Hey guys, so I'm still new to recording my guitar and guitar playing in general and holy **** does my music sound like garbage when I actually listen to it after recording.

My guitar sounds so filtered and scratchy. I have a multi effects flamma and it has a bunch of different amps, Cabs, Ds/od, Fx/comp yet no matter which one I choose my recording always so grainy. Gain up, gain down, dosent matter, my stuff still sounds "filtered" and scratchy and rough if that makes any sense.


What am I doing wrong? Is it my strings, my gear? Whenever I listen to a song I like it always so clean and crisp, no scratchiness, while my music sounds like the gain is turned all the way up while being recorded through a calculator.


For example quick 7 second sample of my guitar: https://soundcloud.com/user-44579638.../s-lC0Y5xkgIav

Compared to one of my favourite songs(Not made by me) https://soundcloud.com/search?q=runi...sty%20warriors

if you listen to it for a few seconds you'll hear how smooth and clean that song is. No fuzzy and scratchy sounds.

The only gear I'm using right now is Flamma multi effects, Scarlett 3rd gen solo, and the audacity DAW. Is one of those things the problem? Maybe my aux cords are messed up? Also I should mention I got this Guitar Dec 1st of last year and I haven't changed the strings yet. Is it possible thats the problem?

Thanks if anyone can help

Guitar multi-effects modeling in not my strength (I like amps and mics) but it looks like you have a pretty budget device there. Not sure just how much of that is the problem but let's put that aside for now.

What are you plugging the Flamma into exactly? The Scarlett instrument input or the line imput?

Does the Flamma manual suggest one over the other?

Next how hot are you recording? How high are the peaks in Audacity?

Year old strings aren't going to help anything so yeah I would change them out.

I have one aux cord going into the input in the back of my flamma than into my guitar.

The next aux cord is in the left mono port on my flamma than directly into the instrument input of the scarlet I believe, its the input on the front of the scarlet, not the two on the back. I have nothing in those.

Looking at the manual again I noticed that for home recording audio interfaces it has a picture of my exact setup, but also of the right input of the flamma going into a mixer. I didnt catch that before.

What exactly does a mixer do? Maybe thats the problem here, I dont have one.

Im not sure how high the peaks are in audacity but when I record I make sure the gain is low and flashing green on the scarlet, never in the red.

How high is the output of the Flamma set and where does the input of the Scarlett end up?

I'd say shoot for around -18dbfs in your software.

I know you are after a gainy sound but start out with a clean guitar setting in the Flamma so you can be sure that you can get a clean pristine signal all the way to Audacity first. Then later you can dial up some distorted gainy stuff. By starting out with a high gain guitar setting in the Flamma you won't know what is really going on in the Scarlett.

If you can't get a nice clean sound you will never get a good distortion sound. Back down the output of the Flamma and/ or the input of the Scarlett until you can get a nice clean guitar sound. If you still can't then try using a line input on the Scarlett.

So I'm able to get a clean tone that sounds fine but whenever I add any gain and distortion whatsoever the recording just starts to suck. No matter how much I adjust the outputs. I also made sure that the scarlet was in green 100% of the the time. It never crossed over to yellow or red. I tried plugging it into the lineoutputs but got no sound out of either of them. God, this is making me so f***** mad.

I guess my only option is to pray the problem is either my strings or bad aux cords.

I was suggesting you try plugging into the line input not the line output.

Gotta keep track of your Gozintas and Gozoutas.

If you are getting a truly good clean sound then you are not overloading any part of ghe interface and I would suggest using a bit less distortion.

Like I said I'm not sure how much you can blame on the Flamma. While it is a cheaper device than some much of this still comes down to the guitar the strings, the fingers, and the settings.

Why does it sound bad? Hmm

1. your using a Scarlett. Entry point into an interface much less full converters. Will not compete with the big boys. If it did not matter, then why all the higher end options available?

2. Is your gain structure maximized? Is your loudest not maxing the converters, is your low volume stuff clear?

3. A real mic on a cab sounds much better than a sim until you get to the Kemper level. Even then, not a good, but almost and very useful.


Are you playing and set up in a way it's easy to capture what you are trying to express?

Hate to say it, but I'll bet dollars that this is pretty much what your guitar sounds like.

For once I was trying to have a nice thread and avoid the hard cold reality for a bit and you have to come along with this?

Well, i'm going to get new strings and aux cords and see what happens because I did bend one of the cords by stepping on it, and maybe thats the problem. It cant be my guitar because Its a Dean V 79 and I paid great money for it. It cant be the flamma either because the reviews are all good and its suppose to be a good budget device.

