PROFESSIONAL Tone of Metal Guitars At Home Without Breaking The Bank

[@ChernobylAudio666]

UPDATED AS OF SEPTEMBER 2024 🟢 DOWNLOAD THE FREE GUIDE HERE ▶ metalguitar.chernobylaudio.com/

[@mcinen67]

My tip to double track guitars is: never listening the "first" recording at the same time when you recording the "second" due to you might fool you self and think you nail it, but instead you've be listening to your first when recording the second. Always mute the first recording when you record the second.

[@KaiDown]

Agreed. Plus, you'll naturally try and lock in to your other guitar rather than locking into the click/band

[@iceandblaze92]

Thank you

[@riffer-t]

thats a really good tip. thanks man

[@MagnusOffical]

😦😧🤣🤣🤣

[@darkonation]

👍

[@justinbowen1183]

Iv done recording as a bedroom player for 16 years and iv learned a great deal over time via trial and error: 1. When you are recording metal guitars and went a super beefy full sound, record your track twice and pan one 80 percent left the other 80 percent right. Don't use multitrack recording it won't sound the same. I tried using multitrack recording and it doesn't sound as full. 2. Take your time with EQ'ing, iv made some real pieces of trash sound amazing just by spending a few extra minutes EQ'ing as well as properly compressing it. 3. Label your tracks as you make them. It will make it easier to keep things organized you will know what is where. 4. If you have neighbors get you a pair of studio monitors headphones. These things really helped with my mixes. I wasn't even aware how bad my tone was until I got a pair of audio technica mx30's I think is the model number or something around there I didn't buy them I just paid the bill. I was blown away how much better my stuff came out simply by switching headphones. I could go on and on and on but that's enough for now unless someone actually wants more.

[@markbryant4641]

I'm gonna second your numbers 2, 3 & 4 Justin. 2. Absolutely. I'll add a part B. This can be done limitlessly after the track is recorded. Don't delete tracks that are played even half bad cos they can be used. They can sound fantastic once manipulated. 3. Mandatory! Absolutely. Otherwise you're creating a puzzle for yourself rather than a system. Especially if you record drunk, drugged or with someone else. 4. I took my daughter to an electronic music making school holiday event. The kids sat through a presentation then were let loose on vintage synths and drum machines. The headphones knocked my socks off. I thought they must have been very expensive. They were AT M20X. When I googled them they were very inexpensive. I picked up a pair and have used them for at least three hours every day for years. I bought a more expensive AT headphones two years later. They're so shit. I used them for maybe one hour. I thought there was something wrong with them. They sound under water. Later I went to a high end hifi store and listened to some multi thousand dollar audiophile phones. Earbleed.

[@tylerthomas4384]

You succeeded in doing exactly what you intended my dude. Such a helpful comprehensive guide to recording metal guitars - we all thank you.

[@vasotoe]

This is such a great contribution!!! So well put together! Thank you so much Scott!!!

[@AndrewGrey22]

You ever noticed the more you rewind it and try to replay the part over again you start hearing very detailed nuances in your playing and each time you attempt it it gets even more precise? At first you thought you had the part down but after trying to record it perfectly, and nail the part you realize you didn't have it down as well as you thought you did to begin with. Every palm mute and every pick stroke becomes very nuanced.

[@EzraTheChannel]

I always go back and try to watch as many tutorials as I can (even the beginner ones) because there's always a chance that there's something I've missed and could learn or learn a better technique for certain mix flows. Thanks for this!

[@PooNinja]

Look at you just givin away knowledge✊🏽. Sometimes it’s best just to walk away for 10 to 20 minutes to let your ears and mind recalibrate.

[@MykeOwns]

This is a great video full of useful info, but the best part is that you left in the retakes; because that's the very real, and frustrating, and unglamorous part of recording and I think seeing that will help a beginner realize it's not just them and to keep working

[@Surgicalshred]

This guide is pure GOLD! Thank you very much, Sir!

[@TheStarcraftJunkie]

Thanks man. I was one of the guys who watched your old stuff and wanted more.

