic but no one wants to shut the hell up and communicate those thoughts and emotions into their art.
As a guitarist, I can say I never make mistakes, I just do things to keep people on their feet.
Superb advice! I had been copy and pasting guitar tracks but I will NEVER SO THAT AGAIN!!! Thank you, great channel 😎
Hey Glenn, were there any albums you loved that sucked from a production stand point in your opinion?
Great question, I'm curious the answer as well
W.A.S.P. Live in the Raw would have to be on the list of any W.A.S.P. fan, the production was terrible. Whomever was responsible for the snare sound should be drawn and quartered! 🤪
WAKING THE FALLEN
Relationship of Command
Elliot Smith
Hugo Grayling and the Wilderness within (which is definitely my favorite, it's just REALLY obscure. Stream it if you haven't heard it. It's...brilliant).
@@christopherrohlf1975 100% in agreement about Elliot Smith. Love his music. But yikes on the production 😬.
I can really FEEL the past experiences Glenn is reliving in this video.
LOL - as he rants about clipping the signal, he clips the signal in the background with his scream. LOL - classic Glen!
Out of all of the UA-cam channels about how to properly record guitars at home, yours is the most comprehensive, and entertaining. Lots of fantastic tough love here. You’ve helped me tremendously within the span of mere days. Liked. Subscribed. Notifications on. Thank you sir may I have another.
As a guitarist I think when I go into the recording aspect it’s time to leave my ego outside of the studio. I can write a song and I can play a song live with no trouble but when it comes to the studio it’s a whole different beast. I admit I have red button syndrome (RBS)with my DAW which I’m trying my best to overcome. Very interesting concept of re-amping. . As always thank you for teaching us.
I like the way you explain the detail after shouting [[ENOUGH!!]], thanks for the pro-tips and you really a great teacher.🤘🍺
Anyone who says “that’s my tone,” just respond by saying, “when you don’t shower for a year, do you tell a girl you’re pursuing, but that’s my natural scent.” ??
I had a drummer like that , his girlfriend probably didn't notice but the band did and when I asked him to use deodorant it went down like a ton of shit .
Extra tips for the metal bedroom musician:
at 9:45 #4 and how to find the good spots; Your pickups should not look at ANY source of static current. Your PSU, CPU and GPU are producing it. Your powerstrip produces it. Hell, even your radiator produces it. Next time you restring your guitar, before you take on the new strings, do the following: crank the gain as hard as you can (you likely use headphones anyway) and then use your pickup like a "detector". Go with your guitar around your room, as much as your cable allows it. "Scan" the area. You will notice how much noise there is. Make note of the noise pockets. And make sure your guitar points AWAY from them when you record. Track with headphones, turn off your studio speakers (you likely sit too close to them anyway). Guitar pickups are the most sensitive in the axis of the pole pieces. So the sides are less so. Thus, point your headstock towards the noisy parts, and you should be good. It's not just enough to turn around and find the right angle to play on that gives the least noise... if you still pick up noise from the powerstrip to your side.
Another problem is; the USB cable of the audio interface, or lack of shielding of the audio interface itself, and your crappy cable that you keep using since 10 years. Those will all pickup extra.
There is a reason why you try to avoid ground loops as much as possible, and a UPS with individual sockets is very much required in situations where you cannot resolve a ground loop.
Oh and, you can de-noise your DI signal too, in case you didn't think about that :)
I'm contemplating on making a video on what one can do to reduce electric interference and how sensitive this all is.
at 13:32 before you record, hit the hardest allstring palm mutes you can and check the meter. Then do your most earpiercing pinch harmonics. Use that metric with half a DB buffer on top of that for your absolute level (and for safety, never go above -3db on mono. Some interfaces causing clipping if it gets louder than that). multistring Palm mutes should be enough because they are heavily bass laden and you usually don't have anything that is louder than your bass frequencies when you play (remember; decibels don't care about your perceived hearing. It's just linear amplitude). So they will produce the absolute loudest signal you can make. You still want to hit it as loud as you can, within the given limits, because it just means you have a much higher signal-to-noise floor. The worst enemy of every piece of music is the underlying, unwanted noise which multiplies with each track.
