Recording clean tracks..

Well after a while of lurking I decided to finally pay for the high bandwidth account (great stuff so far.)

Anyways, I figured I'd ask you guys for some help. I have this track that I am doing and well, I've never recorded clean guitar before. When I record the track it sounds really lame and forced. Like it isn't very smooth or consistent. I tried to layer it, pan it, etc. but it still doesn't sound very 'full.'

Example:

My Clean

Other's clean

I don't know..even my piece with drums sounds meh.

Maybe I just suck and don't have the skill or technique to play something and make it sound decent but maybe there is a chance that it's just some eq'ing or panning that can be done?

Well, there's a number of things going on with your recording that might cause it to be less clear sounding.

1) Overall hiss. The signal to noise ratio is pretty high.
Basically, either your amp if you're using one, or your effects pedal is causing a whole bunch of hiss on your recordings. So much that it's muddying everthing else.
2) Too much wet reverb. Turn the 'wet' reverb down just a bit so that the individual notes are easier to hear.
3) Playing that could be tightened up. Your playing is good, but you're missing notes and flubbing things like letting your left fingers brush up against other strings and not being more precise with your picking hand.
4) No compression. Just a little would be enough to even out the sound.
You can run your recording through a denoiser and compressor and it cleans it up a little bit. You end up losing some frequencies though...
ie,

http://s93744050.onlinehome.us/cleantest.mp3

5) Stereo: It sounds like you're using a chorus which would sound a whole lot better with some stereo separation in it.
6) Distortion: There's not much but on your high E string you can hear some clipping on a couple of notes.

Originally Posted by: schmangeWell, there's a number of things going on with your recording that might cause it to be less clear sounding.

1) Overall hiss. The signal to noise ratio is pretty high.
Basically, either your amp if you're using one, or your effects pedal is causing a whole bunch of hiss on your recordings. So much that it's muddying everthing else.
2) Too much wet reverb. Turn the 'wet' reverb down just a bit so that the individual notes are easier to hear.
3) Playing that could be tightened up. Your playing is good, but you're missing notes and flubbing things like letting your left fingers brush up against other strings and not being more precise with your picking hand.
4) No compression. Just a little would be enough to even out the sound.
You can run your recording through a denoiser and compressor and it cleans it up a little bit. You end up losing some frequencies though...
ie,

http://s93744050.onlinehome.us/cleantest.mp3

5) Stereo: It sounds like you're using a chorus which would sound a whole lot better with some stereo separation in it.
6) Distortion: There's not much but on your high E string you can hear some clipping on a couple of notes.

Hey Schmange, thanks a lot for the tips. Do you think it would help if I played the progression completely dry and then add the FX in the post mix? I'm not totally clear on your description of stereo separation in suggestion 5. I am using Cool Edit Pro student edition (if you are familiar with it) so if you have experience with that program any walkthroughs would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a ton! -Micah

You can try doing it that way. Although I usually find that if you play totally clean and apply effects later, it affects the way you play something.
Sometimes I'm forced to do it cause I can't get the right sound on my pedals, so I'll practice it a whole bunch of times with the pedals first so I get an idea how I would really play it.
Then I'll record it straight line in using the knowledge from the practice.
Then add effects later. You get the best sound this way but it's hard to get a feel for what you're playing cause you don't know what it sounds like till you're finished.

Sorry, don't have a clue about Cool Edit. Only thing I ever use is Cubase.
If you want some tips on VST plug-ins though, I got a ton of em.

Don't know if you've had a look yet also, but my page has a ton of recording tutorials. Some are more detailed than others, but I basically go through the whole process of multitracking recording to the mixdown and mastering.