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Read on to discover Rusty Cooley's studio secrets.

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Leon Macey (Mithras)

Hot keys
Set up hot keys on your computer keyboard, with as many sequencer shortcuts as possible – arming, starting/stopping, punching in, etc. Then you don't need to unstrap your guitar, get back into the engineer's chair and use the mouse to end a take. You can also use a wireless keyboard if you want to record in the actual studio room with your amps and cabs.

www.mithras.org.uk

Sean Snook (Malakai)

Tone Time
Malakai use lots of samples that overlap regardless of factors like keys, tuning or timing. I spend most of my 'learning time' listening over and over, trying to get my parts to fit perfectly. By the time I come to record everything, I know exactly what tones I'll need. Then, to get the right sounds for each section, I utilise my guitar's tone and volume controls, as well as those on my pedals. I find people use controls as on/off switches, they have no idea what can be achieved by getting just the right setting. Take time to experiment with all your tone-shaping controls and don't always go straight to 11!

www.myspace.com/malakaibristol

Tony MacAlpine

Colour by numbers
I'm not a fan of re-amping all the time – I like to go out and record the part over and over. However, I do like the idea of recording a lot of different tracks for the guitars for colours and sounds. There are lots different imperfections between each take, all of which sound pretty harmonious and musical when you're actually recording. I might do two versions of a single part with a plug-in, and then do two more tracks of that same section with an amplifier.

Know your gear
Learn your gear inside out, experiment a lot to find out what it's capable of, and never overstep those boundaries. You can't expect a piece of dated analogue gear to perform the way modern digital programs work. You also won't be able to achieve the sonic possibilities of older analogue unless you really know what you're doing with your software.

www.tonymacalpine.com

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