Reamping Good or Bad?

[Glenn Fricker]

some people tell me is not like recording real live guitar and that you don't get true real guitar sound with it

Those people would be called "Clueless morons who should shut the fuck up."

Seriously. I think guitar players should be worried about things like bringing in a guitar that can stay in tune, playing their parts well, knowing the arrangements, common sense stuff like that.

Reamping after the fact is utterly minuscule. I never have anyone track in front of the amp anyway... and usually throw feedback in "special tracks." because 99.9% of the time, you're not using feedback.

 

[Dexter_prog]

I keep hearing mixed opinions about reamping, some people tell me is not like recording real live guitar and that you don't get true real guitar sound with it. Others tell me reamping should be the only logical way to record a guitar.

How would you not get "true real guitar sound" while reamping with real cabs and amps? I mean, what's the difference between recording with cab A and amp B and reamping with cab A and amp B? Maybe I am not getting the point

 

[Deaf Ear]

Reamping last is very good with larger projects. It makes it pretty easy to keep the tone consistent when they've been recorded on the weekends for three weeks, and you've needed the studio for other things. It let's me go ahead and break the amps down in the middle of a song if I want to, go back later, and pick up a uniform tone for the whole project.

 

[JeffTD]

I prefer to track with the tone I'm going to use in the end, for exactly the reasons Egan mentioned.

That said, this is rarely a possibility with the budget/time/volume constraints most of us have, so I have no problem with reamping as an alternative.

 

[AdamWathan]

I track DIs and monitor with PodFarm usually, just because I have a one room studio where the control room doubles as the tracking room and tracking a cranked amp in the same room as me for hours on end is weak as hell.

 

[slashvanyoung]

I´ve seen guitar players smashing the strings (in a bad way) while quadtracking because they weren´t feeling the distortion with so little gain.

Yeah, gain is very important. If the tone you're recording/monitoring with has about as much gain as the tone you'll finally end up using, you should be pretty safe.

And tightness. People will adjust their playing between overly tight and loose amps.

 

[di0de]

wouldn't it be a good time saver to record the perfect DI's before hitting the studio, once you get in there you can reamp and save heaps of time+money and spend the actual studio time tracking feedback and squeals that may not have come out 100% from the DI.

i'm still a noob as far as all this stuff goes but this seems like a good idea in theory.

 

[JeffTD]

wouldn't it be a good time saver to record the perfect DI's before hitting the studio, once you get in there you can reamp and save heaps of time+money and spend the actual studio time tracking feedback and squeals that may not have come out 100% from the DI.

i'm still a noob as far as all this stuff goes but this seems like a good idea in theory.

This is exactly what most of us do here - track perfectly and reamp after the fact.

 

[crazykarl]

Reamping is awesome. It gives you more control over the session. Anything that brings you closer to the desired sound is right on. If people are against it, it's probably because they've never tried it. Like the old saying goes...once you go DI track you never go back.

 

[Tommy Gun]

wouldn't it be a good time saver to record the perfect DI's before hitting the studio, once you get in there you can reamp and save heaps of time+money and spend the actual studio time tracking feedback and squeals that may not have come out 100% from the DI.

i'm still a noob as far as all this stuff goes but this seems like a good idea in theory.

Not really. See, the DI's can be tracked simultaneously during Rhythm Guitar tracking. You just plug into the DI which you split the signal with, sending one signal straight to record and one signal to your amp.

I'm sorry, but the more posts I read about this, the more I wonder if people have lost touch with working on a great tone while your tracking. That's how it used to be done. Rock and metal albums where built AROUND the foundation of a great and crushing guitar tone. I'm not saying we should still do EXACTLY that, but it does sound to me like people would RATHER procrastinate about a good guitar tone if they know they can get one after the fact. To me, that shows laziness and a lack of professional integrity.

Obviously, this doesn't apply to the guys who track at home with POD gear, etc. But, if you have good recording gear, work in a studio, or own your studio, own or have access to decent heads and cabs, and even ONE Shure SM57... you are the people I am pleading with. Some of you already see things the same way I do. But I get the feeling there some others who have maybe lost sight of that age-old tradition of hunting for that "WALL OF MARSHALLS" tone (what we called it around here anyway). To me, the search for that killer tone in the studio (that make both the player AND the AE/Producer happy) is one of the funnest parts of being an AE.

I have always tracked a full set of DI's along with EVERY guitar part, for as long as I've known about reamping. However, less than half of those recordings got reamped, and maybe half that many actually called for it. I'm not trying to be a dick or a downer. I just think it's silly to not try and get it right the first time. People say reamping saves time. The way i see it, it doesn't save any more time that getting it right on the way in, and not having to spend the time reamping afterwards.

Just my opinion.

 

[Force666]

Tommy I think the point he was making was not spending the time in "the studio" tracking the guitars. If you go to the studio with all the guitars tracked w/DIs then all the AE has to do is reamp them saving tons of time/money along the way.

In example: Go to the studio, track the drums, AE edits the drums, you go back home and track all the DIs for the guitar and bass to perfection, go back to the studio reamp for guitar/bass tone (in a day or two instead of 10 or more) and do vocals at the studio = saving shitloads of money.

