L3F1 MUSIC

Phaser Pedal

Recording Tips For Guitarists

Recording music is a totally different beast from playing live. And whether you're going into a big studio or doing it on your own with a laptop and a DAW, there's a few guitar-specific things you can do to make the whole process go faster and sound better.

1. Use new strings - You want your guitar to sound it's best even if you're working with a off-brand copy of Korean knockoff of a Strat.  And new strings are the easiest way to improve things.  They'll give the engineer a good bright sound to work with.  Make sure they're good and stretched out so they don't go out of tune in the middle of the song.  I usually put my new ones on the day before recording.  If you're doing a lot of recording on a regular basis, make sure to change them every one to two weeks.  Otherwise you can end up with different sounding strings on different takes of a song, making it more difficult to edit later.

2. Tune before every take - On a similar note, you should tune your guitar before every take.  I'll admit I'm they guy the engineer is always yelling at tune before takes.  Extra weird when I'm recording at home.  Your guitar probably won't be that out of tune, but keeping it fine tuned will, again, make editing takes much easier later on in the mixing process.

3. Pre-Production - Pre-production is a fancy word for "practice before you get there".  You have some leeway here if you're working in a home studio.  But if you're paying for studio time, you want to get in and get out as fast as possible.  That means having your parts totally down before you step foot in the place.  And that means making sure your bandmates have their act together too.  And I always recommend playing the song live a lot before recording it, if possible.  It will make the arrangement tighter and let any natural changes happen so you can get the best performance possible on tape.  It's like letting the song marinate before cooking it.

I made the mistake once of recording a whole song in the key of G.  Then finding out that I couldn't sing it in the key of G.  We had to record all the pitched instruments again in the key of F.  You can bet that cost me a few extra bucks.  Learn from my boo-boos young padawan.

What about guitar solos?  If you're the type that likes to compose your solos, make sure it's done before getting in the studio.  If you like to let 'er rip of the fly, that's cool too.  But be sure that you've improvised your solo on that song at least 100 times before recording.  If you have to do more than 3 or 4 takes to get a solo you like, you're blowing cash.

4. Leave off non-essential effects until mixing - The cleaner the signal going into the board, the more leeway you have to make changes later during editing and mixing.  You want to have a good basic sound recorded and you can add all the gooey reverb and delay you want later on. 

So, what's considered essential?  Maybe your overdrive or distortion if you're working with a good amp and you want to capture that amp's sound.  A real Marshall still sounds better than any Marshall-style plugin.  If you're using a wah pedal, that should probably be in the original signal as well since it's a real time effect.  In fact, anything that you have to control in real time should be used during tracking.  But ditch the reverb, delays, phaser, flanger, and other such things. That all gets layered on later. 

Though I will say if you've got a particular pedal that you don't have a matching plugin for, you'll have to record it on the original signal.  But, also record a totally clean version of the take with no pedal in case you don't like it later.  You can do that either by splitting the signal before the pedal to two tracks.  Or you can just play it again.

5. Keep the overdrive/distortion down - Crunchy is good.  But when you've got your distortion jacked up too high it will sound like white noise when you record it.  It will also sound thin and get lost in the mix.  Drop your distortion to half of what you use for live performance.  Start there and record some sample takes to see how it sounds.  A corollary to this is, let the engineer guide you.  Especially if you're new to recording and you can afford an experience engineer, use his expertise and let him help focus your guitar tone.

6. Small amps can sound great too - You don't need a wall of Mesa Boogie stacks to get a great guitar sound when recording.  Some of the greatest sounds on tape have been done with tiny amps.  Giant amps are used for giant volume.  And you don't need that in the studio since you're mic'ing and mixing.  If the amp sound good by itself you can work from there and still get a huge sound.

If you are using a larger amp, like a 4x12, mic only the best sounding speaker.  Placing the mic closer to the center of the speaker cone gives you a brighter sound.  Moving the mic towards the edge mellows it.