1.What should I upgrade to over a scarlett? I will spend some of my stimulus check on better gear.

Idk about number 2. All I know is I messed around with every concievable setting possible, gain up down, volume up down, equalizer, everything.

3. I have an spider V20 and mic but I cant use it because I live in an apartment.

4. I thought I was, but I guess not.

I have a Dean V 79 and I paid great money for it, so I dont think thats the problem. Theirs something fishy going on with these aux cords and strings I think.

I'm sure it's not your cable.

If you had buzz or the sound cut out it could be a cable, other than that a cable pretty much works or it doesn't.

I hate being harsh, but sometimes it's better to cut to the chase. I hear a weird out of phasey thing going on that I think probably has to be in the source sound.

I've used Scarlett plenty. A buddy has one in his studio, and I use a few of them at work in the radio studio. They're not Lynx, but they sound fine. The Scarlett is not going to make your guitar sound bad.

Recording can be revealing.... The guitar and Scarlet should be okay.

How does it sound when you listen to the Flamma directly with headphones from the phones output? Your recording reminds me about the old POD digital multieffect.

DI guitar suffers major problem from not having high frequencies rolled off by a cabinet.

Ones ears quickly get used to that. I suggest roll off more than you think, let your ears aclimatise then tease some back in would be a place to start and cab sims can help of course.

It sounds abysmal. For some reason the sound is completely lopsided to the left side of my headphones, I tried earbuds too and its the same problem.

However If i put the headphones only slightly into the port it balances out the sound output. It sounds the same directly from the flamma as it does when i'm using the scarlet.

I've noticed however that my A string keeps bouncing around and vibrating in a weird way like its unstable or something

How do I roll off higher frequencies? I dont know anything about guitars tbh.

I just bought something that looked cool because I wanted to make situational music for something im working on.

This was the guitar I got
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0?ie=UTF8&th=1

if that helps

It has to be the 'flamma' surely? I've never even heard of the brand. It sounds like a modeller from the 90s ... yeah, not good. Also, by putting all that reverb on it you are making it worse. Heavy rhythm guitar is usually dry, especially these days.

Use a DAW. With a DAW you can use amp and cab simulation plugins around now that are pretty darned good. And easy to use compared to the alternative ways of getting the sound of an amp and cab recorded. With the bonus that you can change the amp, cab, effects and adjust everything after you have recorded. It's much easier to hear what's truly going on when you're not trying to play at the same time.

I don't have a DAW! I have Audacity! I hear you say. Go and download Cakewalk by Bandlab. Completely free and fully featured DAW. Or you can try Reaper for 60 days and if you like it the license is only like $65 forever or something. Audacity is an audio editor with some limited multi-track capabilities and not quite the right tool for this job.

I get a vibe that you're in the heavy guitar sounds category. If so, go look up Spectre Sound Studios on YouTube and search for his videos about using amp sims to record heavy guitars. He covers some great free plugins as well as all sorts of stuff about getting the best sounds from them in a mix. I'll drop some of his videos in below to get you started.

The Scarlett is not the problem. Neither is the guitar. Playing, amp modelling and mixing is. In that order. To fix the latter two first get a better amp-sim. NeuralDSP are great and have free 14 day trials. For your style try the Archetype Gojira or the Cali suite.

Next is mixing: get a DAW like Reaper, Logic, Ableton or Cubase and learn to mix. Plenty of Yotube videos around helping with that. Rolling off high-end and bumping low mids will help your sound and is easy in either of these DAWs.

Toss the Flamma, it's crap.

Also practice, practice, practice.

What does it sound like if you plug your headphones directly into the flamma?
If it sounds, what shall we say, clearer (?) I would try using left and right outputs into the rear.

I'm listening to this demo and TBH it sounds passable to me. Far better than my old POD 2 for sure, though that isn't difficult.

A problem with these units is just about every factory preset is drowned in stereo reverb which makes them sound better. This gentleman has a good mess with it though, there could be something enlightening within as you should be able to get yours to sound like this. Be aware this video was sponsored by the maker.

Lol, I didnt even have reverb on, thats just how the flamma sounds I guess.

Thanks for posting those amp sim videos. Amp/cab sims and stuff would be my last option however because I have most of the internet blocked off for productivity and can only access websites I have whitelisted. I can atleast get the reaper DAW though.

