Pre amp out??? does this mean line level?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rockironwebb
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rockironwebb

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I am the drummer/tech guy in our band. I own all of the recording gear and after reading a story about a guitar player blowing out a channel on his buddies mixer. I try to be pretty thoughtful before just sticking cords in my mixer. I am using an Alesis multimix 16 firewire. The way we are doing things now is trying to record guitar/bass/guitar, same time without micing amps. Unfortunately in my crappy basement dungeon studio, if I mic one amp, I am micing all three, and drums. here is how I have gotten by so far.
Guitar 1. Guitarist>effects pedals>mixer>his crate 2x12 combo amp
RESULTS>>>>not too shabby, I know this is not ideal, but for now it works.

Bass player. Bass>his bass head>direct out on head>mixer
he has direct out as well as an input for his cabinet.

RESULTS>>>>>pretty good.

Guitar 3. This is where my question is relevant. He has a dinosaur peavey 5150 halfstack. There is a preamp out on the head.
 
Not sure what happened, but anyway.
can preamp out go to my mixer?
Would I be better all the way around to just spend the money on a multi input/output DI box?
 
Preamp out usually gives a line level signal. So this can safely go to a line-level input on your mixer
 
The preamp out will almost certainly be line level, and if it is, then yes you can hook it straight up to your mixer.

Be prepared for it to sound weak though, cos most of the sound you love about a guitar comes the power amp and the speaker.


If i understand you right, you're saying micing doesn't work due to bleed from the other instruments?

You could record as you describe, then just re do the guitars separately afterwards if they sound bad.
 
Would a DI box benefit my situation? I have been hesitant to buy one or have the guys buy one. If the results with a DI box aren't better than what we are doing now then we could definately use the cash elsewhere.
 
HMM,,someone may correct me here, but you're guitar preamp is effectively a DI box in this situation.

OK,OK, so it adds it's own character and has tone controls etc, but it's takiong an instrument level input and putting out a line level signal.

IDK what the impedance is coming out of your preamp, but i'd guess a DI box wouldn't make a big difference to what you're doing.

Your options are,

1: Re record the guitar with mics after the drums are done,

2: Try to achieve separation in the room. Use heavy dense material as dividers, play with direction of the mics, lower the volumes.

3: Put the guitar mics in a different room.

4: Intentionally capture the bleed. Get everything set up so it sounds really good live, then record, sacrificing the ability to tweak the mix later.
 
Thanx for the help. I've only been involved in this whole home recording thing since February of this year.
Allthough frustrating at times, it is also very rewarding to me to learn how to adapt and work with what I got.

My wife calls it my never ending project.
 
You might want to looking into using reamping as a way to get the amp/speaker characteristics back into the recording.
This works nice because you can reamp all the guitars separately after tracking and doesn't require double tracking of the guitar parts.
 
rockironwebb said:
My wife calls it my never ending project.
Click to expand...

And so it shall remain!

Have fun. That's the easiest bit to forget.


Jaygee is right...That should be NO.5 on my list :) Do you know how to reamp?

The only difficulty with it is, the other musicians may rely on hearing 'proper' guitars when they're playing.

Amp simulators are another workaround for this.
 
you record the guitars dry wth a di box or similar, so in the live room they aren't heard.

Afterwards, you send the guitar track out of your daw, say on output 3.

Plug that into your amp, and mic up the amp. Set that mic to record to a new track in your daw.

When you hit record, the guitar amp will amplify (and tonify :p) the dry recording and your daw will capture it.

Gives you the added advantage of time and a unique perspective.
 
Steenamaroo said:
you record the guitars dry wth a di box or similar, so in the live room they aren't heard.

Afterwards, you send the guitar track out of your daw, say on output 3.

Plug that into your amp, and mic up the amp. Set that mic to record to a new track in your daw.

When you hit record, the guitar amp will amplify (and tonify :p) the dry recording and your daw will capture it.

Gives you the added advantage of time and a unique perspective.
Click to expand...
yeah .... it's handy I suppose but personally I couldn't really play well hearing a direct guitar signal. It's so dinky.

And you're right ..... in his situation the preamp out is essentially a DI. Possibly better than a DI though since it will impart at least some amp sound with it.
 
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