13:49 Because yeah, it is a lot before you hear the noise floor... but which noise floor are we talking about? The one that has the crappy converters and noisy, unshielded electronics? We're not talking about -144db here. We talk about home recording. There WILL be plenty of noise that remains static. So find your levels and hit it a bit hotter. Just don't go hotter than -3db.
at 15:16 ... for everyone who still claims this is a nonissue because "the strings are not at the pickup". Sit down, take the thumb out of your mouth and think for a second. The string is one unified piece. It does not magically stop to vibrate only because it gets clamped over the bridge and the nut. The string continues to resonate, meaning it the motion goes BACK to the main string that the PICKUP is listening to. Nobody cares how your guitar looks like when you record. So put on the damn foam, will you? Thank you.
And if you have floid rose springs: DEADEN THEM DEAD. Put a piece of foam in the cavity. Put piece of foam into the strings. Put rubber bands around the strings. Make them dead. They are right at the back fo your guitar pickups. They act like STRINGS. They distort the magnetic flux of the pickups from the other direction. So not only are they causing extra noise, if you have a REALLY bad case of luck, the phase inverted signal (because the springs are on the other side of the pickup, right?) can cause your guitar sound to be at a detriment and thinning it out.
at 17:50 well, proper technique also eliminates that problem :) But hey, that's too much to ask for I guess.
at 18:44 the only "cheat" one can use to get away without double tracking is to run the DI through an entirely different sound (and experiment with invert phase on the DI and amplified sound). Then give both tracks a minor, short reverb that is playing on the OPPOSITE channel. And then you pull the left track 2 milliseconds ahead and the right 2 ms late. It's less of a cheat but more of a stylistic choice, but if you want to feel how an improvised rhythm piece feels that you can't quite remember as you just recorded it, then this gives you an illusion to figure out if it works or not. And even if you double track guitars; do not use the exact same sound. Because the better and more consistent you perform these two tracks... the more similar they thusly sound... meaning the closer they get together in the stereo field. It's one of these paradoxes when being too good is causing issues.
22:17 only edit a copy of the DI track :)
at 23:15 . Elixir Strings. You are broke, and they will save you not only money in the long run but actually retain your tone.
Last but not least; your DI signal is not a safety net. It is much more than that. It is the quintessence of your PERFORMANCE. All of it. So treat it well.
Cannot wait to watch this when I get home later🤣🤣🤣. Really begun to enjoy this series the most!
Yeah! I bought a Countryman thanks to you, Glen!! Such a brilliat idea.!
Thanks, Glenn! Just recently got the Rupert Neve RNDI-S going into SSL2, can get to the mark with gain at 0, 4K kicked in is nice - cleanest signal I’ve ever heard. NO noise! Glad to know I’m doing all the other things right for someone who is first a composer/engineer and classical pianist/singer, drummer, then finally “guitarist” hahaha. (I even play bass but try to be careful so that I can still walk and chew gum simultaneously.)
Oh and thanks for the foam idea! That’s fu(king killer!
Man it’s wild the amount of knowledge you drop on this channel. Tips, tricks, and methods that would take years to research on your own.
Thank you VERY VERY MUCH for this Glenn!! I'm just getting into recording my guitar playing and I want to do it right and NOT waste my money. I will be buying a Countryman DI box soon and am eagerly awaiting your Focusrite 3rd-gen shootout!
Check this out: I also bought myself a $100 Gazebo / Pergola (200cm x 200cm) and placed it in my basement on a noise absorbing rug. I left the outside "walls" off and placed moving blankets on all five sides. Got myself a 10M led strip for the inside and some bass traps in the corners and foam on the inside off the blankets. Super easy set-up for recording with my D18 and singing at the same time straight into my iPhone using the Roland Go Pro mix. Call me cheap but I just love my little "tent" inside my basement. Nice and cozy. Love your channel man!!
I have a special recording sock that I wrap on my guitar neck when recording solo. Works for me.
GLEEEEEeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeEEEEEEEENNNNNNN-ah! Finally you came 'round mentioning the fabulous String Butler - which definitely is a must have for any Gibson (at least LP or SG)! I am following your channel since times imermorial and already thought I had to be the one pointing this neat little device out to you... Of course this won't change your attitude towards Gibson in the slightest (WHY WOULD YOU HAVE TO BUY AN EXTRA KIT TO MAKE A GUITAR THAT ALREADY COSTS A SHITLOAD OF MONEY STAY IN TUNE!?!?!) - but this thing really works wonders. And whoever has the money to buy that particular brand should not bitch about a few extra bucks to make his axe studio worthy. I definitely hooked up all my Gibsons with it!
Another thing from my experience: Gibson guitars don't give in easy, you have to learn your way around every one of them! Don't expect to pick up a Gibson and immediately get a great performance - there's plenty of technique and skill required (but this is true for any instrument you're trying to master... Looking at all of us - and especially you Bass players out there ;) )
Thanks also for all the advice in your show! Every "trick" I picked up from you and tried out helped me getting closer to the sound I am trying to capture!
FUCK YOU from Germany!!!
PS: If you're ever around the Stuttgart area next time - just hop on by. I am currently building my very own studio/rehearsal place (which should be finished around end of Sept this year) and would love to get your opinion...
Takeaway - book a session at Glenn's, get a free guitar overhaul and setup. 😎😉
Well, I got smart & went hourly shortly after that.
I rent a pro studio and have problems with electrical noise. Constant headache! I absolutely sympathize with everyone out there with similar problems!
What about my famous Tone that only me, the band and my girlfriend have ever even heard before?!
Yeah man, good call on people spending their money on guitars and not on the recording equipment. Gotta look at it as an investment. The record you put out is representing you as a musician or your band. My first interface was the Tascam US1800 and then after a decade, upgraded to the Scarlett 18i20.
What do you think of the 18i20?
Should I hire a recording assistant to cup the mic in front of the amp while I'm playing? - Vocalist dabbling in recording guitar
Love watching your videos - Not only are you so wise and knowledgable, you're so very funny when you shout, has me in stitches... Bless you...
New strings... at least a day or two old, let them stretch properly and let the neck set in, especially if you change the string set gauge. Also, after a day, CHECK THE INTONATION and set it up if needed
I have found that changing the string gauge changes the intonation about 99% of the time, so this one is a must. It may move the neck and need a truss rod tweak as well. And yes, new strings S-T-R-E-T-C-H for a while. You can pre-stretch them a bit when stringing the thing, but at least a day's wait if you're recording, for sure.
Glenn's rants are simply the most entertaining thing on the internet
I am always impressed by his compression and clarity when he screams at the top of his lungs. Good stuff, Glenn. Also, where is the bass plugin video?!?!
We're working on it.. might be a few weeks yet...
Can confirm with the Gibson tuning issue. Toured and played many shows with a 2006 Gibson faded SG went out of tune every song about halfway through the song. Ended up replacing it with a Epiphone Les Paul, and never had an issue with the tuning again!
Please do "things to avoid when choosing a producer"
A second tip for #4 - it can help drastically with electrical noise if you plug your amp and your computer into different circuits in your home.
Also hell yeah Phil X!!!
This is a good one, Glen seems to be extra annoyed when this was filmed. So funny!
Glen this is a gold mine, it was so needed. This is going to clean up so many recordings man respect
*looks at screen*
...
*looks over to Scarlett 2i2*
...
*looks back at screen*
...
“Oh dear...”
Same man lol
I mean we all have to start somewhere, and the second generation doesn’t have a problem with headroom even if the sound is a bit “boxy”
Same here...fuck me! This explains a lot about the issues I ran into recently when recording my active pickup Schecter Hellraiser into my 1st gen Scarlett 2i4. Although, I did manage to get the input signal down to a reasonable level. But can I get a refund!? 😵
Why do I love the energy of these videos so much? It's awesome finally catching up on this channel and seeing honest, frill-free reviews that aren't so polished (and clearly sponsored).
Looking forward to 15 things in the home studio. I feel like I'm going to know most of them but I always watch content for those few that I didn't.
