monitoring and software patches

[jagdeep]

Hello,
Apologize if this has been asked before, but I have a two part question.
Before the question, a quick summary of my setup:
I have an HSS strat, which goes to my Boss ME 50 that goes to my soundcard in my laptop. I use headphones connected from my soundcard to listen to what I record. I use Audacity to do my home recordings.
A friend of mine recently recommended that I record clean guitar parts and then apply effects on it.This is so that one can remove unwanted noise from the clean signal before applying effects to it. So, my two questions were:

1) Given my setup, how can I achieve 'monitoring' (I can hear my effects when I play through my headphones, but a clean dry signal is being recorded by Audacity)?
2) As far as applying effects to the clean sound is concerned, how do I ensure that I can match up (sound wise) with what I have in my Boss ME-50. Are there software versions of these effects available to buy / download? E.g.: I use MT 2 for distortion, how would I match it's tone when applying an effect? trial and error? Any other recommendations?

Since I am new to this approach (have always plugged in, played and recorded), would appreciate all suggestions and answers.
Thanks.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

If by "effects" you mean your MT-2, then disregard what your friend is saying.

The school of thought behind recording guitars dry is that when using time-based effects like delay, chorus, and reverb, going dry and then adding effects allows you to synch up your effects to the timing of the track, and doesn't lock you into any FX decisions before you start mixing.

However, distortion is not a time based effect, and when people talk about recording guitars "dry" they're not talking about recording clean and not using distortion.

It IS possible to use plug-in "amp model" effects, and if you want to try to record this way, then certainly give it a try. However, generally you want to get the fundamental tone of the guitar down while you're tracking - things like gain structure and basic EQ "color" - and then add anything else you need - delay, reverb, maybe a touch of compression or a little extra EQ sculpting - later on in the mix.

I don't really know very many serious engineers who would advocate recording distorted guitar tracks by recording a clean guitar and then using a software plugin for distortion.

 

[jagdeep]

Thanks Drew. Maybe I got what he said wrong. So what you are saying is, it is only the time based effects which could /should be added later on (delay, reverb etc), but distortion is part of the basic, 'dry' recording...that makes sense to me.
1) does this mean everything other than overdrive/distortion effect can be slapped on later (harmonist, flange, delay, reverb, wah etc all seem to be time based)?
2) Any pointers on 'monitoring'?
Thanks again.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

Thanks Drew. Maybe I got what he said wrong. So what you are saying is, it is only the time based effects which could /should be added later on (delay, reverb etc), but distortion is part of the basic, 'dry' recording...that makes sense to me.
1) does this mean everything other than overdrive/distortion effect can be slapped on later (harmonist, flange, delay, reverb, wah etc all seem to be time based)?
2) Any pointers on 'monitoring'?
Thanks again.

Hmm.

1.) You can ask about a thousand different people, and get a thousand different answers. That said, the rule of thumb for me is anything you would stick in front of the amp to change the way the amp responds I'd use while recording, and anything you'd put in your FX loop, I'd add in the mix.

So, normally you'd want to add chorus in the mix... But if you dialed up a chewy, edge-of-breakup sort of guitar sound and then hit the front end with a really wobbly, chewy chorus a la Jimi Hendrix that pushed the guitar in and out of distortion (and feedback - think "Machine Gun"), then I'd say stick the chorus pedal out front. Likewise, something like a whammy pedal set as a pitch shifter and not a harmonizer, I'd hit the front of the amp wiith that as well.

Meanwhile, you don't want to delay your clean signal before it hits a distorted preamp, because that'll turn it into mush as both your original and your delayed signal get treated as one. You'd want to put it in the FX loop and while technically there's no reason you couldn't track with a delay in a FX loop (and a lot of guys will advocate doing this for tempo-timed delays in the vein of The Edge), you have a lot more flexibility if (since you don't need the delay to shape the way the preamp works) you just wait until you're done mixing and add it there, especially if you want to get into stereo repeats.

Of course, all of these are just suggestions. The how and where to apply FX is sort of a artform more than it is a science, and while these are good "default" recommendations as a starting point, don't be afraid to just do something plain wrong too see what happens. Hell, one of the more interesting guitar sounds I ever got was when I accidently hooked up a Crybaby backwards. It was normal until I clicked it on, but then suddenly my guitar tone was replaced with these horrid, chittering squeals that swooped up and down in pitch before being abruptly cut off based on arcane combinations of the rocker position, pickup selected, tone knob's position, and whether or not the humbuckers were tapped on the guitar in question. I was like, "Awesome, I HAVE to record that!"

2.) How are you monitoring now? Can you hear your playback signal while you're recording, dry, but you want to hear it with FX? I'd say don't bother - I always track dry and monitor dry. I CAN monitor through software plugins if I want to, but it adds latency, and really I don't absolutely NEED to hear a light stereo ping-pong delay on a guitar solo as I'm tracking it. I'll maybe load up a plugin into the channel so that when I play it back to evaluate after I've recorded I can get a rough picture of what it'll sound like mixed - I'm a total delay junky, lol - but I don't need it to be there while tracking. It's sort of the difference between a finished mix and a raw track, I guess (well, one of many), and I've just learned (after getting my start years ago on a system where real time monitoring was simply not an option) to "hear" what a performance will sound like when all's said and done even without FX.