To create huge sounding guitars is something is rarely attained unless you are Linkin Park or Nickelback. Those bands have tons of pro-level gear and professional sound engineers working for them to get that 'huge' sound. As Chris Sligh (American Idol Top 10 FInalist) and I have discovered through our own pain and suffering, this is not the route you must follow to get those sought after sounds.

When we got started, we first tried the stack method. This involved recording the same part over and over and then layering them all on top of each other to make a bigger guitar sound. At this point we were using smaller amps with small speakers. We achieved some big sounds with this technique. The problem with it is that we ended up using tons of EQ's, limiters, and compressors to make the small amps sound big. To a regular listener, this could possibly be good enough to pass as a good sound. For the guitarists and audiophiles out there, we had to make it better. I can hear how it had been FX'd and I'm sure you can too if you listen to it. The demos that we had created sounded only "ok." We needed to make it sound better!

>We went back to the drawing board for the actual album tracks. In order to achieve that golden, huge guitar sound we started reading up on the subject and learning what works and what doesn't. The first thing to make a difference was to start using the external speaker outs on our amps. The piddly 10" or 8" speakers are no match for a beastly 4x12 cabinet. If you don't have access to a larger cabinet, borrow one from a friend or see if you can rent one from a local music store.

You will notice a huge difference in the sound of your amp and your guitar if you try using a full-size extension cab. If you are using a tube amplifier, you may want to experiment with putting the external cabinet upstairs, in the attic, or in another room to dampen the sound. You can use a "snake" to route the microphone cables to a far-away room or upstairs. (A snake is simply a collection of wires with a simple hook-up and plug in that is used to route audio signals across long distances easily.) Being able to 'crank' the amp will drastically improve the sounds you can achieve!

To hear a before and after using the techniques in this article, please check out the links below. These clips are from the Half Past Forever song, Closer. The "before" clip is the raw demo recording. The "after" clip uses the exact same recording equipment but with improved techniques. You won't believe the difference!

Bottom Line: Bigger / fatter is better (for most styles). How you achieve that is typically recording a big (or sometimes small) amp crank'd up loud through a full-size speaker cabinet. It's tough to replicate the air being moved by a big cabinet. Lots of air being moved = bigger sound.