First mix with the TSX X30 amp sim

[Chris_P_Critter]

I would _love_ to hear Wake darker skies with these settings! (..it's in my top 3 favorite songs)

Me too man - I asked, and here was the response:

Yeah, I love this sim. I've already finished Wake Darker Skies with this new sound. The album is STILL being worked on. I have very little time to work on it anymore, plus I'm still waiting for Matty to finish the vox on Metis. Then it will be done.

 

[mrbean667]

Forget the mix, the song is such a win.

 

[Splat88]

Oh, I really love this as I love everything else you have done. I fail with this sim (haven't yet discovered how I use it with my mixes) but you sir have done well. Well done! And yes, your mixes are almost professional. The songs...don't ever ask. Would you ever try harder? ...oh, I guess you would. And that's the greatest thing in this.
You really try. And you create diamonds. You are "humble"...It feels like You're not a person that does "ask" too much or do take too much "credit" from anything. I'm grateful for that.
And I won't even begin with the singer.

Wow, thanks for the many nice words! As far as your comment about being humble, thank you very much for that as well. I find that the people I personally admire the most are ones that I find to be humble and don't take themselves too seriously. If there's one thing that I cannot stand, its braggadocio, which by default excludes me from being a fan of rap! (Most rap, that is).

Splatt88, you´re not only one of the best producers on this forum, but also, by far, the coolest one when it comes to sharing patches, settings, presets, info and techniques. Thank you very much.

Are you using the PODx3's "normal" or "pad" instrument input? And for the bass?
Are you using the PODx3 as the soundcard though USB? The vox chains hardware is just the mic to the PODx3 and the rest is all software (no 'outboard' pre)? Thanks.

Thank you as well for the kind words! That really means a lot to me. Hey, I've learned a lot of great things from this forum, so I'm just trying to give my share back by sharing patches and what not.

About the POD X3, I don't think the bean has an option for a pad on input. Please enlighten me if I'm wrong. Guitars and bass were just plugged straight in and then captured 'dry'. Vox were done the same way in the X3, no vocal presets or anything, just a dry bypassed signal into Cubase. And lastly, yes I use my PODX3 as my soundcard. I occasionally use my Delta 1010 as well, like when I have to reamp something, except that thing is about the shit the bed. I've had it since 2000.

I would _love_ to hear Wake darker skies with these settings! (..it's in my top 3 favorite songs)

Yep, Wake is done with the new settings. I hope to have it out soon.

Forget the mix, the song is such a win.

Thanks a lot!

 

[narcossintese]

About the POD X3, I don't think the bean has an option for a pad on input. Please enlighten me if I'm wrong. Guitars and bass were just plugged straight in and then captured 'dry'. Vox were done the same way in the X3, no vocal presets or anything, just a dry bypassed signal into Cubase. And lastly, yes I use my PODX3 as my soundcard.

You´re right, there´s no "pad" input on X3, my mistake.

I´ve asked about the mic chain because PODx3´s pres have always been bad mouthed, and I´ve never heard them sound so great. This is good for me because I was thinking about buying a tube pre just for vox, and you´ve just proven that, with talent, you can get absolutely stunning tones (vocals, guitar and bass) using relatively cheap instruments, a PODx3 and softwares. Seriously, youre pretty much a home-recording hero for me. Listen to your songs immediately reduce my Gear Acquisition Syndrome and inspire me to get better at my techniques.

 

[kaamosprod]

You're welcome.

If i ask it's because i haven't found my answer.

I know how to use a curve eq preset, but in THIS case particularly, the file is in .vstpreset and normally its in FXB format.

So thanks for your reponse lilhermiejobo, its really helpfull !!!

Is this forum dedicated to experienced producers because i've never found answers...

 

[Ermz]

Thanks so much for the great feedback Ermz. I seem to achieve better results when I take your advice and apply it constructively. I do struggle with the decision of rolling off more rumble from the guitars in order to gel better with the bass. I love really powerful and deep guitar tones, but sometimes its best to let the bass do its job so I'll have to play around with that. About the mix glue, that's one thing I always struggle with as well. The last version I posted had a clipper instead of a limiter for volume maximizing, and that may be causing some of the hard transients poking around a bit. I just did another master where I removed all EQ, softened the compressor attack, and used a limiter with no clipper and it glues a little more. If you don't mind, take a listen: I also added the link to the start of the thread - (4th version)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/868701/Sneap/Clouds at 4 Stems 12.mp3

Glad to be of some help! It's currently 5am so I cannot listen to the clip yet, but I will as soon as the world around wakes up. The guitars are of course a taste thing, and if you like them beefier, that's totally cool, it works for you. Never hurts to experiment a bit though and see what the bass guitar can do for you too! Mind this is coming from a big Bergstrand fan, where the bass guitar doesn't quite sound right unless it approximates the sound of a massive oil tank being dragged across concrete.

In terms of the 'glue' thing, I'm really hearing some impressive clips coming from Nebula. There have been a few folks on GS posting A/B tests and the difference is NOT SUBTLE man. The Alex B console programs do amazing things for smoothing tracks out and bringing it all together. You essentially just pick a preset you want (channel, bus, mix bus), throw it on your tracks and off you go. Instant glue and improvement. Not quite heard anything like it ITB so far.

I think mostly because you run everything through the POD, and rely heavily on the digital modeling thing, the 'digital' sound tends to pervade your work a little. If you had the opportunity to do this stuff through some high quality pres and with organic tones you would probably find everything to come together a lot easier, without needing to worry about it so much in the mix. If anything, it may be worth looking into whether you want to struggle with the Nebula interface to reap the benefits of the console programs. They really are something special, and almost the perfect 'band-aid' for this situation. There is a certain 'separation' ITB that is almost too pronounced. The drums punch out in a way that's disconnected from the body of the track (as you probably hear yourself when using clippers) and the low-end does not quite feel full enough. Some of those distortions and phase shifts of console channels and busses would do great things for your tracks, I think. Rock music lives in those little imperfections. All IMO of course!

 

[clarbaden]

that is so mellow, love it. a lot of greatness here, those vocals are just beyond perfect

 

[submersed]

Ok boys, here's the settings.

Mixer settings

Guitars 1 and 4 panned 100% L and R (Recabinet impulse) I used Gearbox for the Vetta compressor to drive the X30 a little harder.

Guitars 2 and 3 panned 80% L and R (Catharsis Impulse) No Gearbox compressor to drive these guitars

Curve EQ Preset I captured the direct output from my Peavey Rockmaster so I could get the X30 to sound like it)

Here's an audio sample of how the guitars sound on their own. Only processing was HP LP at 60 and 12000.
Sample

I'm going to go out on a limb, and say that this is the best guitar tone I've ever heard. I could listen to this sample for hours. I can't wait till I'm able to figure out how to do that as well. I really enjoyed the song posted, and am excited to hear more.

Thank you for all the helpful information, Splat.

 

[jnaz1]

Wow. This is incredible for ITB. I've been banging my head against a wall for years trying to get an in the box mix like this. Any chance you can share your drum/bass/vocal settings? I'd love to see what you're doing with them.
I've been running Cubase on a mac, this forum is going to sway me to buy a windows box to take advantage of Voxengo and the other free plugins.
Kudos. Really nice job.

 

[Master Of Sweep Picking]

What strings gauge are you using and what tuning?
Awesome song, killer tone, TSX X30 is great!!!