SOUND
COVERADVICE
STORY
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No band better embodies the homegrown
spirit than Boston, whose huge world-wide
success literally started in the basement
studio of guitarist/composer Tom Scholz. So it was in that
very basement where we went for some sound advice on
how to record your guitar in the studio.
What’s the first step toward recording a good guitar
sound in the studio?
The first thing is to make sure the instrument is sounding
good to your ear without the microphone. If it sounds
questionable before you put a mic on it, chances are
regardless of how you EQ it, the sound will still be lacking.
Once you put the mic on it, things change quite a bit. On
a Marshall speaker cabinet, if you put the mic in one place
and then move it half a foot, the sound coming through the
microphone will change drastically.
Is there a good reason to use an amp instead of
going straight to the board?
There’s a very good reason. The guitar amp in modern
usage gives you two additional things above and beyond
the guitar. First, it gives you extreme distortion, which in
most cases adds harmonic content and sustain. Even a
relatively clean-sounding guitar is probably distorting for
the peak passages. It levels out the changes in the guitar’s
volume much the way a limiter would, and it also gives you
DECEMBER SPECIAL
DIGITAL EDITION
GUITAR TRICKS INSIDER
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