Hello all. I'm a novice with a basic home recording setup (TASCAM DP01 8-track with a dbx mid-grade compressor/limiter, KRK's), and looking for some tips on how I can tame my distortion on my heavier tracks. My clean tracks sound great and translate well, but I've tried (and failed) to successfully mix in distorted guitar without it sounding like a bucket full of mud. I have limited EQ capoability with the DP01 and am wondering if the only way to make it sound demo-worthy is to go spend $1000 bucks on an EQ? Great site and great tips, and I look forward to learning a ton. Any guidance is appreciated!

Thanks!
Terry

A simple recording rule of thumb to remember: You're track is only as good as the quality of the input. That brings up some questions. Starting with your input, what type of rig are you recording through? Direct Injection with internal processing? External Processing? (i.e. Vox Tonelab, Digitech GNX4...) Or are you miking an amp?

My personal, and highly recommended preference would be to drop a 57 in front of the cab and record that way. There are several miking techniques on here that you can search for.

Re-emphasizing the input quality, if you can make your distortion sound good as it goes in, (use your mons for reference) you'll be in a much better world.

Second, what does your input level look like? If it's too hot and it clips, it will most likely sound like a "bucket full of mud".

Third, if you have good sound coming in, it's unlikely that you will need heavy EQ. A simple roll off at 100hz would suffice, and maybe one or two cuts or boosts to taste. I would do these with the onboard parametric EQ's.

As far as compression, let your amp/processing take care of that, I rarely put compression on my distorted guitars, my amp and processing covers it for me.

I am running direct out of my Line 6 into the recorder, but I tried micing with a 57 and it cleared up much of the mud. I bypassed the compressor as well, and that combination was money! Once I laid the track down a little tweak of the high end EQ and I now have a viable track. Thank YOU!!!

I also tried doubling the vocal track and found it added depth and filled out nicely. Thanks for all the tips! Now if I can just figure out all this computer voodoo and get ProTools I think I'm on the way!

No problems!