Get ready for the FIRST Valkyrie Profile mix!

[The Legendary Zoltan]

I was visiting a death metal home recording forum (Yeah, who knew?) and a multitude of people said that it goes without saying that metal guitars in general should always recorded like 3 times and then layered. I wonder how much that would help my sound. They also said that if just one of those tracks is a direct line recording that it sounds really neat. Another guy said that due to frequency related issues that I didn't really understand, it's better not to use anything but the amp's own sound and no pedals. Maybe I can try some of this stuff.

[Tensei]

Well I never heard about layering already recorded guitars, though it does kind of make sense when doing those heavy chord chugs, but I generally thought only synthesized/sampled guitars get layered to prevent them from sounding too thin, anyway, I don't think that's really the problem here.

Anyway, the way I do things is I hook up my guitar to an M-audio fasttrack, though I'm pretty sure any Sound interface with a guitar input can do fine.

I then run them through Guitar Rig 2, record the rhythm guitars twice with two different guitars, pan one of them 100% right, and the other 100% left. That way you can have quite a lot of things center-panned that would normally cause muddiness together with the guitars (Bass Guitar, Kick-drums).

After that I import the .wav recordings into Audacity to delete all the noise at the parts where I'm not playing, and then the edited .wav file gets imported into Reason (though I'm pretty sure that can be done in most other DAWs) and add distortion/saturation, compression and EQ so they fit well in the mix. Granted, Guitar Rig 2 doesn't sound as good as the real thing, but it makes it very easy to record stuff.

[OceansAndrew]

Well I never heard about layering already recorded guitars.....

...I then ... record the rhythm guitars twice with two different guitars, pan one of them 100% right, and the other 100% left.

These 2 statements are not compatible; you are layering them.

Chipp,

Using this technique for both your rhythm and lead guitars will make it sound thicker for sure, but you also need to work on your sound field; how things sound in relation each other. Things are currently all pretty smashed up front with an occasional part that sounds further back. Adding panning and spacing things out will make things sound much less claustrophobic.

Don't get discouraged, this mix has come a long long way, but it needs more work. Using yoursetup, you'll be able to make this mix sound way better, but you'll have to really crank up your listening skills for the production.

Get some of your favorite albums and listen them with headphones to hear all the subtle panning and spacial sounds they use.

[Tensei]

These 2 statements are not compatible; you are layering them.

Ah geez, you're right, I was thinking layering would have been more along the lines of recording the same guitar multiple times for a fatter sound, but of course simulating two different rhythm guitar players is layering too =P

[The Legendary Zoltan]

Yeah, Tensei. I meant two recordings to layer, not copying and pasting the same recording.

OK, OA, thanks. You said that I ought to be able to get a good sound with my current equipment and that relieves me. In that case I'll keep reading up on this stuff and see what other metal people say about the soundfield and come back to you with something new.

[The Legendary Zoltan]

Since, I'm such a n00b at production, I've decided to slow down and take it one step at a time. So this is a revised version of the drums. I haven't touched it with any effects other than velocities. Do you think this can be considered good sounding drums with these samples and if so, what EQ/compression/effects/whatever else advice would you give?

http://chipp_damage.sitesled.com/Music/ValkyrieDrumSample.mp3