[@Scarleaver]

One thing I learned: Fredman is like an instant-usable tone. You can get a clamp for two 57s online for like 20 Bucks (JUST MAKE SURE IT'S 55 DEGREES) and it is super easy to Set Up and gives you a lot of Insight into recording as well, as the two mics will sound MASSIVELY different though they pick up the same source

[@Bloodsoaked]

I paid for and use Reaper as my DAW, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen USB Audio Interface and bam. I create massive and huge Death Metal songs!!! Most of the information I’ve learned over the past few years has been from Scott. Another great video for beginners.

[@guthhalf5484]

Nice to see someone actually covering things that matter to a beginner. A written version is a big win too as it can be quickly referenced while working.

[@sauldemize9998]

Dude you are the man! Love your studio name! thank you for helping reduce the learning curve for the next guy. You record however you want an F the haters

[@Behnam_R_Guitar]

Thanks master for (free) information & learning for all 🍻🤘🏾🔥

[@michaeledge7897]

Thx scott, the cubase setting will save me a lot of time! And i‘m glad you don’t scream in the videos like this other grumpy dude

[@kopkoffie5300]

Cubase 12. Focusrite 4i4o. Ibanez 7string. definately learned some thing. decent basics of recording. keep up the good work

[@jonathantrengove9701]

This is an awesome video. Good IRs are the key to a good sound as Scott says, some suit some amps better than others. It is also worth noting not all IRs are the same, while commonly we talk about bit rate, ie 24 bit, ands sampling rate ie 48K, you need to also note if you are mixing IRs from different companies the length in ms of each IR. There is no standard here, so you can easily end up with weird phase like issues, or completely destroy the sound. The other item worth getting if you have the money is STL Libra because you can add up to 8 IRs and mix them together to create your own customer IRs. Lets face it if everyone uses the same IRs and the same Amp Sims everything will sound the same.

[@mr.phil.a]

Exactly what I've been looking for. Sweet.

[@benedwards9140]

Very generous, i do know most of this stuff, mainly from watching you. IR user, free vst hunter, cubase for ages, now reaper, reason ableton. Nile, Meshuggah, Danza, Zappa and other wild things.

[@ShredzTheMetalHead]

I really think people should look into actually buying these courses of yours that is if you're able too. They go on sale quite a bit and is a bit of a steep cost up front but DEFINATELY worth it and the price is a reflection of the quality information you get. You're the only person out there that actually describes what the VST does, what frequency were looking for and also WHY we need to get rid of these frequencies. This video is a great starting point and there are plenty of other vids to help add the nice little touch for it and but the amount of detail you go into with Guitar Tone Mastery is honestly amazing and couldn't think of a better way to spend the money for production lessons. \m/ Thank You Scott \m/

[@cmd_f5]

This is a great runthrough for noobs Scott. I am always learning new stuff. Hell, the other day I was working on a big quad tracked guitar session and finally heard the whistle. I heard it instinctively without having to double check with an EQ band and hunt for it first.. Saved a good five minutes that day. It's a small thing but I can tell my ears are still honing in on little details like that. :) As a long time reaper user doing this kinda thing for about a decade, I only have a couple Reaper specific pointers. 1. In preferences/ media item defaults, turn off "Create automatic fades for new item, length:" It's not always advisable to do this but in guitars slathered in distortion you will hear little fades or drops if you record in sections. 2. In Reaper, you can group tracks or use track folders, which are basically the same thing. The idea is that you create a bus track called "guitars" or something, then have child tracks under it that all work on the same processing you put on that track folder. 3. The Reaper Blog and Reaper Mania channels are excellent all things Reaper resources. Reaper can be quite intimidating but these guys make it very friendly to get started. Peace 🍻

[@VafaMottahedin]

I’m using logic and my tip is to use insert silence at cycle to insert stuff between parts rather than cutting and pasting because it preserves time signatures and tempo changes. My question for you Scott is why punch in each riff? I do it too but I try to play through as much as possible and only punch in if I made a mistake. I was always under the impression that it made the riffs flow better but I am just an amateur. Also love that tip about putting the play head back at the beginning after hitting space. That will save me a ton of time! 😎

[@_mourisco]

Thanks dude. I'm recording guitars this week.. 🤘

[@Zappabain]

Thank you for the effort!! I suffer of "too many options and rules block" and this comes handy.

