Recording Rhythm Guitar

Hi guys, would just like to know from the guys that know how to record electric heavy metal distortion rhythm, I use a boss me-20 effects pedal with distortion on and then it goes into my Mbox that process the sound to Protools and a few compression effects...

How would you guys do it? I want that fat bass distorted rhythm sound...

thx

First, +1 for using BOSS.

Second, AlexB is the guy you want to talk to.

But here is how I would do it:

Starting with the amp:

This is where you want the best tone. If your tone isn't perfect coming from the amp, it wont be perfect after the effects are added. So plug your guitar in and set your amp to a clean channel with no effects! Then play around till you get a tone you like.

I prefer, Bass: 10 Mids: 5, 6 or 7ish and Treble at 6 or 7ish. That's if you want a thick bassy tone. Otherwise try higher treble and lower bass. I always prefer my mids in the middle though. Of course that is also different depending on the values assaigned to your tone controls. Whether they are -/+ with 5 being flat or 0 is flat and the tone is only +, makes a big difference.

Keep your pedals to a minimum for metal. Distortion and Reverb (plus a noise gate) are all you should need. Compression/sustain can come at the end of your chain.

Then I would add an A/B switch and start a new chain with delay and distortion and no verb.

Pan one chain hard left and the other hard right (If you have dual input on your interface).

This way your bass can fill the middle and really hold down the rhythm. Your bass also has to be really, really chunky. Use an equalizer and turn the low end all the way up. Scoop it but lower the high end basically. Then add some verb. A little verb to a bass tone goes a long way. For bottom heavy metal, use the neck pickup as well.

Just hit record after that!

Rock on!

If you wanted to thicken up a guitar part a little more, you can also put in a touch of chorus, not too much though-just enough to make an audible difference(set slow rate). Something to play around with, and a lot of people like the sound of a chorus'd up distortion.
For a really chunky sound on the guitars, try setting up your amps clean channel for moderate mid-dip(not scoop)with the bass at around 6-8(your preference though) and the highs between 6-10, and then run your Boss with a moderate frown curve on the EQ(mid-boost). This will make the guitar sound ultra chunky while retaining character and still getting that nice rhythm fatness to it.

Best of luck man

GS/Case,those things may apply in a rehearsal situation with a band,but he is recording directly to his Mbox.

Well,first of all,you ME-20,as far as i know,doesnt have Mic/Amp/Cab simulation,so when you plug in your guitar with distortion,it will sound like a fukcin mosquito.

If you are going the "in-the-box" way,get rid of problems,get software like Overloud's TH2 or Peavey Revalver,those are killer complete guitar rigs,specially for metal.

You would be really surprised to see what FREE guitar software can do.

Do some research,key words: Djent/evalver III/TH2/LePou


------------------++++++++------------------

When it comes to EQ,thats another story,one thing you need to know,is that taking mids from your guitar will KILL your tone,metal guitars doesnt have as much gain/bass/treble as we think,in a mix,bass is given by a bass guitar,guitars have most of their low frequencys cut in order to open up for the bass.

Mids are what you are looking for.

I half agree here.

Mids are great, I have mine maxed out along with my treble on my amps distorted EQ(2 distortion channels, 1 EQ). I also have a tone pot that is a post EQ Mid-control which is at about 8(10 is full mids) that is running after only the first distortion channel, which leaves the mids all the way up for my second(lead) channel.
However, saying that taking mids out of a signal is going to kill tone isn't really true, since some amps sound better with less mids and some tones don't require loads of mids.

I find too much bass muddys my tone.
I play thrash/death/deathcore/prog
For thrash bass 6 mids 7 treble 9 Sounds kinda
edgy.
Death bass 8 mids 7 treble 4.
Deathcore bass 9 mids 8 treble 7 its got a sexy growl.
Prog bass 5 mids 7 treble 6
My personal eq settings.

\M/(*-+)
gs2112