Mic Re-pre-amping - possible ???

DeadPoet

DeadPoet

carpe diem
Hi all,

Yesterday while driving I had this idea... would it be possible to do some kind of re-amping like guitars, but with microhpone signals ? This could be a cool feature when eg. doing a live recording: you record a band with a set of clean preamps and add 'colo(u)r' later ...

Off course you'd need pre's that are so invisible you'd think there's an empty space in your rack. And then there's the signal level that'll be different when coming out of a multitrack, but you can work around that, not ?

Any comments ? Possible ? Stupid rambling of a guy that should've kept playing bass ? :cool:

Herwig
 
It could be done but IMHO, you'd get more milage out of compressors with color and EQ if you're wanting to tweek sound.
 
DeadPoet said:
Yesterday while driving I had this idea... would it be possible to do some kind of re-amping like guitars, but with microhpone signals ? This could be a cool feature when eg. doing a live recording: you record a band with a set of clean preamps and add 'colo(u)r' later ...

Off course you'd need pre's that are so invisible you'd think there's an empty space in your rack. And then there's the signal level that'll be different when coming out of a multitrack, but you can work around that, not ?

Any comments ? Possible ? Stupid rambling of a guy that should've kept playing bass ? :cool:
Click to expand...

What you're talking about is done all the time . . . to various extents.

It's most often done when you take signals direct. Like you could record your guitar and/or bass tracks using a splitter; with one split going to the amplifier (where it's mic'ed up), and the other going direct in.

Later on, should you decide the mic'ed amp version sounds like ass, you could always re-amp the direct signal and use that, instead -- or you could get real ingenious and do some combination of the two. This is very common, by the way, in studio recordings with bass guitar (using a combo of direct versus amp'ed signal).

Another popular thing is to re-amp the kick and/or snare. You can do this as a means of adding some distortion (from the amplifier), or as a means of adding some extra accoustical ambience. Like if you have a very nice, large, good-sounding room, you could stick a couple of mics in the back, and re-amp the track in question . . . blending the room mics in with the original track later on. I also like doing this with the amp at the bottom of a stairwell, with a mic or two at the top of the stairs.

Something I would really like to do a lot more of:

* Split all electric guitar signals. Send one to an amp modeler (use this to monitor over headphones), and record the other direct.

* Find the right amp model using a POD or similar modeler.

* Then rent an actual amplifier to match the POD tone you like best, and re-amp the direct signal with the real amp.

This way, you could kinda' use the POD as a means of figuring out later which amp tone works the best before you go out and borrow/rent the amplifier.

So many different combinations/possibilities available.
 
chess: I know it's common with guitar/bass tracks, but not with microphone tracks ... the drum thing seems a cool possibility.

The reason I had this thought is because I'm playing with the idea of having a mobile studio: a 24track recorder and 24 pre's (clean ones, like the lineaudio.se ones), but because most of the time you can't make *real* sonic decisions while on the road (lack of good space/speakers) I had this idea...

TR: you're probably right, microphones, comps and eek-you will have a more drastic effect on sound colour..


Herwig
 
I think I know where you're going with this.

I probably wouldn't go all-out like the idea you were toying around with. :D There would be a lot of opportunity to degrade the integrity of the audio.

The trick is to make sure you're merely blending the re-amped signal with the original. You can do a lot of cool things that way. :D Think in terms of trying something very radical with it to where it sounds kind of overboard, yet cool . . . then mixing that in with the original signal just to the point where it barely does anything to change the sound.

I get the feeling that once you master that sort of thing, you can probably safely consider yourself a pro, and it might be time to start looking for bigger and better-paying projects because you'll probably be able to command them.
 
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