Best Way to Record Electric Guitar to Logic?

[RyanMW]

Hey guys. Title says it all, really. I have a mexi tele, an m-audio fast track pro, and that runs straight into amplitube. I'm sure there are better ways to do this, as I'm not very happy w the tone I have. What's the best way to record electric guitar to logic? What matters the most, the firewire (or whatever that's called), the amp simulation or the tone itself? As a reference, I love Adam D from Killswitch Engage's tone, both clean and distorted. But really, we all know what "good tone" is. So how do I get it?

[mrtapir]

Well LePou guitar plugins are fairly decent, and also free. There are also some videos on youtube that a young lad has done about getting a good metal tone with said plugins. I believe he has got his guitar going straight into the interface. Have a search around, as I cant remember exactly the one, I imagine there are a few on youtube though. But the one I watched explained it well and got a good result with only the lepou stuff which as I said is free.

[krist]

Everything. Sorry this'll be a novel, but recording guitars and using amp sims are two of my favorite topics EVER!

 

First, your pick-ups. Trying to get huge heavy tones w/ single coils isn't easy - since you mention a tele, I assume that you're likely to have single coils. Not a show stopper, but just one of the things which has a say in how far or how close you come to the sound that you want.

 

So on to your audio interface. I own one of these, M-Audio Fast Track.

 

- The converters are pretty average, but that alone should not make or break your tone. Still, good converters will always be a plus.

- The preamp on the Fast Track is actually pretty weak, and a good preamp is something that can make a significant difference.

 

Again, no show stopper, but as you see, that's already 3 things that aren't helping you nail that tone. Pick-up, preamp, converters.

 

Next in line comes the amp sim - which, itself is a substitute for the real thing, so in theory, a 4th thing that's not making your life easier.

 

Software amp sims and high gain rarely agree together, in my opinion. On most of them, I can get relatively satisfying clean and overdriven sounds, but for high gain, I'm not so lucky. However, someone may have a different opinion on that, but, it's worth keeping in mind that you may be one of those people who actually aren't happy w/ the software emulation.

 

There are some relatively better than the other, nevertheless. IMHO, Peavey's Revalver is one of those. Native Instruments' Rammfire (modeled after Rammstein's guitarist's rig) is also worth checking out, at $60. There's a demo.

 

Which brings me to one of the weak points in Amplitube - the cabinet emulation. IMHO, nothing beats impulse-based cabinet emulation. Which I guess is why most of the amp sims offer that option, from Guitar Rig to Revalver to Waves GTR, and so on.

 

Personally, when working w/ Amplitube, I typically bypass the cabinet and use an impulse loader (MixIR2, by RedWirez, who also happen to make some of the very best cabinet impulses out there). The results are much more realistic, IMHO. There are other plug-ins for that like Recabinet.

 

That being said, I own most of the amp sims out there - Amplitube, Guitar Rig, S-Gear (one of the finest), Waves GTR, POD Farm, Eleven - I'm probably forgetting some - and none of them works for everything. Which justify me spending so much money on that stuff, I guess.

 

One thing that does help when working w/ amp sims - a tip I've gotten from a guy on another forum - is to prime the signal a bit on the way in using just a tiny bit of compression. It helps create that little surge and shape the signal a bit. If you have an outboard compressor - even a pedal - maybe give that a try too. Otherwise, I don't know, amp sims always seem to sound like they put a coat of distortion on top of your clean guitar sound. It still sounds flat and lifeless underneath.

 

That being said, the easiest way for me to get the tone I'm after short of using an actual amp is to grab the best guitar for the sound I'm after, plug it into my good old Line 6 POD, bypass the cab emulation and use an impulse loader and Red Wirez impulses.

 

Hope this helps or at least gives you a few ideas of things you can try.

[mrtapir]

Nice post! Krist do you exclusively use amp sims or do you also mic up an amp?

[thedivisionbell]

[..]I don't know, amp sims always seem to sound like they put a coat of distortion on top of your clean guitar sound. It still sounds flat and lifeless underneath.[..]

 

You just put into words what I've always felt about amp sims! And I thought I was going mad!

 

To the OP: if you have a good amp and a 57, try that first. Always works. If you'd rather stay ITB, Ignite Amps makes some awesome free guitar preamps. Just run them through one of Space Designer's amp cabinet presets and you'll have a surprisingly convincing tone. Personally I find LePou's plugins too sharp for my tastes, but YMMV.

 

And yes, compression before does improve the texture. So does compression after the amp in my experience.

[krist]

Nice post! Krist do you exclusively use amp sims or do you also mic up an amp?

 

Since we were on the road for the last 18 months or so, I had to rely on software amp sims exclusively. And I've spent insane amounts of time testing amp sims, comparing them, analyzing, mixing and matching them. Because, that's basically all I had to do in my time off, so I could literally sit there and do A/B tests for up to 3 or 4 hours. Insane, I tell you.

 

Now that we're settling down again, I'm slowly re-building a proper studio set up and will most likely go back to using amps. But I'm not excluding amp sims altogether - I'll probably mix both.

[mrtapir]

Nice post! Krist do you exclusively use amp sims or do you also mic up an amp?

 

Since we were on the road for the last 18 months or so, I had to rely on software amp sims exclusively. And I've spent insane amounts of time testing amp sims, comparing them, analyzing, mixing and matching them. Because, that's basically all I had to do in my time off, so I could literally sit there and do A/B tests for up to 3 or 4 hours. Insane, I tell you.

 

Now that we're settling down again, I'm slowly re-building a proper studio set up and will most likely go back to using amps. But I'm not excluding amp sims altogether - I'll probably mix both.

 

Cool, yeah bet it was a bit nuts. After I buy an interface I will be testing both methods.

 

OP, here is the video I watched:

 

[David Nahmani]

how do you do the youtube embedding? what do you put between the a pairs of brackets? As you can see I don't know.

 

Only the video ID string, which is the part after "v=" in a typical YouTube URL. I fixed your post.

 

PS: You should get that information when hovering with your mouse over the YouTube button...

[mrtapir]

Ah yes I see, thanks David!

[RyanMW]

Thanks guys. The Line 6 pod works as a preamp?

[krist]

Yes.

 

Well, just to be sure there's no misunderstanding - the POD effectively does everything: it's like a preamp which emulates the amp and cabinet, so you don't need to use the preamp on your audio interface to boost your guitar signal.

 

If you're simply looking for a preamp that is better than the one on your audio interface, there are other options than the POD.

[CarlosUnderground]

I'd recommend a Pod HD. Sound good and are convenient. Audiophiles might hate it, but I've seen

many eat their words in a "blind" test.