 

[Tommy Gun]

Tommy I think the point he was making was not spending the time in "the studio" tracking the guitars. If you go to the studio with all the guitars tracked w/DIs then all the AE has to do is reamp them saving tons of time/money along the way.

In example: Go to the studio, track the drums, AE edits the drums, you go back home and track all the DIs for the guitar and bass to perfection, go back to the studio reamp for guitar/bass tone (in a day or two instead of 10 or more) and do vocals at the studio = saving shitloads of money.

I can understand that. Although, that does 2 things that I can't totally agree with...
1) Leaves tracking the guitars up to the band/artist, without the Producer/AE present... and consequently...
2) Leaves the AE with, likely, less money earned and could provide the editor/mixer with more headaches from fixing shaky performances.

I have been a guitar player for 21 years, and an AE for 8 years, so I know both sides. If the artist wants more assurance that they will get the end results they want, they will track the guitars under the watchful eyes and ears of a Producer/AE in the studio, not at home, where they might make 5 or even 50 mistakes.

 

[Force666]

I can see it from your side as well. I'de just argue, most people are going to make more mistakes under the pressure of playing in front of a producer under time/money constraints.

Amazingly (or maybe not) my prime interest is not putting money into the AE's hands. It's actually saving the most money I can or putting it into mine.

In the case of most of us here, there would still be a watchful eye from the person who is tracking the guitars at home/personal studio. My and a lot of the people heres problem is not having a proper place to track drums especially.

I think a majority of the people here are tracking in one room setups. I think reamping is a far more reliable option than trying to track with headphones on and the amp cranked in the same room at the same time.

Anyways, my point being....I think there's a lot more problems for people (on this forum) having a place to properly record/track than there is for them to "produce" the instruments into proper performances.

 

[Tommy Gun]

I think a majority of the people here are tracking in one room setups. I think reamping is a far more reliable option than trying to track with headphones on and the amp cranked in the same room at the same time.

I hear you... I did make that exception already though ...
"Obviously, this doesn't apply to the guys who track at home with POD gear, etc. But, if you have good recording gear, work in a studio, or own your studio, own or have access to decent heads and cabs, and even ONE Shure SM57... you are the people I am pleading with."

 

[Metaltastic]

Also, I don't really see why there's necessarily any advantage to getting the perfect tone on the way in, or rather any disadvantage to re-amping - the way I see it, tone tweaking can be a long process, and when you've got the guitarist there raring to go, he might not necessarily like having to wait while the engineer obsesses over mic placement/amp settings/whatever, so why not throw together a scratch tone that's pretty similar to the one you'll end up with, track the DI's, then do all the tweaking come re-amp time? I guess it's the fact that the only reason I can think of for why someone would prefer getting the tone right on the way in is tone loss through re-amping, but my own experience (and listening to comparison clips) has been that the differences are extremely negligible or downright unnoticeable. So even if it is lazy, if the end product doesn't suffer, who cares? Digital editing is lazy too, but I know I'd much rather do it than splice tape!

By the way, welcome back Tommy!

 

[Tommy Gun]

I think, for me, it's the thrill of the hunt with searching for that SICK tone side-by-side with the guitarist in question. As far as re-amping having any disadvantages, I don't see any either. If the guitarist tracks in the control room, there is NO difference in signal between the original tracks or the re-amped ones, provided you are using a quality, transparent D.I box.

By the way, welcome back Tommy!

Thanks bro

 

[Metaltastic]

I see your point, and hey, if the guitarist is game, then go for it! I have to say, though, for my own stuff I'm pretty sure I'll always track the DI's while monitoring through an ITB ampsim (and then re-amp later), both because I just can't have a cranked amp blaring for long periods of time (parents/neighbors), but also because of how easily DI's can be imperceptibly edited (and that I fully admit is a product of laziness, but oh man is it awesome )

 

[006]

Such a silly argument going on in here lol....

 

[lolzgreg]

With a proper DI and a good reamp box, pristine converters, and most importantly a great guitarist with a quality guitar, I don't think there is any disadvantage to reamping, especially if the tone used in monitoring is at least ballpark.

I even did a reamp vs. direct test with my Presonus Firebox. It really doesn't sound that different. Some people actually PREFERRED the sound of the reamp over the direct amp and it was the same amp same settings same positioning and everything...

Hmm

 

[Nebulous]

With a proper DI and a good reamp box, pristine converters, and most importantly a great guitarist with a quality guitar, I don't think there is any disadvantage to reamping, especially if the tone used in monitoring is at least ballpark.

This makes me want to hear a small test if any one is up for it (I don't have a reamp to give it a go myself).

Clip 1. Record DI> reamp and record with amp/cab/mic

Clip 2. Record DI> run DI to reamp box, but then back to interface on seperate channel (ie, clean DI, no amp recorded)> repeat 3 or 4 more times> then finally run out to an amp/cab/mic in the exact same set up as above.

The reasoning behine that is to see just how much the whole DI/reamp/ AD/ DA process takes out in a VERY exaggerated comparisson.

I'm all for reamping, we've all heard great tones using this process. I'm listening to Testament's Live in London at the moment. No problems there.