The best way to record a rock guitar sound

[UMCP_matt]

Not really vdrum related but I use vdrums in my recording also.

I always mic my guitar amp since I have had a bad time plugging direct even with a amp simulator. What do the pros do.. Are the amp simulators out there now good enough so I can stop having to mic my amp?

[IndustrialDrummer]

what equiptment were you using that you were unhappy with? Boss/Roland is making a few "v-amps" and fender has some cyber twin that emulates different amp models. Johnson makes some good stuff as well.

[gingerbaker]

The Line 6 POD was the hottest selling product in the industry for quite some time.

I would venture to say that nearly all pro studios have at least one on hand now.

Supposedly, if you can't get a killer sound direct from one of those, you don't know how to use it.

I've played (live) with 3 guitarists who had them--(or the combo amps) and they sound awesome as well.

Using them live can be difficult, unless you have each song's perfect setting programmed in, but in the studio they are the way to go for most folks.

[IndustrialDrummer]

Oh yeah. Forgot about POD. I too have seen it in a few studios, yet I haven't played/heard it first hand. They make a footswitch for it now too w/volume/wah control.

[mrVRock]

Both my gitarist players, one with Rocktron (the best there is, dont't now the type) and one with a H&K Zentera, say that the amp sims are really improved. At rehearsals they are using it so we can ballanced the band sound on the mixerboard. But with recording and gigs they still using mic's.

Groeten, Peter

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My bands: Meneer Van Zanten and The Shed (sorry, both in Dutch but you can see the pictures and listen to our songs)

[BINARY]

The POD rules. I own one, and every guitarist I know (4 of them) owns one.

Plug it in, hit record, sounds great.

Line 6 rules. You can also modify all the sounds and go deeper into the tweaking of the POD with SoundDiver from Emagic. It allows you to do more stuff than the standard knobs and buttons do. A POD-only version of SoundDiver comes free with the POD.

Good luck.

BINARY

[puttenvr]

Our guitar player uses a ( ... oh my God ...) Roland V guitar system. And soon a Roland GR-1 Guitar synth.

Is he a better player, now? Wish he was.
A good guitar and a decent guitar amp are the most important. All the other stuff is just for sound processing. Sometimes useful. Mostly not.

Remember that the worlds best guitar players in general don't use that much effects.

A Line POD can help. But will never be a real Marshall. Neither can a Roland VG-8 compete with a TC Electronic Chorus or Lexicon reverb. So the best way is to have a good instrument, a good amp and a few simple effects. Not too much.

As with drums: KISS (keep it super simple)

[chamberlainwannabe]

Originally posted by puttenvr:


As with drums: KISS (keep it super simple)

I always though KISS meant knights in satan's service. Atleast thats what my parents told me.

[UMCP_matt]

I use some cheap zoom 5150 or something. It has something called amp simulator which sounds better than direct atleast but still doesnt have the energy sound like when I crank my amp up and mic it.

ill look into these others. maybe technology has gotten better..

or heres a idea.. is there a software filter for COOL EDIT for example that can do the amp simulator for me?

Originally posted by puttenvr:
Our guitar player uses a ( ... oh my God ...) Roland V guitar system. And soon a Roland GR-1 Guitar synth.

Is he a better player, now? Wish he was.
A good guitar and a decent guitar amp are the most important. All the other stuff is just for sound processing. Sometimes useful. Mostly not.

Remember that the worlds best guitar players in general don't use that much effects.

A Line POD can help. But will never be a real Marshall. Neither can a Roland VG-8 compete with a TC Electronic Chorus or Lexicon reverb. So the best way is to have a good instrument, a good amp and a few simple effects. Not too much.

As with drums: KISS (keep it super simple)

[BINARY]

First of all, don't use Cool Edit, it sucks. All harddisk based. Almost all sound editors now (the good ones) are RAM based, non-destructive editing, therefore allowing you to make modifications by adding effects WITHOUT modifying the original wave file.

To answer your question, software effects are cool and work fairly well, but simulators? Good luck.

Although I love him more than most people here, I have to semi-disagree with Putty here. I agree that no equipment in the world will make you better (god, do I know that. Surprising, though, how many guitarists there are who belive that it will.) but good, solid equipment will make your recordings sound better.

The POD recorded direct, for example, will sound better than dropping a mic in front of your amp.

Case in point: Listen to any Fear Factory album and listen to any Slayer album.
Fear Factory = Direct
Slayer = Mic and amp

While neither is probably your choice in music, both are playing similar music and one sounds better than the other.

Just my $0.02



BINARY

[UMCP_matt]

Well if not cool edit ? What should I use? I think using the computer as a mutlitrack is great you can go in and make changes that would be impossible with a normal multitrack

are there some mp3s out there with people using various amp simulators? I am going to go to the music store today to ocmpare myself but I would like to hear these amp simulators in action.

Originally posted by BINARY:
First of all, don't use Cool Edit, it sucks. All harddisk based. Almost all sound editors now (the good ones) are RAM based, non-destructive editing, therefore allowing you to make modifications by adding effects WITHOUT modifying the original wave file.

To answer your question, software effects are cool and work fairly well, but simulators? Good luck.

Although I love him more than most people here, I have to semi-disagree with Putty here. I agree that no equipment in the world will make you better (god, do I know that. Surprising, though, how many guitarists there are who belive that it will.) but good, solid equipment will make your recordings sound better.

The POD recorded direct, for example, will sound better than dropping a mic in front of your amp.

Case in point: Listen to any Fear Factory album and listen to any Slayer album.
Fear Factory = Direct
Slayer = Mic and amp

While neither is probably your choice in music, both are playing similar music and one sounds better than the other.

Just my $0.02



BINARY

[Dan the Speakerman]

I record all my guitar and bass parts direct into my Roland VS880 (now a VS1880, but haven't started tracking on it yet).

For the guitars, I really like using the VS studio's onboard COSM's and effects for the guitars.

For my bass parts, I compress on the way in and use a Tech21 Bass Driver DI. Any EQing I try to do later.

My V Clubs go into a RNC Compressor, then straight into the VS studio. Again, I do fine tuning EQ in the mixing stage. The two tunes that have my V Clubs on them are "Disconnected Strings" and "GKW." I use one of my Roland keyboards for doing drum parts in the other songs, which were recorded prior to my getting the Clubs.

I invite you to visit my music sites if you are interested in hearing what this all sounds like
www.mp3.com/entrylevel www.ampcast.com/entrylevel
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Dan's Music Site; melodic, ethereal rock and more! Please have a listen :^)



[This message has been edited by Dan the Speakerman (edited April 27, 2002).]

[BINARY]

Originally posted by UMCP_matt:
Well if not cool edit ? What should I use? I think using the computer as a mutlitrack is great you can go in and make changes that would be impossible with a normal multitrack

Using a computer is definately the right direction.
Cubase and Logic are good, also investigate Sonic Foundry's Vegas. Great product and simple to use.
Cakewalk has a new update to Professional called SONAR that I've been using, and it's great.

Good Luck

BINARY

[GRRAVEE]

fender american strat into a vs1824cd........party in a box folks.warm yummy goodness