I've looked into amp simulators and impulses, as suggested. The problem is as I'm sure you all know that all the free ones are .VST. Unfortunately, I'm running Protools 9 on
a MacPro which uses RTAS.. I've done some research and Fxpansion makes an adapter that converts vst to rtas, however most people are having a lot of issues with compatibility when using it with Protools 9. It is supported for PT7 and 8 and people have said it works with PT9, but others are saying it doesn't, or when it does it crashes constantly..
I am upgrading to Protools 10 soon, as well as my operating system to Lion 10.8+ (currently running 10.6.8). There is NO compatibility with fxpansion vst to rtas in Protools10 yet. They said they are working on it, but I don't want to spend $100 to get it and it not even work with PT9, let alone PT10.
We will be getting
a Peavey 5150 head and a 2x12 Orange cab probably (good deal on them). I own SM57 mics, will an SM57 mic do the job? For what I need (metal sounding guitars), where is the best mic placement for an SM57. (assuming that we are using EMG 81/85 active pickups, Tube screamer pedal and pumping the amp loud to work the tubes) I have an amp box that I made (4' tall by 4' deep by 4' wide) completely surrounded by that soundproof triangle foam that the cab will be in.
Also, what preamp would you guys recommend. I'd be willing to spend up to $1000. (I currently own the FMR -RNP running into my digi002 rack which sounds great, but I feel like there's others that may be better for what I need, or my current preamp is fine and is up to par with anything in the $1000 price range.)
Thanks
Wow. That was a healthy change in direction. Let me start by what you are doing right:
Re-recording the guitars: Good call. I'm sorry you recorded 10 tracks thru that Fender. I would hope that at some point before you finished all 10 you would have realized that it wasn't doing the job. Luckily, you realized that your musical baby is worth the effort, and for that I applaud you. Why put effort and care into anything only to be happy when it turns out mediocre?
Peavey 5150: A little old school but good for the job, especially when paired with a tubescreamer. 5150's tend to snarl a little bit in the upper-mids, so it won't sound quite as modern as a 6505, but it will definitely be mean and aggressive. The tubescreamer will tighten it up. My advice for tuning the tubescreamer is as follows: Volume all the way UP. Gain all the way DOWN, or up just a tad. Tone tuned to taste, but I usually have it somewhere around 2 to 3 'o clock.
Now here is where I'm not feeling it:
Orange 2x12: Orange makes great cabs, and this one I'll admit I may be speaking out of turn, but you generally need a 4x12 to get the nice low-end that makes a metal guitar track sound aggressive.
Amp Box: Fuck no. Say goodbye to that shit. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT put a box in front of the amp. That will NOT make your tone sound better. That's going to make it muddy, undefined, and rumbly. What you need to do is place the cab in a room where the sound can open up and has room to expand. Living rooms work great, and even a bedroom can suffice if the amp has plenty of open space in front of it to fire out sound before it hits an object. If possible, do not have it firing directly at a wall. If you have some stuff that the sound can hit before it hits the wall (couch, TV, Xbox 360, cat) that will work for your purposes.
Pre-amp: To be honest, what you have is more than adequate. You will not notice a difference in sound quality if you upgrade pre-amps from what you currently have, unless you are ready to drop over $2000 on a custom boutique pre-amp or over $5000 on a studio-level desk. And even then the difference would be like going from getting an A 97% on a test to getting an A 100%. Let me just repeat that to make sure you understand it. The difference is so miniscule that you should not do it. What you have is more than enough for the job. In fact, I question the idea of slaving the FMR (which is an awesome pre) into the digi rack. Are you doing it thru an XLR cable or are you properly bypassing the pre in the digi rack with a line cable? Make sure you have your signal chain set up right because otherwise your recording quality will actually suffer from going thru multiple gain stages.
If I may, I'm going to break down the importance of all the elements in your signal chain to getting a professional sounding track, and trust me with these percentages - I'm not trying to "send a message" this is honest to goodness what I've learned over the years and what others who know their stuff will tell you as well.
Competent musician who knows his parts - 50%
quality guitar with new strings, quality amp, quality cab - 20%
Proper placement of said instrument in the room - 15%
Proper microphone placement in front of said instrument - 14%
Making sure said competent musician is comfy and has had breakfast that day - 1%
The name on the microphone - 0%
The name on the preamp - 0%
The name of the software you are running - 0%
The name of your guitar player - 0%
Now obviously, there are some base-lines here. For example. Recording with a $25 computer mic that you talk into when you are playing WoW with your buddies is not going to work. I'm assuming no one is going to call me out on those ridiculous worst cases.
That being said. The rest of my argument still stands. I am a firm believer that the musician matters first and foremost, than the instrument, than the placement of the instrument, and then the placement of the microphone.
If you get that 5150 turned up nice and loud, in a room where the sound has some room to expand before reflections start firing back and at you and killing your tone (aka you don't put it in the amp box of death), and have a single SM57 on the right spot, you are FULLY capable of getting a pro-tone.
If you need a starting point, I recommend pointing the mic directly at the border between the paper and cone, on axis, about 1.5 - 2 inches away from the speaker. I find that distance tends to prevent and issues with the proximity effect.