[@outerdarkness]

Excellent tips on recording... love the preferences you changed so you can record easier and faster. It's always good to reduce your mouse clicks.

[@robinleijon]

I'll def be sending this to clients who record themselves, great content Scott! \m/ ( I haven't watched it fully yet, but so far its been 10/10 )

[@EM_Studios]

Same!

[@TheMeJustMe75]

You have made recording a lot less of a mystery to me. I recently got Cakewalk setup like your work flow and it cleared so much up for me. I really dig your intro videos to a concept. I use Neural DSP's Soldano for my tone and effects which hasn't caused any issues yet in my tracks.

[@manicmurph]

I use Cakewalk too. It's free and has everything the other expensive ones has. It might not have "everything" but it for sure has enough to record, mix and master songs easily.

[@BurningTheHeavens]

"As soon a you hit record, it just goes to shit". I felt that.

[@adilO.o]

Man, if there is a Thank you which is the size of the universe, then it's for you !!!! This is so generous and so much needed. I really like that you take into consideration that people may use different DAWs. I am starting to upskill in Studio One 5 and cannot wait to apply what you shared. 🤘🏻

[@tarekyazbek3047]

i use the same technique to record the guitars, riff after riff, but the difference is ... when i record lets say riff A, and then i want to record riff B, what i would do i actually record a little bit of the end of riff A ... go through riff B .... and a little bit of the beginning of riff C ... then cut the excess of both riff A & C , that way for me it would sounds more glued toghter.

[@JimmysGuitarGym]

Shared with my guitar students 👍 Great video dude and awesome to see you’re safe and well

[@AlexeySolovievMusic]

This is super amazing and super generous of you Scott! Thank you super super much! I'm about to start recording my guitar at home soon. And this guide will help me to understand how to record my guitar the best way I can. Thank you so much for all of your hard and wonderful work! You super duper Rock my friend! Wishing you only the Best! 😈🤘🔥🔥🔥

[@abrahamemartinez9581]

Wow I just stumbled with this video. Thank you so much dude ♡

[@ILoveCatsALot-z6n]

Awesome video man, thank you for the in depth and informative video!

[@jsimons6755]

Hey man love your channel, just one thing that gets me every time is the fire burning sound under the intro music.. Takes away from the vibe and reminds me of the digital clipping i had when i was new.

[@joshtolver1293]

Your tutorials are always awesome to the point. I've got all your courses best part of them all is you explain why your doing something. Not just slap this here do this and done. Thanks again for another lesson 🤘

[@Noahscoffeeshopisgood]

Hey man! Thanks for the video. It reaffirms how I go about tracking recently. Do you have a video on editing guitars? Couldn't find any vids that I'm satisfied with.

[@coltonchapman]

Great vid for beginners. One thing I do in Cubase is set up a macro for when tracking. So if I make a mistake, after hitting space bar to stop everything, the macro is set up to delete the take, brings the curser back to where I had it set, then starts recording again all in one click. I use “/“ for it.

[@ChernobylAudio666]

That's awesome! I haven't dove into macros too much yet, but from what I've heard from others (and your example) they seem very powerful - could be a great way to automate redundant tasks

[@brandonhamilton9484]

So glad I found this when I did! Thanks

[@rogues1370]

Mate, thankyou so much for this. Im getting super close to starting recording at home and dont know what to do. This is an AMAZING video. Thankyou so much!!

[@WilhelmUnterharnscheidt]

It's cool, basic information is included in the PDF, but of course the usual thing is missing - how to deal with noise (RF Noise, Groundloop noise) in the signal. In short: airwindows DeHiss, NoiseKatana, Reaper FIR, Klevgrand Brusfri

[@terroroddity]

Thanks Scott for the Guide and usefull info on the video. I tried to record some stuff a few years ago at a home studio. I was happy with some of the results at the time but looking back I feel there is a lot to improve so I think this info will help a lot. I would appreciate if some of you could check them out. Tried some stuff at the time including building a home booth to record guitars to isolate external noise and be able to crank up the volume. I used a sm77 mic and line6 ux1 audio interface. I found them a bit dry and not very flexible in the mixing.

