Speaker trouble.

[GarretGraves]

Im playing through a Mackie 820i mixer with a couple of m-audio studiophile BX5a speakers. Recording metal distorted guitar. Im miked up to my amp with an SM57. It sounds fine when I'm playing live and recording. But when I playback the recording it sounds like absolute SHIT! CRUMPLED...SHIT! I tried adding a parametric EQ and multiband compression but i jsut cannot get it to sound the way I want. And if I do and I play the track on my computer speakers, it sounds like shit again!

I know tracks are gonna sound different on different systems, but this is frustrating me. Is there a general rule of thumb i should follow here?

[prophetik music]

it would help if you'd post a sample of just what kind of crumpled shit you sound like.

[GarretGraves]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AALBF5D4

there. I got it a little better. But what I mix in my BX5a's is not what im hearing in my Logitech THX 5.1 speakers. I know it's suppose to sound different. but the difference is a bit drastic IMO.

Come to think of it, this seems like kind of a newb deal, but this is the first time i've had a chance to mix with different speakers. And i dont know which ones to trust.

[AMT]

That sounds like a pretty decent recording. I also use an SM57 for guitars and monitor on BX5as. I wouldn't worry about how the guitar sounds until you have it sitting in a mix- what sounds perfect solo'd can sound atrocious with the rest of the band, and what sounds great in a mix might sound terrible on its own (That's ok though, because others will only hear it in the mix). Try giving it a hi-pass filter at around 200Hz and a 2-3db boost between 1500Hz to 3000Hz to taste. I think once you have this with some drums and bass behind it, it'll sound great If it still doesn't sound good, try recording two performances of the same material and panning it left and right, so each speaker has a guitar assigned to it. You can get a huge amount of stereo width this way, and it's especially common for metal rhythm gutiars. A pan of about 75% to each side or so usually does the trick. If you want examples just let me know.

As for which speakers to trust, definitely the BX5as, although you want to get it to a point where it sounds good everywhere. Listen to as much music as you can on your monitors and learn how they sound; that's what will help your ears improve the most. I didn't like how they sounded at first, but now I prefer them to pretty much anything else.

[Arcana]

It sounds fine to me. There's not that much background noise or anything. You might tweak the tone and the EQ later on but the recording itself seems clean.

Have you run your BX5s directly to your computer's line out vs. your Logitech speakers directly to your computer's line out? Have you tried headphones? Have you tried the playback on another computer or an MP3 player to see if the difference is drastic there?

Finally do you have any weird stuff for your computer's speakers, like an EQ running in the background for your computer speakers or EAX or something like that which may color the default output?

If your Logictech system is a 5.1 surround system it might be doing funny background things like "spreading" the stereo out to the different speakers or possibly overdoing the bass since you have a subwoofer, or other things like that.

[GarretGraves]

It sounds fine to me. There's not that much background noise or anything. You might tweak the tone and the EQ later on but the recording itself seems clean.

Have you run your BX5s directly to your computer's line out vs. your Logitech speakers directly to your computer's line out? Have you tried headphones? Have you tried the playback on another computer or an MP3 player to see if the difference is drastic there?

Finally do you have any weird stuff for your computer's speakers, like an EQ running in the background for your computer speakers or EAX or something like that which may color the default output?

If your Logictech system is a 5.1 surround system it might be doing funny background things like "spreading" the stereo out to the different speakers or possibly overdoing the bass since you have a subwoofer, or other things like that.

This track here has ZERO EQ other than what's going through the mixer and what's on the amp itself. I did that purposely to see what it sounded like to you people here and then go from there. I typically add a Parametric EQ which I love using on top of reverb for leads and solos.

I havent had the chance to listen to it anywhere else yet. i plan on experimenting next chance I get. I hadnt bothered either since if it sounds like shit on my new speakers why bother trying it on anything else? I got pissed at first too cause I hated the sound these things give out! But as it turns out I just needed to get use to them.

I didnt have any EQ or EAX running on my comp speakers before. I do now to try and better match what my BX5's sound like or if not make them sound better by adding a bit more highs and dipping a TAD bit of mid. It sounds better now.

As for panning, I didnt this time but I normally record the rhythm twice, as you said, AMT. But normally I pan 100% for each. I never really tried moderating with that at all . Like at 75% for each. I never thought of doing that. Maybe that might help me. Thanks.