TRACK TRICKS

Once you’ve found your ideal mic placement, mark the amp with tape or chalk so you can find it again if the mic gets knocked or moved.

CONE HOME

Not sure where the speaker starts or finishes? Take a look around the back if your cabinet is open-back or shine a torch through the grille to see its outline.

USE SMALL AMPS

Getting a great amp sound from a valve amp means cranking it up. Do this with a 100-watt stack and you’ll end up with sirens on your recording! Instead, try a low-wattage amp to minimise the volume, and give a more usable result.

GAIN KILLER

Careful with that gain knob. When you’re recording, it’s easy to go overboard with the drive, but when you stack up layers of distorted guitars, it gets messy. Get the gain to your usual level, then back it off a notch.

DOUBLE UP!

A classic guitar recording trick is to double your track with an identical part. Play as tightly as you can, pan them left and right, and bang… instant huge tone. For an added twist, try changing your gain, EQ, pickup settings or even guitar on one of the parts.

THE VOICING

One of the best ways of adding thickness to double-tracked guitar parts is to use different voicings of the same chord. Try playing one part as open chords, and then switch to barres for the next track. It will instantly sound richer!

DARE TO DI

Recording a DI’d clean version of your part straight from your guitar is the ultimate safety net. You’ll be able to re-amp your part later either live or with a modeller, or simply have a backup if anything goes wrong with your amp track.