[@luispedroroxo5129]

Thank you, Scott.

[@guthhalf5484]

I highly recommend scheps omni channel strip for zero latency EQ, comp, saturation, gate and gain staging. It really as good if not better than any channel strip.

[@MarcoBlumMusic]

I am using Cubase, too. I started with Logic, but it kept on crashing with my sessions. Turned out I was a noob back then... :D My biggest mistakes were using too many plugins on each channel instead of using FX channels. The second big mistake was to have 3 guitars in the main riffs (one hard left, one hard right, one copy of either left or right in the middle slightly brought in). It thickens up the tone but it also takes too much space from your instruments that are supposed to live in the middle such as vocals or maybe the bass. :D

[@nicolasmaserov7146]

Hi Scott!! Really good video, as allways. I got the guitar tone mastery years ago and it's amazingly good.. I just recomend averyone interested in getting awesome guitars. Go on rocking!!🤘🤘🤘🤘

[@martinandersen6125]

This is pure gold, thank you Scott!

[@bigmind8508]

Sweet dude! Thank you so much!

[@HowlinAndyDE]

Man! That will help me so much... Thank you for being so generous

[@DEADLINETV]

Very clear and I love how you don't pretend anything, it's just real! That's what the internet needs! Btw, I do the 2 tracks into group thing too! Usually I start of with a 3rd track, being my monitor track (dead center). I have that on constantly and makes it easier for my whilst writing. Oh and Scott, enable re-recording! Saves you stopping and deleting!

[@jerryfick8547]

I don't remember the KZbinr that I picked this trick up from ... But in reaper some times I will have an amp sim on my guitar folder,arm the two child tracks, turn on the reapeat, and record two passes. Then if good enough,which because I do suck,rarely happens lol, I will be able to pick between the two takes and throw them on the guitar child tracks. It's a little faster sometimes than arming one at a time.

[@mattvdh]

You're a gift, thank you so much for your tips

[@CoreyHunter]

Thanks, Scott. Looking forward to getting into it. 👍

[@woodward_alan]

I use Logic Pro X. Picked up a couple tips in this vid. To share back, here is my tip... When recording I do input monitoring externally like on the audio interface or quad cortex. This removes the noticeable round trip delay.

[@jamesaudio13]

I would recommend using something like a Pod Go to record guitars. It has been a game changer for me. Using the pod go as your interface you can record both the processed amp signal as well as the di at the same time. As well as Monitor yourself with very little to no latency while recording. Recording while monitoring in daw through plugins (neural plugins can be cpu hogs) can have quite a bit of latency depending on your computer/interface setup. Also it allows for easy reamping. Probably could do this with other modelers as well.

[@waltervargas1156]

Great stuff man. How does the pod go compare to just using a Scarlett 2i2?

[@jamesaudio13]

It depends on your needs. The only downside is you can't record vocals with the pod go( guess you could if using a dynamic mic but it wouldn't yield the best results) I program my drums and bass so I don't need a lot of ins/and outs. So I would say if your only recording guitar/bass the Pod Go would be the best way to go. Even then I would still say if your recording vocals and everything else I would still use the Pod go for guitar/bass and something like a Scarlet 2i2 for recording vocals and mixing.

[@jamesaudio13]

Also I feel it is essential to have a di box when recording guitar into an interface. It's will preserve the guitar's signal much better than the built in instrument inputs on budget usb interfaces.

[@guthhalf5484]

Buffer size my bro 😉 it's all about the buffer.

[@waltervargas1156]

Is there any tips for deciding to go with a tablet, a full pc, to use windows or Mac? PC or laptop to record? What's better?

[@Blackjacks_TavernBAF]

Awesome thanks Scott🤙 Goes great with your metal drum programming course!

[@StigmatizedProductions]

Great guide Scott!...This will definitely help a lot of new guitarists that want to record and get drawn in thousands of "How"...great content as always.