Have you done any empty room vs treated room videos with a before and after in the same room? I'd watch the shit out of that!
The point made at roughly 10:38 is great advice. I live under power distribution lines and I turn 90° when tracking to have a quieter signal.
Spit out my drink at...
"GET THIS YOU CHEAP FUCK!"
BASS PLAYERS: What's DI? Nah man my Drug Inventory is good and plus I just recently bought new strings... (10 + years ago). I'm ready for the Studio. Wait what songs are we doing again?
When he said make sure your instrument is in recording shape, my heart sank for a sec. I took Epiphone Probuckers and a Tune-O-Matic tremolo system and put it into my $200 Amazon Les Paul. Besides the cheap electronics it came with, it sounds amazing with the upgrades. Surprisingly, it plays better than my BC Rich Warlock. I just got a Jackson JS34Q, and I know it's not the best thing in the world, but it looks great, and is my first guitar with a Floyd Rose bridge.
I had one person who wanted to record alone some demos to seek out new band members. And so we did. I never stopped to question why all the previous ones had left. It turned out to be a fantastic fustercluck. Two bar punch ins, horribly intonated guitar, wanting to change tempo after recording the song with one guitar, and so on. The best part was still the pronunciation of the word "abyss". In the middle of a dark heavy riff he kept singing "a bus". Which I was too tired to point out. Overall, it matched everything else in the package. Never finished the two songs we started. Good times.
I was an inte.... I mean, part-time worker at a studio, and one day a rapper was recording. The rap sounded convincing, but when he got to the chorus we all spontaneously started laughing out loud because he couldn't sing at all (happy positive chorus). The doors to the controlroom went up, the producer came out all bleak and tired and proclaimed "Sigh....another rapper that think he can sing.... ;-( ".
Rapper & producer spent the rest of the day butting heads in over the worlds smallest plastic-keyboard, trying to make him hit the notes, basically teaching him to sing his own somewhat simple chorus (same 3 lines over and over).
I don't think I'm ever going to forget that chorus.
As a young man I did recording sessions for TV music using a beat up Squier Strat which was in poor condition and very hard to play but I just about got by. After a few years I 'upgraded' to a Charvel. It was wonderful to play - the action low - the neck as smooth as a cashmere codpiece. The pickups were also far superior and sounded great thru my gear. However, after a few months we noticed that something was missing - something had been lost in the upgrade. My producer wisely suggested that I had lost the 'struggle' in my sound as I was no longer fighting with my instrument. I went back to the Squier and all the angst returned. Even the simplest of lines sounded hard to play because they were.
"Foam behind the nut" sounds like some kinky shit.
Recently i was fed up with struggling with noise in my Di signal. Im usually makes demos with virtual amps and always had to put 2 noise gates or a noise reduction and a noise gate before the amp. I Started to change my position in the studio and realize that just by keeping away from the computer aprox 4 feet it drastically change the level of the noise for the good. Thats a great advice!
11:40 a cheaper way to fix the tuning problem on Gibsons is to wind "in reverse" around the tuning post. This reduces the G string break-angle at nut. Also use .10 string gauge
Use a little graphite in the nut usually fixes the problem because it alleviates the nut grabbing the string.
@@DonaldRickert Yes, it is mandatory on any guitar without a locking nut. Although in my experience a Strat for example it is less likely to go out of tune even without graphite
I'd still better buy a Japanese replica rather than the original.
If you have ANYTHING near you wired to a dimmer turn that dimmer all the way off before recording. There is a ceiling fan on a completely different circuit in my house that winds up causing all kinds of bizarre sounds in my Guitar recordings. It took me ages to piece that together. DI boxes, interfaces, cables...I tried everything. That fan is on another floor and it sill destroyed take after take from like 50 feet away.
Hey Glenn, if you want to make a shoot out with scarletts, I can send you my 1st gen! Only if you fuck up the returning process and send me the 3rd one tho
Some good advice here. Mic position (if you use one) before touching the EQ. Adopt that philosophy throughout.
Where you are standing (or sitting) with those interference-loving pickups & that interference-loving circuit... super important.
