Typical FX for high gain guitars

[H-evolve]

Hi,

I've been reading the forum and I guess I was able to find a lot of tips on things required to have a good high gain guitar in a metal sound mix. But, I was wondering if one could list everything that is "required" to have a good tone (like the bare minimum). It's really not clear to me... I do find a lot of information on each item "individually", but how to chain them is a whole different story and I am a bit lost.

Suppose that I send my signal into my USB interface directly and then use VSTs in Reaper. What should appear in my FX list? And in which order?

- Noise gate
- OD
- AmpSim
- Cab Impulse
- Compressor
- EQ

I guess it would not be that much different if I would mic my amp? I am aware though that mic placement and doing the real thing is more difficult then using VSTs.

 

[bryan_kilco]

A chain like that looks about right, but I'd probably throw the gate at the end of the chain (or maybe one at the beginning and one at the end). I always strip all the noise out of my tracks manually though.

And maybe EQ before the compressor.

 

[Terminus]

No compressor.

 

[Siriun]

No compressor.

Depends if the mix calls for it. Listen to Slipknot's Vol. 3

Guitars are compressed to fuck and back

 

[Terminus]

I'm just relaying what I use and don't use. Aside from that, the guitars usually get a bit of compression in the mastering process anyway, so having a compressor on a guitar buss seems like overkill imo. Much more can be done with eq if the guitars are woofing out too hard than with compression. I just don't think it adds that much to any given sound to warrant using it. Now, maybe a multi-band could be used to change some tonality in spots but just a regular wide band comp, not for me.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Depends if the mix calls for it. Listen to Slipknot's Vol. 3

Guitars are compressed to fuck and back

This is true. For heavy guitars I sometimes don't compress each track but rather the bus to get them sorta moving together. But then I start to worry about my stereo image.....

 

[Heabow]

VCC > EQ > multiband compressor > EQ when needed > tape sim. and/or saturation (SDRR) is my usual chain for guitars.

 

[Jordon]

EQ, maybe a bit of compression (I like an LA3A or similar on the buss), sometimes some multi-band tightening up the low/low midrange.

 

[H-evolve]

Thanks for the information all. Pretty useful, especially the compression thing. Is it possible that it's mostly used for leads (solos)? All the guitarist I know of that uses compressor (or compressor pedals) are soloist (on top of my head Paul Gilbert comes to mind).

 

[tedtan]

Guitarists most often use compressors on clean sounds or on solos, but you'll come across some high gain rhythm tones using compressors every once in a while, too. Lately, the "djent" guitarists are using compression (sometimes 3 or more compressors) and noise gates (again, sometimes several in the chain) to simulate that choppy, tightly edited studio sound.

 

[MultiM]

for me: 1-multiband compressor(if needed) 2-EQ 3- OD 4-amp simulator 5-cabinet impulse response noise gate, and chorus or reverb and delay if needed

 

[H-evolve]

for me: 1-multiband compressor(if needed) 2-EQ 3- OD 4-amp simulator 5-cabinet impulse response noise gate, and chorus or reverb and delay if needed

So you EQ BEFORE the amp/cabinet? I thought EQ was mostly the last thing to do... Or is this just a question of preference?

Also, regarding noise gate, do you use a special tool, software, whatever.

I saw people talking about "trimming the noise by hand". I'm really not sure how to do that... at least in Reaper, the DAW I am using.

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

I EQ before the amp sim with bass if I'm separating the tracks to cut out the mud on the way, but I imagine doing it with guitar would destroy the tone.

 

[bryan_kilco]

I EQ before the amp sim with bass if I'm separating the tracks to cut out the mud on the way, but I imagine doing it with guitar would destroy the tone.

I've heard plenty of dudes on here talk about EQing before amp/sim who have apparently gotten great results.

 

[rapucore]

I EQ before the amp sim with bass if I'm separating the tracks to cut out the mud on the way, but I imagine doing it with guitar would destroy the tone.

I do the same for bass. Would destroy the guitar though IMO, like you thought.

 

[MultiM]

So you EQ BEFORE the amp/cabinet? I thought EQ was mostly the last thing to do... Or is this just a question of preference?

Eq and compressor will have an effect on the sound coming from your guitar if inserted before amp simulator, if inserted after; it will affect the overall tone, which is more noticeable. You can do what you think is best, you can even do both.
Good luck!

 

[agentmetal]

EQing before an amp/ampsim has actually been very helpful to me a couple of times. Its effect on what you hear is actually very different from EQing after the amp, and I'll often use both : EQing after the amp changes the spectrum of the "final" tone and helps you position your distorted guitars into the mix, whereas EQing before the amp changes the harmonic content of the sound itself and helps you fix/improve your guitar tone itself.

I mostly use pre-EQing when the amp tone is so muddy that a TS just won't clean it up no matter how I tweak it (Boogie users will know what I'm talking about !). Mud often comes from applying too much saturation to low or low-mid frequencies, so should this happen to your guitar, listen to the unprocessed DI and check whether it's too dark or dull with respect to the tone you're aiming at (referencing with good DIs can help, I often keep the Rose Of Sharyn DIs found on this forum for that purpose). If it's the case, cleaning up the spectrum BEFORE reamping can really help. You can use a HPF and set it in the 150-300 Hz region, search for peaks in the lows and low-mids and tame them, or even use a high-shelf to fix dull guitars... the choice is yours. Then just listen to your reamped tone and, whenever you notice congestion in some part of the spectrum, adjust your pre-EQ. Of course it won't be as efficient as tracking your shit right from the start, and it won't turn a Les Paul into an ESP or a Marshall into a Boogie either (there's no magic !). But it can definitely help those of you who often deal with not-so-professional players !

 

[kernelxsanders]

If I use a compressor, I'll typically throw it before the OD, really depends though. As far as compression after the amp, i'll use a limiter if needed.
Also, i'll throw an EQ before the OD if i'm using a guitar that has shit pickups that are muddy, i'll scoop a lot of the low mids to clean it up a bit, that helps.

My general chain (without EQ and comp before the amp) is Gate, OD, Amp, Cab, EQ, then i'll send that to a buss with (sometimes extra EQ for lp/hp), tape saturation and a limiter.
I also use an EMG 81 IR joined with the low mid cut in the very front with shit pickups. Depending on the guitar, that works pretty well for me.

 

[ConnorGilks]

Personally I would say Noise Gate > OD > Amp Sim > Cab Sim > EQ. The majority of the gate work should just be done in editing, in my opinion. And compression can just be slapped on the end of your guitar bus if you feel like the mix calls for some. Honestly though any configuration will get you great results if you know what you're looking for, and know what you're doing.

 

[jackobme]

Depends on the sound you're going for completely. I personally throw Compressor first, always first. It brings out the pick attacks before anything else squashes it, and those pick attacks are necessary for dynamic. In pod farm, the eq works just about as good the od's if you want that boosted sound. So an EQ before and after can give great results. A noise gate after the compressor and then another after the OD is good too.