What's wrong with my signal chain?

[Clownmite]

I've been trying to effectively use amp sims for a few years now, and no matter what I do, it seems like I'm not getting a sound as punchy and clear as I should be. I've used the exact chains as people in this forum, and it sounds nowhere near as good as that. I'd like to figure out where I'm going wrong.

Here's what I'm using:
Schecter C1 guitar with EMG 81/85 pickups (with a fresh battery) and Elixir 10s, in standard tuning. Using a heavy-gauge pick. Selecting bridge pickup (EMG 85) at full volume, tone knob at full treble. Plugged into a Line 6 TonePort GX through a monster guitar cable, to my computer into REAPER, where I'm recording stereo @24 bits and 441K hz.

In REAPER, I'm applying a noisegate, TSS (tone at 10, drive at 0, level at 5), LePou Legion (drive @ 5, bass 10, mid 5, treble 10), and to LeCab w/appropriate impulse (ASEM Recto, or sPresHigh, etc). I also add EQ (reaEQ) to tighten up the sound, but that doesn't help the base quality of the recordings.

I'm currently recording 3 tracks (80%L, C, 80%R). You can find a sample here: http://soundcloud.com/clownmite/buried-in-tophet


It's not abysmal, but it's still not as punchy and clear as stuff I've heard here. I've looked at stuff on Youtube recorded with the Line6 TonePort GX, using the built-in Gearbox software, and it sounds eons better than what I'm getting.

I've tried recording with both the bridge and neck pickups selected, but there's lots of ugly bass-y noise. I can't think of anything else that can be the issue, though.

 

[Scottxx]

Change 44.1 khz to 88.2 khz.

 

[Damian B]

I'm no guitar player, but here are a couple things I've learned. The fizz is around 4kHz, EQ that out. Don't add anything with an EQ, it just sounds shitty with amp sims. Elixirs are coated; using regular strings will give you better pick attack and a more aggressive sound.

I don't know what system you're using to describe the legion settings. Do you mean 10 and 5 o'clock? Or just on a scale of 1 to 10? If it's the latter, turn down the bass and treble. Mids are where it's at. I've found using the presence knob instead of adding more treble can get better results.

I'm on a laptop with crappy speakers, so I can't really judge from the clip... but those should be some good starting places.

 

[Clownmite]

Change 44.1 khz to 88.2 khz.

I just tried that, it seems like my plugins still think it's in 44.1k, because everything sounds stretched out and strange. How to change this?

 

[Damian B]

Keep everything at 44.1hHz. That is not your problem.

 

[caneris]

You use the 85 in the bridge? I would swap that with the 81 and put the 85 in the neck

 

[Trevoire520]

^This. 85 in a mahogany guitar is sounds pretty muddy in my experience and would explain the lack of clarity.

 

[JakeAC5253]

You use the 85 in the bridge? I would swap that with the 81 and put the 85 in the neck

This is one thing that's staring at me. I've reamped for people that have used the 85 in the bridge and it always seems like they want more clarity and punch to come from the reamps and the common thread is the pickup. It's great if that's what you want, but apparently in your case you don't. I would start by swapping the pickups around. Next, invest in a solid DI box.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

The toneport doesn't produce the nicest DI tracks. I have a UX2 and plugging into my other interface does a much better job. I just use mine for scratch guitar tracks.

 

[Clark Kent]

44.1khz is just fine. Most professionals use 48khz and 24bit as a standard. It's better quality than CD quality. Also I'd say don't cut out fizz out with EQ. If you hear the fizz in a bad way you just have your guitars too loud.

A think the "correct" way to use a TS as a boost is tone at 5 and level on 10.

Now that I listen to your mix, I must say that you would benefit a lot of you replace your drums with better samples. IMO vocals+guitars+snare are the most important for a professional tone. I don't mean to offence here but in this mix the guitars sound modeled, drums sound programmed and vocals sound powerless. There's a lot to work to do if you want a good overall tone. To me... it sounds like you are doing too much. Less is more in mixing.

 

[Clownmite]

You use the 85 in the bridge? I would swap that with the 81 and put the 85 in the neck

My bad, I typed it out wrong. 85 in the neck and 81 on the bridge is how I have it set up now.

A think the "correct" way to use a TS as a boost is tone at 5 and level on 10.

Now that I listen to your mix, I must say that you would benefit a lot of you replace your drums with better samples. IMO vocals+guitars+snare are the most important for a professional tone. I don't mean to offence here but in this mix the guitars sound modeled, drums sound programmed and vocals sound powerless. There's a lot to work to do if you want a good overall tone. To me... it sounds like you are doing too much. Less is more in mixing.

Thanks for those tips. I know it sounds very artificial, that's why I came here in the first place! I can't do much with the vocals since somebody else recorded them for me. I'll look into re-sampling the drums, but I don't want to have the drums sounding awesome if the guitar still sounds like crap.

This is a youtube clip of somebody else's metal tone they got with the built-in software of the TonePort GX: . Again, it doesn't sound amazing, but it's a much fuller tone than what I've got. This is why I'm scratching my head over this situation.

 

[JakeAC5253]

Actually, guitar for guitar I think yours and his track sound very similar though the mixes are very different. It seems that the bass guitar in his track is playing more of an upfront part in the guitar tone while yours is either too quiet or not really performing the same function of filling out the guitar tone like his is. I'd be happy with what you've got from it. I think your mix is what needs work.