These fundamentals bear reminding us all of at any time. Stick to the ground. Whoever says "fix it in post" is OUT.
Like, too many of us are like this; "I'm not worried that the stool creaking here and there... I'll chop it out in post-" - rather than just going and finding a noiseless thing to sit on...
When Cool Edit first appeared it was like a revelation... it was AMAZING. It didn't take us long to go crazy with it. Less is more, across the board. Bless y'all out there, stay healthy and FFFUUUUUUUUUUCCCKKK YOOOOOOU!!!
"Avoid the first Gen Scarlett."
Me **Smuggly sipping coffee in 3rd Gen Clarett 8pre**
got a 3rd Gen 2i2 myself as I'm just a solo artist.
PreSonus 1818VSL here.
@@a2ndopynyn those are dope
*cries in Music Prod newb with first Gen Scarlett*
FeelsSadMan
@@blazinkid5178 I actually upgraded to this 8pre from my first Gen 18i8 lol
Bruh, you got me as far as the Copy and Paste. Half the time I just copy and paste the guitars because I just get tired and wanna satisfy my impatient tendencies and keep moving forward
I could see this one...
A: "Why are you masking taping off strings?"
Tommy Tedesco: "I get paid a lot of money to not screw up."
I'm a Fender guy. I bought my Stratocaster in '87.
I seem to recall Pete Townshend saying that he decided the Telecaster was the best guitar because he once chopped an amp to bits with one and when he was done it was still in tune.
Hey Glenn, what hair products do you use? I want mine as lush as yours is when I'm your age. You know, ancient.
Damn really got em
Axle grease thinned with cheap gasoline.
On a particular tour I once asked the same question to a particular rockstar, his answer was simply "boiled beer" (let it cool before you apply) - research it :)
Awesome video! If I had to add anything it would be:
Spend the time to get a good monitor mix. That was the biggest hurdle for me. My first sessions I had latency I hadn’t understood how to correct (monitor the instrument being recorded through your hardware, not the DAW, unless you absolutely need what the DAW is doing) and make sure that you can hear both your guitar and the track as clearly as possible because that will get the best timing and bends.
Tune with the best possible tuner. I’ve tried tuners that say that two audibly different pitches are in tune with each other, especially clip on and plug in based tuners.
Last but definitely not least, try to feel it. Don’t turn it into some clinical thing where you are so focused on perfection and getting take after take to the point where you are not really allowing inspiration to be part of your performance. If you are comfortable on stage, try and tap into that feeling when you’re going for a real take. If you are more into jamming, try to pretend you’re in the middle of a super vibey jam. This is another area where good monitoring comes into play.
"You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish. Unless, of course, you play bass." - Douglas Adams
hell yeah Glenn! THANK YOU for taking your time to put these videos together. much appreciated!
“Banjos aren’t very metal, are they?”
*Rob Scallon is typing*
He says that about a guitars body being sanded and the wood dried out, then later says tonewood is bull shit. Make up your mind dude. Lol
@@neilsnow7644 he never said that it has no effect on the sound at all, just that the difference completely evaporates in a metal mix.
@@TheWetToaster in electric guitars it isn't as important as acoustic guitars. I have built many. It's the electronics that matter most. That's why electric guitars can be made from so many different materials like acrylic, wood, metal, glass etc. Many guitars for instance are plywood. Not the kind you build a house with, but hand made, soft core and with hardwood top and back...If it's painted a solid color with no grain viable sometimes the vaneer is skipped as it's not needed for aesthetics. Guitar still sounds good. Friend of mine has an 8 string that would be otherwise too heavy if it wasn't made from softwood.
Just saw this video (new subscriber) and figured I'd post this for the first gen scarlett users out there. Put your channel in "line" mode, then run your guitar through a buffer (or literally any stock Boss pedal in bypass) to reapply the high end frequencies. Works really well and, to my ears anyway, is basically indistinguishable tone wise and gives you way more head room with the gain knob before you clip the scarlett preamp. Hope this helps.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA CATASTROPHE, great story.
Ive reverted back to this video a bunch now and the biggest thing that helped me was the tip on not recording so close to my laptop and turn the guitar a different direction