Jeff again with the great advice! :)[br]

Originally Posted by: JeffS65[p]A lot of good old school metal is overdriven and less so distorted. Not that this is an actual rule but; many producers and engineers will tell you that if you have the optimal tone you have when your sitting alone practicing, it is not the same tone that is used for recording.

[br]Another thing to consider is that that tone you hear on the record is often undergirded by a bass line in the mix and multiple guitar tracks mixed to sound bigger than any one guitar track alone.

[/quote]

This is an extremely important point that isn't emphasized or explained enough.

I've seen it a zillion times. A student or guitarist is playing alone & has way too much bass, treble, gain & reverb/delay on the amp & effects. The problem is that they are trying to simulate what they heard on the original recording. But they don't know or realize that what they hear on that original recording is a combination of multiple layered guitars, bass fleshing out the low end, drums adding a percussive element & studio gloss (EQ shaping, mixing, reverb, etc.).

But since the student is just one person, they try to compensate by turning up the gain, bass, reverb, etc. in order to flesh out that sound. It's very instructive & often surprising to listen to some isolated guitar tracks in comparision to the finished product.

Original complete track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7blkui3nQc

Isolated guitar tracks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL95BpwjBfQ

Listen to that with good headphones or a decent stereo so you can hear the stereo panning separation. You can clearly hear several layers of guitars, some coming in & out of the mix just hitting a few chords for punch & emphasis. Notice how dry & bare bones it sounds compared to the final, finished product.

Ride The Lightning material sounds even drier & with less low end.

[br]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z-oJz0Ziug

[quote=JeffS65]

What's important is your AMP tone is setting the clarity and the distortion pedal is creating the sustain. Chris and I have joked of having the nearly the exact crappy amp/cab set up in the 80's. I mean, no self respecting rock star would admit to it...But great tone.[br]

[p]Ha! :) Yes, I remember that. Good stuff. Good advice too.