[@eddieblanquiz2542]

Thanks, man! Very helpful info!

[@anime5h_m1shr4]

This is absolutely wonderful for a beginner like me. Thank you so much for putting this together and god bless!!

[@myztroZenAku]

Thanks for the free guide Scott. As always, very specific and thorough. Also the room looks dope

[@jamesaudio13]

Also Cubase users, Freeze or print your midi instruments( drums/bass etc). Use constrain delay compensation usually found in the lower left hand corner the icon looks like a clock. It turn off the cpu intensive plugins and give you lower latency.

[@morbid66666]

Great tutorial brother!

[@jasonfreitas688]

Very helpful. Thanks for all this information.

[@riv-music-7]

Awesome video, man! By the way, I watched your Trey Azagthoth video recently... Do you know, if by now a decent JCM 900 PlugIn has been released? I don't get the free one working in my 64 bit Cubase setting... But I am an absolute Morbid Angel fan and would like to have the Covenant sound at home... Cheers from Germany

[@Lasernotes]

Great tutorial and great channel man! I really enjoy your videos!

[@millenioumsounds]

Great video man, excellent

[@WiredTalkWithBigG]

You legend! This tutorial was so easy to understand. I've only been recording and mixing for a little under a year and getting guitar tones and mixing them has always been the bane of my existence since starting. I always ask folk in the know where I'm going wrong so I know where to improve and all I get is "oh it's muddy" or "it's a little dark", then they never explain how to improve it. This is gonna help me a lot, I downloaded the free pdf and joined your mailing list cos you've gone above and beyond with this. I'm currently using Ableton Live for ky DAW, STL Amphub for my guitar tones/cabs/IRs and various other plugins for eq, compression etc

[@mattvdh]

Hey man I have a tip for you, instead of using a limiter, and using as much digital gain that causes the white noise in the high end, try using a boss CS-1 compressor pedal. It will squash the signal from spiking and also saturate the guitar tone so you have more sustain and analog distortion. I have a short video on my channel about this

[@brayanhernandez1200]

This is pure gold 🙌🏻

[@jmetalguitar]

Awesome guide. Thanks Scott. Hope you are well and safe. Do you have a guide like this for drums? I use Reaper and EZDrummer2

[@jasem1767]

An exceptional contribution for metal heads worldwide. Cheers for putting this guide together Scott 👍

[@FEBRIZIOtv]

One question - should I always record through my interface entirely clean? Then add distortion and effects after? Via plugins etc? Because sometimes I record the plug-in with my guitar and get the tone that way.

[@cultshakere]

ii have guitar tone mastery. its great and i really recommend it. i use reaper. try and record guitar to midi drums rather than a metronome, when possible. its going to give the recordings a feel and definition that adds to certain parts of a song. f.eks. when you record a breakdown, you are automatically going to play "heavier" when you hear the drums that fits the part, rather than if you used a metronome.

[@kenhomeier8629]

Nice Video. I love your process and the just do it over and over until you get it right. The old school studio recording studio with the Ampex 456 16-track tapes were not as forgiving. If you made a mistake and didn't want to scrap the whole take, you would have to play along with that section on an unused track. I guess you could do the same here, but I like that you didn't do a bunch of editing, you just played each section. This would work great for getting riffs arranged where you want it. Thanks.

[@RudalPL]

Hi Scott. Great video!! While I am not new to recording and mixing I am definitely not a pro. I would say I'm not intermediate even. 🤣 Anyway... One thing I would stress everyone does from day one is to Learn Your DAW's Keybinds and Shortcuts. Write them down if you have to or create your own if your DAW allows it . The sooner you'll start using them the better and faster you'll get with your workflow.