7. Use two mics - One close, one far - If you're in a good sounding room or studio, this will give you a nice natural reverb you can mix with the dry signal.  Place the second mic about 5 feet from the amp.  If your room doesn't sound so hot or you just don't like the sound of it, you can always trash that extra reverb track later.

8. Double track to thicken - This is the studio equivalent of a wall of Marshalls.  If you want a big thick sound, double track your guitar parts.  While you could just cut and paste the track, it's the tiny variations in performance of multiple takes that really work nicely to beef it up.  Do at least two tracks.  Or go whole hog with the old Metallica trick of layering 30-40 tracks of the same guitar part. Just make sure the rest of the instruments don't get lost in the mix.  You and I both know the guitar is the most important but sometimes your bandmates thing they deserve to be there too. <wink>  

Learning to perform in a recording studio has a learning curve just like learning to play live.  These tips will give you a good start to getting your hit song recorded so the whole world can hear it.

About the Author

Get your free Get Hot On Electric Guitar report for the <a href="http://www.gethotonelectricguitar.com">best guitar practice</a> techniques to make you the hottest six string slinger in town!  http://www.GetHotOnElectricGuitar.com

what kind of effect did jerryc use in canon rock?

i want to know what type of pedals. distortion, phaser, delay, etc...
canon rock is a guitar song, look it up on youtube

i think it was a multi-fects pedal, i could be wrong but i have a friend that has one and we can tune in to the same sound he makes

Phaser Pedal
FPETV Maxon PH350 Phaser Pedal

Pigtronix Envelope Phaser Pedal $249 Create unique audio with this Pigtronix EP2-126785 envelope phaser pedal that features LFO modulation for customized use and a true bypass for efficient operation. Sweep and speed expression inputs make it simple to personalize your sound.

HardWire SP-7 Stereo Phaser Pedal $139.95 The HardWire SP-7 Stereo Phaser offers seven phaser types based on vintage and modern pedals. With seven different phaser effects in true stereo and tap tempo speed control the HardWire SP-7 offers more than any other phaser pedal on the market. As the most advanced phaser pedal on the market, engineered to perfection with true HardWire bypass with constant high-voltage rails, the HardWire SP-7 Stereo Phaser is always set to stun.

Whirlwind Rochester Orange Box Phaser Pedal $139.95 The Whirlwind Orange Box Phaser is the swirling edgy phaser that started it all! The Orange Box Phaser pedal is a handwired classic that features select resistors paired with hand matched components to achieve the same smooth and warm modulation as the original. The Orange Box phaser pedal provides gobs of thick rich tone. This little box can be heard on more hit albums than any other FX box in history-hands down.

Pigtronix EP2 Envelope Phaser 2 Pedal $249 The Pigtronix Envelope Phaser pours on the special sauce to take your tone into outer space. Accentuating and sweeping through the harmonics of any musical source, the motion of this revolutionary phase shifter can be controlled by Envelope, LFO or a blend of both. The Pigtronix EP2 pedal is a complete re-design of our Envelope Phaser concept, built on 6 years of customer feedback from the original. The Pigtronix EP2 sports all new sounds and smart features, in a considerably smaller package.

Moog Music MF103 Moogerfooger 12-Stage Phaser Pedal $299 An all-analog effects module incorporating a 6-stage/12-stage phaser and a wide-range LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator).

Learn To Play A Guitar Fast - More Should Know Skills To Make It

If you're pondering about picking up to Learn To Play A Guitar then chances are you're a fan of either country, folk, metal, grunge, rock or any from the many various other styles of music that use this extremely versatile instrument.

The range of sound that a guitar can give off is massive particularly when playing an electrical guitar, results pedals can be utilized to include echo's, delays, sweeping phaser sounds or totally changing the be aware straight into surreal atmospheric sounds.

In accordance to widespread guitar facts, this noble instrument has been delivering audio to audience's ears for about four thousand years. It is thought that it actually developed from the medieval lute then gradually changed into new forms of instrument as it was passed all over the world through various civilizations.

