Guitar Effect Pedals

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fenderguy4life

New member
Quick question here. Is it okay, or proper to run my guitar through my pedal effects chain then into the audio interface before reaching my DAW? Seems fine to me so far. Just wanna check with the experts. I have my sound. Took me years to put it together. I prefer using my sounds as opposed to emulating them with DAW FX. I do use compression on the master track with the software FX. But that's about all I've found so far that adds anything useful for me. :/ At this point anyhow. I'm new to recording.
 
You answered all your own questions. Most people prefer to run the dry signal into the DAW when direct inputting so they aren't "stuck" with a certain sound. But what you're doing would be similar to mic'ing an amp which is absolutely "okay" and "proper".

You might want to think about using your effects pedals as outboard gear though, just so you can still tweak the sound when it comes time to mix. That gets a little more complicated with line level, matching impedance and what not though.

Bottom line...does it sound the way you want it to sound?
 
MarkCSmith said:
You answered all your own questions. Most people prefer to run the dry signal into the DAW when direct inputting so they aren't "stuck" with a certain sound. But what you're doing would be similar to mic'ing an amp which is absolutely "okay" and "proper".

You might want to think about using your effects pedals as outboard gear though, just so you can still tweak the sound when it comes time to mix. That gets a little more complicated with line level, matching impedance and what not though.

Bottom line...does it sound the way you want it to sound?
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The only issue I have is what you've touched on. Once my sound is in there it's there. I'm fine with that approach for now. I was more concerned with line levels, matching impedance etc. the way I have it setup. Thanks for your reply. I hadn't even considered using the pedals as outboard gear. Food for thought.
 
fenderguy4life said:
Quick question here. Is it okay, or proper to run my guitar through my pedal effects chain then into the audio interface before reaching my DAW?

I have my sound. Took me years to put it together.
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Just a small point....if you've worked on it for years, chances are that a DI to DAW wasn't the signal chain you used, and instead it was guitar to pedals to amp to speaker cab. So if you are now going direct from pedals or amp to DAW....you've already changed the sound you took years to put together. The amp into speaker cab is a big part of the sound. ;)
 
Guitar is one of those things where the effects are part of the sound, even (especially) the compression, especially with the compression before distortion. I would consider asking a guitarist to turn his reverb down or off so I have some room to adjust during mixdown, and I might try adjusting the degree of distortion, but otherwise the effects are part of the sound.

You do have to be conscious of driving the distortion too hard. Often what sounds satisfying in the room sounds washed out on playback.
 
The one thing i have learned so far is that there are guidelines, not rules. The end sound is the important part. How you get to that end sound is up to your discretion.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
Guitar is one of those things where the effects are part of the sound, even (especially) the compression, especially with the compression before distortion. I would consider asking a guitarist to turn his reverb down or off so I have some room to adjust during mixdown, and I might try adjusting the degree of distortion, but otherwise the effects are part of the sound.

You do have to be conscious of driving the distortion too hard. Often what sounds satisfying in the room sounds washed out on playback.
Click to expand...

This I have noticed. I do like my delay, compression, EQ and chorus. I have a love/hate thing going on with my BigMuff pedal in any case. But it's still better than the distortion FX I have in Sonar (for me).

Edit: Just re-read that. I should be clear. I'm only going direct. Haven't mic'd my amp yet. Just getting used to the recording process / software. I really like the factors of being able to plug in and record without upsetting the house or having them upset a recording. I'm sure I'll be venturing into mic'd recording soon. Just having fun (and a little frustration learning) the direct recording methods for now. Thanks everybody.
 
You do not say waht your AI is or how many inputs it has?
I shall assume at least two! Thus, you can use a splitter box* at the guitar output and send one signal thru your pedal route and one directly into the AI's high Z input (don't know of many that don't have one and the pedal chain can go into a straight line input).

You would then have two, discrete channels (set the DAW for two MONO tracks, not "stereo") one of which is pristine geetar and you can save that as is then fork about with it at your pleasure! One powerful technique is "re -amping" sending the dry signal back into the amp for a mic recording, with a bit of very basic electronic jiggery pokery you can even jam along with the re amped track!

*This is just 3 jacks paralleled in a tin. You seem a chap with a bit of an "experimental bent"? How are you with a solder iron and metal bashing? There are many simple gadgets you can build, most of which you just can't buy. The splitter is one but you will find such things as volume pots in boxes very handy, earth breaker transformers, (and can be use as a phase, more correctly "polarity" switch) JUST bloody switches! Stereo to two mono outs (or tother way) Passive mixers to combine outputs, can be used as a splitter but splitters should not be used as combiners. Load boxes....

Yes, do get you head around signals and levels but don't sweat about "impedance" (aka Z) hardly ever matters except for loudspeakers and then not a lot in most cases.

Dave.
 
Thanks Force of Nature. This is a bit more complex than I wanna be right now. Maybe in the future I will come back and reference this. Thanks!
 
fenderguy4life said:
Thanks Force of Nature. This is a bit more complex than I wanna be right now. Maybe in the future I will come back and reference this. Thanks!
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You are very welcome.
Might I just point out that the sobriquet "Force of nature" was one that the Mods found infinitley amusing to bestow upon me? (and one that I find rather embarrasing TBH!)

My user name is ecc83 (ef37a in another place) but I also answer to my real name of Dave!
Dave.
 
fenderguy4life said:
This I have noticed. I do like my delay, compression, EQ and chorus. I have a love/hate thing going on with my BigMuff pedal in any case. But it's still better than the distortion FX I have in Sonar (for me).

Edit: Just re-read that. I should be clear. I'm only going direct. Haven't mic'd my amp yet. Just getting used to the recording process / software. I really like the factors of being able to plug in and record without upsetting the house or having them upset a recording. I'm sure I'll be venturing into mic'd recording soon. Just having fun (and a little frustration learning) the direct recording methods for now. Thanks everybody.
Click to expand...
You'll be much happier when you mic your amp - you'll be able to get your sound. Going direct without a DI box, and some amp simulator VSTi's, I think you'll be pretty disappointed in the results.
 
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