Guitar solos Sound awful - hhhhelp!

[Richardalexander]

Hi all I'm new, sorry if this has been covered before.

I wish to play guitar over pop songs, for example a prince or marvin gaye song, with me adding in my licks+solos etc. I don't want to mess around with overdubbing, just be able to do it all in one take.

Anyway I initially record the song itself on audacity - stick the recording option from 'mic' to 'stereo mix', and I can get a reasonable quality recording of the song.

But it's the guitar playing over it - sounds awful, and I'm a decent guitarist. I'm not sure if the problem lies with audacity. It's probably my complete lack of knowledge of EQ, sound engineering etc. But it just sounds awful. I want the sort of result you see on youtube where kids solo over a song, and it sounds decent enough....what are they doing that I'm not!

Basically the song has a certain 'feel' to it, and whenever my guitar chimes in, it totally rapes the song and makes my headphones/speakers crackle with distortion. Yet if I record with lower volume, it's inaudible. The song, and guitar solo seem to be on completely different wavelengths. I want the guitar to blend in more. I also get the unwanted flange problem that many guitarists get on audacity. My PC has perfectly good specs and sound card.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ6CxVR34pA

this was the best of a bad bunch. sound recorded on audacity.


thanks for any advice
edit: I've tried everything, such as adding reverb to both song and solo, messing with the EQ options etc.
As for recording I just stick a decent mike about 1 foot from the amp. I've tried different distances too.

[steve]

Anyway I initially record the song itself on audacity - stick the recording option from 'mic' to 'stereo mix',

No, you don't want the "Stereo Mix" option.
It depends what sort of microphone you are using, but if it's just a microphone plugged into the microphone socket of the computer then you want it set to record from "Mic".

[Richardalexander]

I mean I recorded the initial backing SONG with the stereo mix option - it sounds good. The guitar playing on top however, is awful

[kozikowski]

<<<I mean I recorded the initial backing SONG with the stereo mix option >>>

Please understand that the two steps you need are very different and the first can screw up the second. Where did the original song come from? Did you buy a physical Music CD? Music download? iTunes? Forget the microphone for a minute.

Koz

[Trebor]

But it's the guitar playing over it - sounds awful, and I'm a decent guitarist. I'm not sure if the problem lies with audacity.

I don't think Audacity is to blame : the sizzle on your Marvin Gaye track sounds like a hardware problem to me ...

Sizzling Hot Funk Guitar.mp3

(316.73 KiB) Downloaded 249 times

Like gain on a pre-amp turned up too high, or noisy effects pedal.

[steve]

I mean I recorded the initial backing SONG with the stereo mix option - it sounds good.

I'm not sure that I would agree. YouTube doesn't do any favours to audio, in fact it goes a long way toward wrecking sound, but the Marvin Gaye sounds really thin, like recording from a pocket radio from 20 paces, and too low in the mix. For the guitar to blend well with the backing you need to have good sound quality for the backing. Probably the best way would be to rip the backing from a CD.

As Trebor mentioned, the guitar really starts to break up around 1 min 40. Something is overloading and clipping.

[Richardalexander]

Hi guys sorry for the delay.
I have since changed over from the crappy 70s pc to my decent laptop. The overall sound quality is much better, no amp/effects hiss.

To get the original song on audacity, I now use CD's and the sound quality is chrystal clear. Forget that crap recording I showed you there.
So the pop song isn't the issue any more.

Anyway It's perhaps more of a general production question.
I want my added solos, to sound as if someone was actually playing those solos on the original record - really integrated as much as possible, into the song.
I know little about production, but I think that on the bits where my guitar can be heard (as opposed to just the song), the overall volume increases, which makes everything sound nasty. I don't know if the audacity compressor could fix this? bearing in mind I need to blend my guitar into the song?
Do you think it is a case of the general EQ of the pop song being very different to my bedroom guitar, thus they don't 'fit'?

One change I have made, is not playing any low notes. the bassiness completely overrides the pop song, which ruins things.
I've also tried adding reverb to the song/just the guitar/both song and guitar etc

Any ideas, thanks.

[whomper]

[quote="Richardalexander"... no amp/effects hiss.
...the pop song isn't the issue any more. ......
Anyway It's perhaps more of a general production question.

I want my added solos, to sound as if someone were actually playing those solos on the original record - really integrated as much as possible,....... the overall volume increases, which makes everything sound nasty. I don't know if the audacity compressor could fix this? ... Do you think it is a case of the general EQ of the pop song being very different to my bedroom guitar, ...
....[/quote]

when you add two things the volume increases -- so
make sure that none of them were more than -6.01 db from max
else you could start to get clipping and the total soudn bad

if you amplify both to the same level they should fit together
(but amplify them to below -6 !!)
but if not yet a match then check the dynamic range ---
you may need to compress one so those match also
then combine them

and yes, the eq of the original could make it sound different.
so could the room it was recorded in unless it was also in your bedroom. you could look at the freq spectrum of the original and your guitar then try to match the freqs your guitar covers to the same eq shape as the original

[Richardalexander]

Thanks. I have since found that compression helps a lot. But how do I find the 'eq frequency' you mention?

[steve]

If you can post another demo you will probably get some replies with setting suggestions to try.