[@iceandblaze92]

This was fantastic!!! I’m getting used to reaper but this was great. I’m a total beginner at recording metal guitars and recently finished writing and currently learning the material. This was so sick

[@fetusbelt6851]

numb pad commands for cubase are crucial, you could and should do an entire video on METAL MACROS in cubase, its so easy to create exactly what you want best daw out there

[@cpottervlog8122]

That’s pretty similar to how I record guitars. I don’t put any amp sims on until after I record everything though. Another good tip that I don’t think enough beginners think about is make sure the guitar is in tune. I recorded a couple of friends once and their stuff was unlistenable because they weren’t in tune

[@JD-vj4go]

Thanks man. I use reaper but I pretty much treat it like my tascam 4 track cassette recorder from way back when.

[@RodStarscream]

Awesome! Thank you for this amazing content

[@jamesaudio13]

(Cubase specific) If you hit Zero (0) on your keyboard key pad it will take you back to where your cursor was before you stopped. This will based on where you last clicked the cursor or where you last started playback/recording from.

[@timh3577]

When you eq'd the guitars and did the cuts, you did something and it played only the frequencies you were cutting. How did you do that?

[@wasp6439]

Great job, thankyou!

[@StrainVanLoms]

Thanks a lot for the video guide as well as the downloadable one! This is really great and already helped me to recognize, that I made so many recording mistakes in the last two years 😅 And of course also thank you for all the other guides. They are really helpful and eye-opening! I have two questions about double tracking: 1. In your video the two rhythm guitar tracks consist of almost the same data. What do I do if I want to record two rhythm guitars that play completely different things (e.g. one plays the same riff as the other, but one octave higher). Do I double track both rhythm guitar, so that I have four tracks in sum? 2. And how about lead guitars that play a melody (e.g. like in the beginning of Iron Maiden's "Infinite Dreams")? Do I double track those, too?

[@marekkrynicki3746]

Scott I have same interface and using mac and I see your latency input and output is similar. I have with buffer 64 output around 2.7ms and input 8ms. Any idea why ??

[@morbidcorpse5954]

Definitely interested in your mixing and mastering services. Good stuff!

[@georgeangelakopoulos8884]

Awesome guide! Thanks!

[@mickyriffmaster3199]

How would you go about recording guitars. When there is 2 guitarist. Say for instance with harmonies and when a riff keeps playing but second guitarist is hitting chugs. Lets use Killswitch engage for example. When the harmonies are down the centre. My setup is. (Gtr group 1) >> gtr 1 L >> gtr 1 R (Gtr group 2) >> gtr 2 L >>gtr 2 R Is this too much.

[@ChernobylAudio666]

Nope, that's not too much at all! You're basically quad tracking. I also separate each pair of guitars out when I want to do different guitar tones, so the layout looks pretty normal to me!

[@mickyriffmaster3199]

@@ChernobylAudio666 thanks for the reply. Great video too

[@fawzialnazer2465]

awesome stuff man!!!!

[@Nebul3r]

excellent work, just subscribed, if possible make a similar one with Reaper daw, thanks

[@duvet5585]

hell yeah man thank u!

[@Jeans86]

Awesome video!

[@Fistful0fSteel]

Question: I used to double track guitars. Now theres amp sims like the Otto Audio that have a Stereo-Mode. It sounds really fat and full. Would you guys think thats enough to put on a demo, or the songs I want to release? And, how would I add a second guitar without them both taking the same space? Like a solo or harmony part?

[@salahbaker4089]

Instant question: What if you run stereo on your guitars? Do you need doubletrack if its Phase correct stereo on input?

[@thomasl1260]

Awesome guide! There are some broken links under "My Training Courses".

[@ChernobylAudio666]

Yes, new website that was updated and have to manually fix them all... sorry! Working on it now :)

[@Jakesr59]

Thxs Jr Really cool!!

[@luisbarrera5740]

Question. I notice when I place the mic up to my amp speaker and start recording, the output us quite low. So low that I need to increase it's output to halfway via the apollo console. I am using a cheap old dynamic peavey mic. My tone actually sounds good. Just too low. Any insight is helpful.

[@jonathantrengove9701]

If it’s a dynamic microphone you need plenty of volume. You can turn up the gain knob on your interface where the microphone is plugged in. If you have only a small power practice amp you will struggle to get lots of volume. Even on my 120W valve head the master needs to be up a fair way if I am only using a dynamic microphone. See how you go