Direct Guitar Recording

DO YOU RECORD DIRECT?

  • Never, that is lame. I mic everything - vocals, guitars, keyboard, drums

    Votes: 63 14.8%

  • Need to mic Drums, Vocals and Lead Guitar

    Votes: 81 19.0%

  • Except Vocals and Lead Guitar, I could plug everything direct

    Votes: 29 6.8%

  • Yes, with a little work I could get a good sound from it

    Votes: 254 59.5%
  • Total voters
    427
T

tonyA

New member
I have a problem. My wife's cousin lives in our basement - yes, the future site of my home recording studio. They said it is only temporary, but they have been there 6 months now and their house is nowhere near finished (sold their house before the one they are building is done). I need to kick them out for sure, but here is the deal:

Since I am out of a quiet environment and don't want problems with neighbors, is it really a sacrilege to record direct and let my players monitor through headphones. What is wrong with that? Given a couple of amp emulators stomp boxes, it should do, right?
That way, I get complete control of the accoustics too. With an electronic drum set, I should be set, right?

Need your opinion on this please. Thanks.
 
i do both, and mix to pref. I like the sound of both mic and DI. DI brings out the mids the mic track was lacking. I don't have any amp emulator, which is my next investment.

DI not that bad. I know some studios that all they do, of course you can tell what has be DI and mic'd. They is a siginature tone with it.
 
I have been going direct to get idea's down. I record guitar parts then put it on mini disk and jam to it on drums, Qiuck and easy. Its not the greatest sound( a celestion 4x12 kicks ass)
I have this lil zoom direct modular that i run into a ART direct box then into a aphex 107.
If i am after good tone, i fire up the boogie.
 
I do everything you are talking about, guitar, v-drums, direct.

I go to the computer though, then through amplitube for the guitar, and maybe something like a mic modeller for anything else to give it character. Seems to work fine.

If you are not going to a computer, get a pod or a j-station and send through that. nuf said.
 
If you have the right direct-in equipment, it can be freaking awesome. Myself, I run a Rocktron Chameleon through a TC Electronics G Force, and I get incredible clean and heavy sounds direct to disk. I never got good sounds like this until I went to the TC Electronics stuff. The Parametric EQ on that box saved the day for me. IF you want to hear my guitar sounds, check out the music on my website below.

Vince LuPone
Guitarist / Songwriter
http://www.castofshadows.com
 
What improved my directly recorded distorted guitar a LOT, was the use of a compressor going in.

So I used
Guit ->ART MP -> Samson SCOM+ -> VS880EX

There I played with the AMP sims and the mic sim to get a sound I liked... The trick with the compressor is that it may give you a slightly higher sustain (which may be nice together with the gate of the scom+). This sustain feeling emulated the acoustic feedback of the speaker back into the guitar (which will also enhance the sustain until your amp gets too loud and you'll have 'real feedback' that sqeeks)

If I record direct, I tend to monitor the distortion only but record undistorted... This is just one of the advantages: you can back off with distortion lateron etc...

aXel
 
Cast of Shadows said:
If you have the right direct-in equipment, it can be freaking awesome. Myself, I run a Rocktron Chameleon through a TC Electronics G Force, and I get incredible clean and heavy sounds direct to disk. I never got good sounds like this until I went to the TC Electronics stuff. The Parametric EQ on that box saved the day for me. IF you want to hear my guitar sounds, check out the music on my website below.
Click to expand...

I'd like to check out your soud....BUT mp3.com is a joke! Seems I have to register everytime I try to check out a tune. I use 4-5 different computers at different times and mp3.com thinks I want to register every time? Sorry for the rant dude, I just can't deal with mp3.com
 
I use a mic or DI (or combination of both) on guitar depending on the song, and I always use DI on a bass.

You can get decent sound using strictly DI provided you spend time listening to the DI sound through monitors (not headphones). You don't have to crank the monitors too loud, but you do want to get as close to the sound as you are looking for. Also spend time comparing your sounds with other songs that have similar sounds. Once you get the sound you are looking for, you can then shut off the monitors and track with headphones.

