Tip sheets. →[More:]
I'm a big fan of tip-sheets, no matter what the topic. Feel free to respond with some hints of your own, on whatever topic you like.


Getting a Good Electric Guitar Sound on a Home Recording

When tracking:

1. Turn down the distortion.
2. Use the bridge pickup.
3. Stick a room mic in a different room or pointed out the window.
4. Either over- or underplay. Exaggerate.
5. Use a little bit of compression.
6. Play as little as possible.

When mixing:

1. Turn down the guitar.
2. Don't be afraid not to use some of the tracks you recorded, like the room mic or the scratch guitar.
3. If you wrote the song on guitar and used a guitar as a guide track, don't let that guitar onto the final mix.
4. If you overplayed, turn the guitar down some more. If you underplayed, you may turn it up.
5. If you weren't clean on ending a note or if there's some noise in tacit, don't be afraid to edit. Find a kick or hat to cover it and make the chop off the tail. I've never made an edit I regretted.

Each rule may be broken. The scratch guitar sometimes makes it on for a bar or two. It's almost like a percussion instrument.

I don't mess with EQ much. I don't think the EQ on the DPS16 actually does anything.

Read about mic placement and phase issues.