"PAGreenP" wrote in message ...
To get that really thick sound you must always use more than one mic.
Nothing is wrong w/ a good'ol Sm57 but throw a Beta 52 on there too. That is
a large diaphram mic for a kick drum. Your rig will sound like it has two
sets of balls.

"Gord" wrote in message
om...
You need:

-a great guitar player
-a great guitar (I like Teles better than Strats because the hard tail
bridges make for fuller, richer sounding guitars)
-thick strings, like .011'-.049" gauge
-a great non master volume tube amp, cranked as loud as necessary to
get the desired tone (tweed Fender, plexi Marshall, old Traynor clone,
etc.)
-great guitar speakers (Celestion V30s)in a great cabinet in a great
sounding room
-a great mic (ever try old EV mics, like RE15 or 635a? They're great!)
-great mic preamp
-great converters
-great micing techniques

If you skimp out in any of the above, your recording will suffer.
Everything in the entire recording chain matters. I'd rather spend an
hour getting the mic positioned perfectly than ten hours trying to
make a lame guitar sound mediocre. You can totally avoid EQs and other
effects if you're diligent in setting things up well.

I find that double tracking makes the guitars sound huge, but often
makes other tracks such as vocals sound relatively small, so I avoid
it entirely in my own recordings.

Gord
I agree with all of the above from Gord.It starts with the
intrument/player/and the RIFF ITSELF!!! If you listen to renagades of
funk for instance,you will notice that the riff itself is
LOW/MONOPHONIC(one note at a time) and the bass guitar is following
the lead guitar note for note(UNISION).This is mainly why it
sounds"heavy".Complex chords other than root/fitfh/octave tend to fall
apart if one is looking for power.How many zep tunes all have the bass
player(jpj) following jimmy pages single note riffs?Many.(Black
dog)The guitar can actually be thinner in reallity.The bass player
adds the thump.I never heard a R.A.T.M. song with a chord.Try blending
a bit of 57 and your current mic I inch or less from the grill.