Guitar sounds fuzzy

Too much gain? Probably…

I have a 5150II head and Marshall 1960A cab, SM57 mic, and an M-Audio interface. Recording directly into N. The room is “fair” in terms of acoustics. Stlye is metal, lot’s of muting and tremelo picking…

After some compression and slight EQ I’m happy with the tone, sounds tight, etc. But it’s a little fuzzy. I’m thinking it’s too much gain (set at 8-9) but not sure.

My noise pedal is on a battery (not plugged in), but I did not try turing off the lights (fluorescent) or putting any foam/blankets around my speakers/mic.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

yep, too much gain. back it off, even for metal. you will thank yourself once you try and mix…

Levels, levels, levels. This is digital recording, don’t have to overdrive everything, regardless of music genre.

Sweet 'n clean is music machine
Proud 'n too loud gets lost in the clouds

Can’t believe I typed that, too much java today.

Yaz :D

Thanks guys, good advice. I’ve heard it before, but didn’t listen. DOH!!
:)

I’ll second what Clark said and add that once you experiment with lower gain settings in recording you’ll recognize that most of your favorite records have guitars that are a lot cleaner than you thought.

Quote (8th_note @ July 06 2005,15:18)
I’ll second what Clark said and add that once you experiment with lower gain settings in recording you’ll recognize that most of your favorite records have guitars that are a lot cleaner than you thought.


Interesting point, thanks.

I agree, once I backed off the gain I found my guitar tracks sounded better with a more distinct sound.