Cy
 
I've been recording direct since before it sounded good. When I got a Pod it was like "hmm, this might actually work". I gave the Pod away for free when I heard the Tech 21 Trademark 10 amp. The direct XLR output kills any Pod, not to mention it has a brilliant speaker sound as well.

Sansamp is a great company, I don't know why I didn't discover them sooner.
 
Cast of Shadows said:
If you have the right direct-in equipment, it can be freaking awesome. Myself, I run a Rocktron Chameleon through a TC Electronics G Force, and I get incredible clean and heavy sounds direct to disk. I never got good sounds like this until I went to the TC Electronics stuff. The Parametric EQ on that box saved the day for me. IF you want to hear my guitar sounds, check out the music on my website below.
Click to expand...

Vince,

Nice sound!

Can you get anywhere near the sound your getting just going through the Rocktron? The Rocktron is failrly loaded with effects but I take it the TC is better? Those G Forces are a chunk of change....but maybe the price to pay for good sound.

Do you have the Rocktron Chameleon 2000?
 
I have come to the conclusion that I need a mix of both. In home recording, where sometimes the room sound isn't the greatest it is key to mix them. I have found that if you mic everything you can get too much room build up, as well as noise, like amp noise. But if I go all direct I get no sense of "space" and it just sound artificial, especially when the vocals are recorded in a room.

I mic acoustic guitars but also go direct, which adds "heft" to me. I always make a direct track of guitars/bass etc. as well for safety and to have a track to manipulate, reamp etc.
 
what is reamping

Im not an expert,so anyone feel free to correct me.

reamping is where you run whatever track you have recorded back out through an amp and rerecord it with the amp miced.

By the way, how are you suppose to spell "miced" or is it miked?
 
Pacifica604w said:
So far (just because of budget restraints) I record everything direct. All my guitar parts go through my Yamaha DG60FX-112 direct to my soundcard. Listen to the clip I've listed below. Its all recorded direct.
Click to expand...
its some good playing man but it does lack room reverb and such.
i realy think that the best way to go is a miced tube amp when it comes to yer primary guit sound.
i also think that if you want to go direct that there are cheaper and better sounding ways to do it.i have a zoom 505 ll,which is a
useless pile of shit when it comes to live playing(
it does how ever make a good inline tuner)but the clean compression on this thing is great for direct.i like to do my clean ryths on this thing because the sound cant be achieved thru an amp.i think modelers have a place in the studio,just not the place where a good tube amp should be sitting.
 
Re: what is reamping

royharper3220 said:
Im not an expert,so anyone feel free to correct me.

reamping is where you run whatever track you have recorded back out through an amp and rerecord it with the amp miced.

By the way, how are you suppose to spell "miced" or is it miked?
Click to expand...
reamping is where you take a direct recorded signal and play it back thru an amp,which you then mic.waste of time,unless you are using this tech to get a specific result.why not just mic it the first time?you can however get some nice results by playin vox back thru a p.a. and micing it up.
sheppard
 
Re: Re: what is reamping

sheppard said:
reamping is where you take a direct recorded signal and play it back thru an amp,which you then mic.waste of time,unless you are using this tech to get a specific result.why not just mic it the first time?
Click to expand...

well, I guess as head of OTWA (the Official Time Wasters Association) it falls upon me to suggest the following reasons to reamp:

a) tracking with a DI enables you to keep the guitar or bass from bleeding into other tracks, but by reamping you can still get the sound of "pushing air".

b) if you have the luxury of a nice collection of guitar/bass amps, it allows you to make a choice between different amps at your leisure.

c) it allows you to experiment at your leisure with putting the amp in different positions in a room, or different rooms. It may turn out that the best sound might be obtained by putting the amp right where the drummer was.

d) you can also experiment with different mics, preamps, compressors etc. to your heart's desire without sapping the energy of the artists eager to record.

Other than that, I agree, it's a complete waste of time.
 
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