If it helps I'm going for this type of style

https://soundcloud.com/ta-a-44248310...e-wall-of-fate

that can be as heavy dry as this, while being able to switch over to something as fun and lighthearted as the song I posted in the OP

Do you know any GOOD multi effect gear/pedals I could use and record onto my computer with for the style Im going for? If I cant use amp sims currently?


I have ableton 10 suite. I just used it for my keyboard though, I didnt know you could record guitars into it. I can also try out reaper.

If it helps I'm going for this type of style

https://soundcloud.com/ta-a-44248310...e-wall-of-fate

that can be as heavy dry as this, while being able to switch over to something as fun and lighthearted as the song I posted in the OP

Do you know any GOOD multi effect gear/pedals I could use and record onto my computer with for the style Im going for? If I cant use amp sims currently? Thanks

It sounds just about the same, I think I bought something that just dosent fit the style I was going for based on what people recommended me on another website. And yeah, that was the video I watched which made me want to try it out.

I'm going for this type of style https://soundcloud.com/ta-a-44248310...e-wall-of-fate

that and the other song I posted in my OP. Amp sims would be my absolute last option. Do you know any Better multi effects/pedals I could use to get that type of sound or close?

Thanks!

What's your budget?

The most Im willing to pay up for all gear is $700 at the moment.

That would be enough to buy a Scarlett 2i2 (3rd gen) and Line 6 POD Go.

I happen to have a long history of buying, trying and sometimes selling guitar and bass amp and cab simulation stuff. I've had a bit of a fascination with it for 30-something years.

My recommendation is the Tech 21 SansAmp GT2. It's essentially idiot-proof, capable of a wide range of useful sounds all the way up to deathmetal grind, nearly always sounds good in a mix context and is robust enough to outlive you. It'll also run on an internal 9V battery for a long time ... months probably. Used prices seem to have shot up with the current situation. They were available frequently and cheaply for a while there as I think people bought them as distortion pedals for their board and they aren't much good at that.

Anyway, if the current pricing is an issue ... guess who copied it (approximately)? Yep. Behringer. Twice. Once in the form of the GDI21 and again as the TM300. Both <$US30. Both housed in less well built and less EMI resistant enclosures. They also sound a bit less rich and refined than the OG GT2 so I find that EQ or an impulse response can round off their rough edges a bit ... but, still, for $24 or whatever ... yeah.

I have a crapton of other stuff that comes to mind. I really like the ADA analogue cabinet simulators and have a couple of GCS-2s here and running a Tech 21 Sansamp TRI-AC into one of those can make great sounds. Boss makes some 'canned sound' pedals that are one trick ponies but when it's the right trick can work - like the Metal Core ML-2 which sounds pretty much exactly how you'd expect. I have an original Sansamp but it's a bit quirky compared to the GT2 and where it's better it's mainly in the clean sounds. The king of analogue amp and cab simulation is the DSM Humboldt Simplifier as it sounds exceptionally close to the real thing and does Fender-ish, Vox-y and Marshall-like tones that are very impressive ... but it only really goes to Rock and not Metal - it needs a distortion pedal of choice (such as a Boss Metal Zone) in front of it to go into full-on ultra gain territory, and then we get into the problem of it being so versatile that it can get a bit tricky to dial in not to mention a Metal Zone being very prone to ugly sounds if not used carefully. Anyway, all that stuff gets me back to the earlier assessment ... GT2, GDI21 or TM300 for the win.

Not a bad choice for its time, but in my opinion, there are so many better sounding options out there now.

Like what? What are your favorites?

Wouldn't mind something to go into the board when I can't mic an amp, might as well jump on this thread since folks are offering OP some options.

I don't use pedals and these days I don't care so much for that really smooth fuzz tone, but I'm and old guy and I know how to play that style, sometimes still do for fun but not with all the fuzz, and have loved it for sure.

For the aggressive overtones I think you're liking, for example around 3:00-3:10, the life in that tone, is...the playing. There is a way to strike the strings and catch them with your thumb to varying degrees depending on how much of that you want - like lots on solo and more tasteful on rhythm. Where you are hitting the strings for a particular note or chord is part of selecting the harmonics that are emphasised. Sorry if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs. In general a very low action will make this more difficult.

If I have time I'll do a quick demo but you can see yourself how much you can effect your tone simply by the way you play. Saying "I play like this, which gear will make it sound like that?" isn't going to work.

Interestingly in the late 70's I had an H/H VS Musician 100w 2x12 combo that sounded like that. At the time that was just tooooo smooth for gritty punk and I got rid. Solo at lower volume (at home) it sounded great but live it just disappeared.