Although, there are a few historians who think that the guitar goes back a lot further and it is derived from a simple roman instrument produced from a bowl, stick and animal hair for strings. No matter where or when it had been initially invented there is little doubt the guitar has stood the check of time and may possibly claim the title of becoming the oldest musical instrument existing.

Adjusting by ear is difficult in the beginning, but as soon as you familiarize yourself using the sound that each nicely tuned string makes you will have the ability to tune any guitar quickly.

The leading string (thickest one) has to be in the crucial of E. This can be done by memory, by taped audio, by matching it to a piano key of low E or with a single adjusting fork.

Place 1 finger around the fifth fret of the top string, this may provide you with the important thing of a for the second string down from the top.

Then press down around the fifth fret around the second string to provide you with the D note with which to tune the 3rd string.

Move your finger to the fifth fret on the 3rd string to get a G key for your 4th string.
Now move to the fourth fret of the 4th string through the top to obtain a B key for your 5th string from the bottom.

Play the fifth fret of the 5th string from the bottom to get an E key for your final and thinnest string.

If you're worried about studying to study and even create guitar music don't be. Luckily we're far from the days of getting to spend many years mastering note notation, rather a group of musicians acquired with each other and created tablature.

This form of created guitar notes and guitar chords is simple to understand and much more straight forward the aged fashioned form of writing. It utilizes exactly the same six line bar to symbolize the strings on the guitar, but instead of utilizing drawn notes, it utilizes numbers to display the frets on a guitar neck.

For example a low F note would be seen as a number 1 positioned around the top line of the tablature. This fantastic new form of guitar audio notation allows total beginners to study and start playing their preferred songs in just a few hours of research.

Learning the guitar is truly simple and exciting. Start your aspiration by obtaining probably the most essential Guitar Facts to help you discover guitar rapid.

About the Author

For more effective tips on how to Learn To Play A Guitar, visit us at our site about Guitar Facts.

Apple Logic Studio [OLD VERSION] $269.99 Logic Studio, Apple's comprehensive suite of professional music and audio tools, provides musicians with everything they need to create in the studio, on the stage, and for the screen. Logic Studio includes Logic Pro 8, Apple's legendary professional music production application featuring a new, intuitive interface; MainStage, an innovative new application for music performance; and Soundtrack Pro...

Death By Audio Total Sonic Annihilation $150.00 stomp on the switch and destroy the world! create your own totally unique sounds and atmospheres the only effect pedals are overdrive, reverb, delay, flange, chorus and tremelo right? wrong. this is a totally unique effects pedal which is absolutely like no other effects pedal that has ever been seen 20hz-20khz smashes and crashes and bashes to ashes breaking and twisting and twirling and sputteri...

The Stompbox: A History of Guitar Fuzzes, Flangers, Phasers, Echoes and Wahs $24.95 A colorful time warp back to when a weird little gadget fuzzed the lead guitar on a certain Rolling Stones hit and made history in the sonics of rock and pop-- The story of the device that created some of the most famous sounds of the '60s and '70s-- Includes 200 photos of these wild, sound-shaping inventions-- Appeals to the millions of guitarists who use stompboxes todayThe Stones' "Satisfaction...

Source Audio Pro Bass Envelope Filter Effects Pedal $229.00 The Soundblox Pro Bass Envelope Filter is an evolution of its hugely popular predecessor, the standard Soundblox BEF. As before, there are 22 different envelope filter effects to choose from including 2 Pole and 4 Pole Low Pass variations, Single Peak, Triple Peak, Peak/Notch variations, as well as Phaser settings. Each of these settings can be further modified with a variety of control options in...

Behringer VP1 Authentic Vintage-Style Phase Shifter $47.99 Authentic and classic three dimensional phase shifting-from rapid rotary speaker to impressive jet plane effects! This BEHRINGER product has been designed to compete head to head with leading products on the market. * There are dedicated Rate control and separate Tone switch for fine-tuning of effects speed and tone. A status LED for effect On/Off and battery check is included, plus there is a tru...

Phaser Pedal