Direct input tone ( sorry guys)

[sixxdog]

guitar tone is probably done to death on these pages, for that im sorry guys.

but i'm new and have no idea so help me.


me and my mate record ( or attempt to ) metal on my mac using pro tools le

we have no money and no equipment


is it possible to get a good professional guitar tone through direct input and maybe a distortion pedal??

any hints on how to??

 

[MX582]

pod xt?

 

[Ermz]

is it possible to get a good professional guitar tone through direct input and maybe a distortion pedal??

any hints on how to??

In a word, no.

If you're aiming at 'professional', and that's assuming your definition of the word is the same as mine, I'd suggest bunkering down, getting yourself a source of extra income and saving up for a decent tube amp, mic, pre and converter.

 

[smy1]

In a word, no.

If you're aiming at 'professional', and that's assuming your definition of the word is the same as mine, I'd suggest bunkering down, getting yourself a source of extra income and saving up for a decent tube amp, mic, pre and converter.

Yea, what he said!

 

[fabz]

but true... Moonlapse and smy1 are right... You need a decent signal chain.

But you can try this link...

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=94800

Maybe the Amp sims there get you in the right direction at least you should be able do get some demos done...

http://www.martyfireball.f2s.com/DOD/getrecording.htm <- Also a good source to get you started
as well as:
http://ilovemetal.co.uk/

Use the search function of the board and the powerful Google!!!!


Btw Welcome to the Forum

 

[Mutant]

In a word, no.

Don't you remember that clip once posted by TheStoryteller which sounded (at least to me) much better than some "proffesional" recordings and was made with Simulanalog Jcm900 and Bass V-amp 2 ?

 

[Mutant]

And here it is:
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=216611&highlight=simulanalog

 

[sixxdog]

Thanks for reply dudes,


Whats Bass V amp??

 

[Ermz]

Don't you remember that clip once posted by TheStoryteller which sounded (at least to me) much better than some "proffesional" recordings and was made with Simulanalog Jcm900 and Bass V-amp 2 ?

It's a good demo tone. I wouldn't let it touch a full-length though. You can hear the digital aspect all over it. Sounds thin and weak. But that's a characteristic of all digital modellers.

 

[Mutant]

Thanks for reply dudes,


Whats Bass V amp??

http://www.behringer.com/LX1-B-PRO/index.cfm?lang=ENG

http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/Data/Behringer/Bass_V_Amp_Pro-1.html

 

[DNW]

I use a POD XT for most of my recording. Hell, at the moment I'm even tweaking sounds to record my bass using both a Sansamp Bass DI and my POD.

I've got a Mesa Quad based rack, with an ENGL 2x12 and a 1960A cab, a Groove Tubes Brick preamp, an SM57, and an E609, etc...


... but I find it easiest to just use the POD straight into the interface, and I'm very happy with the results. I don't have to endure ridiculous volumes, and can track all night if I want to.

I could get decent results from my old V-Amp, but it's been quite a while since I even had that hooked up. For what it is, it's a decent little bit of gear, but the XT discharges hot liquid faeces all over it really.

But if you're expecting to get the kinds of sounds you get after spending weeks or months in a pro studio with top-notch guidance... well then you're a tad off the mark. You can get some very decent results with minimal gear, but there's a reason people blow large amounts of money on gear and studio time.

 

[Nitronium Blood]

I have no issues with PODxt tone that I have heard thus far, from most members on this forum who posted clips. Andy's Pod XT clip was amazing too, at least to me.

The Podxt is a very good start sixxdog, and I would suggest you formulate a plan on acquring one.

A free popular software called 'Guitarsuite' is also available (http://www.simulanalog.org/guitarsuite.htm). Many consider it the best software modelling, and it was even used by the band Dead Shape Figure (http://www.deadshapefigure.fi/) for their 2005 Promo. It may be what you are looking for. It models only the following:

- Boss DS-1 (Distortion stompbox)
- Boss SD-1 (Super Overdrive stompbox)
- Tube Screamer (Overdrive stompbox)
- Oberheim PS-1 (Phaser stompbox)
- Univox Univibe (Modulations stompbox)
- Fender Twin 1969 (Guitar amplifier)
- Marshall JCM900 Dual Reverb (Guitar amplifier)

I don't know if it will work for the mac though.

 

[JBroll]

The main reason you're not going to get a good sound straight from stompbox to computer input is that the process of amping and recording is incredibly lo-fi and guitar tone perception is dependent on this very heavily - if you've ever wondered what it would sound like to operate a chainsaw in a vat of champagne and pop-rocks with radio static being transmitted directly to your brain, try plugging in a Metal Zone or DOD Death Metal straight to a sound card; the amp does not transmit an awful lot of high-end and this is why a distorted amp sounds good and a stompbox to a soundcard, or to a hi-fi audio system, or through a 'normal' speaker, or anything like that will sound like sandpaper in the ass. You could try modeling stuff like what's been mentioned earlier, or even using a distortion pedal and EQing the hell out of it to simulate a speaker (for the more experienced, is this essentially what speaker impulses are for? I'm not too good with those just yet), but to get really good sounds you'll pretty much need to just pull some cash together and find some way to get some 'real' recording gear - at the very least a Pod XT and a lot of time and sample patches to find your sound. Pods can sound very good - as some of the Meshuggah stuff and a lot of Andy's recordings will show - but it does take time to get them that way. Good luck.

Jeff

 

[DNW]

I did a small experiment once, where basically I recorded my V-Amp with the cabinet modelling switched off. It sounded like sonic-faeces, to say the least.

Then I slapped a nice big EQ plugin on there and went to town on it. It took a crap load of EQ'ing, but I was able to get some decent "cab sim" results. Obviously, a lot of work was done on bringing down the higher frequencies.


The results have long been discarded however, as I really have no use for it whatsoever. I was just piss-farting around, seeing what could be done.

 

[Ermz]

That's where the impulses come in handy. They essentially just model the frequency response of the cabinet, at a certain distance from a speaker, as well as the frequency response from the mic and other gear you used to create the impulse. It's one big elaborate EQ. Damn fine one too, hehe.

 

[Jacob Hansen]

You could experiment with some simulator plug-ins like SansAmp, AmpFarm, SampliTube or the likes. But as many states, it probably should never end on a so-called professional album. On the other hand, I know quite a few albums that were done with only simulators like POD and so on. Not even POD XT. I wont say it sounds great, but if the mix is build well around it, it can work.

But there's another thing you can do: Record your guitars with a software simulator of some kind, and send it to a pro and get them re-amped, or even mixed. This will cost you, but if you can do most of the recordings at home (maybe not drums... doh), you can save some money there. Good luck.