Re amping?

[ecktronic]

I'm thinking of a way to save time and money when my band go to record our album in a commercial studio and I was wondering what yous think of my idea.

I was thinking of recording all the guitar and bass parts straight DI at our own studio then bring these into the commercial studio and re amp the parts.

It seems to me like a great idea, the only thing I'm worried about is the fact that we would be using Firepod to record the DI parts. Do you think it would make a big difference if we got a better pre amp to record DI?

We are going for a professional sounding album so would using a better pre amp at the DI stage make for better quality re amping?

Cheers,
Eck

 

[Farview]

You should be fine with a normal preamp as long as you get a clean recording. The idea is to get the sound of the pickup as cleanly as possible. Some really nice preamps have a sound that they put on everything you run through it, you don't want that for re-amping.

Also, make sure the studio has the amps you want to use, otherwise you're wasting your time.

 

[ecktronic]

You should be fine with a normal preamp as long as you get a clean recording. The idea is to get the sound of the pickup as cleanly as possible. Some really nice preamps have a sound that they put on everything you run through it, you don't want that for re-amping.

Also, make sure the studio has the amps you want to use, otherwise you're wasting your time.

Thanks Fairview.
We will be using our own amps. 1 is a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier so there should be no problems there. My amp is a Marshall JCM2000 DSL 50, but I will be getting a new amp for the recordings. Still not sure what to get.

I thought of a problem with my idea. I wont be able to change the guitar or guitar pickup selector or tone knob. Bah Not sure what to do here.

On a plus though doing it this way means we can EQ before the amp which could really help us get the right recorded tones.

Eck

 

[Elton Bear]

Could you not record with each pickup separately, get a few sounds and take the whole bunch to the studio to re-amp and mix & match sounds in the mix?

 

[Simman]

If you are going through the expense of going into a studio I don't see any real savings in your re-amp idea. In fact, you could end up spending more time trying to get it to "sound" right. I'd recommend just record everything at the studio. If you want to save time and money, before going to the studio, rehearse, rehearse, & rehearse some more. This may seem obvious but, having everyone KNOW their parts (i.e., being able to nail them) as well as the arrangement will save you more time (& money) in the long run IMHO.

 

[ecktronic]

Could you not record with each pickup separately, get a few sounds and take the whole bunch to the studio to re-amp and mix & match sounds in the mix?

That would take alot of time, but yeah its definitley an option I will keep in mind.

Thanks,
Eck

 

[ecktronic]

If you are going through the expense of going into a studio I don't see any real savings in your re-amp idea. In fact, you could end up spending more time trying to get it to "sound" right. I'd recommend just record everything at the studio. If you want to save time and money, before going to the studio, rehearse, rehearse, & rehearse some more. This may seem obvious but, having everyone KNOW their parts (i.e., being able to nail them) as well as the arrangement will save you more time (& money) in the long run IMHO.

Yeah we are going to have all the tempo tracks and guide tracks all ready before going into the studio, and also have ideas for overdubs and production ideas etc.

It will save us a good bit of time and money and it should yield better results also as we will have plenty time playing about with amp settings and mic techniques to get the best tones we can get from our amps and guitars.

Re amping is pretty much exactly the same quality as if recording normally isn't it? I don't know enough about re amping.

Thanks,
Eck

 

[giraffe]

i think it's a good idea if the song will require a lot of git overdubbing, otherwise there will be no real savings in time.
have fun in the studio.

 

[ecktronic]

i think it's a good idea if the song will require a lot of git overdubbing, otherwise there will be no real savings in time.
have fun in the studio.

Say it takes 5 takes to get a guitar part bang on in the studio.
If we had all the files ready DI recorded then we would save that time on the 5 takes, it would only take 1 take for each part once we had found the right tone.

I think it would save us a lot of time, but I'm wondering if it will yield the same results as if recorded normally.

Thanks,
Eck

 

[giraffe]

yea, same results.
do they have a re-amp box? do you?

you can just run a passive di backwards, but have been told that this is not the best possible solution.
not sure why really, i just use a passive di backwards.

hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in here.

 

[antichef]

Re amping is pretty much exactly the same quality as if recording normally isn't it? I don't know enough about re amping.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently (not doing it, but thinking about it ) -- it seems like the one thing missing would be the feedback interaction between the amp and the guitar. This may not be an important factor (depending on the style of music/playing/etc.), but could be. If you were playing/recording the tracks while using a re-amping device into your amp, you could still get the feedback loop, and the altered output of the guitar would be captured accordingly, even if it was specific to your amp and setup.

Anyway, my limited experience in the studio indicates that most of the time is spent on vocals and drums, and it's pretty easy to get a good guitar track, and benefit from the engineer's tracking experience, too. So, not a big time saver, I suppose. But if there are a bunch of cool amps you want to try out, it could be interesting.

 

[Farview]

I thought of a problem with my idea. I wont be able to change the guitar or guitar pickup selector or tone knob. Bah Not sure what to do here.

Just play it like you normally would, with the pickup you would normally use. Nothing magical will happen at the studio that will change everything. You are making this out to be much harder than you need to.

On a plus though doing it this way means we can EQ before the amp which could really help us get the right recorded tones.

What is wrong with your tone now? Now that I think about it, what's wrong with the Marshall?

Before you start running around trying to get a 'better' guitar sound, you have to figure out what a better sound is. You have to at least know what you don't like about the sound you have.

 

[Farview]

yea, same results.
do they have a re-amp box? do you?

you can just run a passive di backwards, but have been told that this is not the best possible solution.
not sure why really, i just use a passive di backwards.

hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in here.

It's because a DI box is designed to take a high impedance line level signal and bring down the impedance and level to that of a mic signal. When you hook it up backwards, you are taking a line level signal (not a mic signal) and raising the impedance and level even more and trying to jam that into your amplifiers input.

 

[ecktronic]

yea, same results.
do they have a re-amp box? do you?

you can just run a passive di backwards, but have been told that this is not the best possible solution.
not sure why really, i just use a passive di backwards.

hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in here.

Never heard of a re amp box.
I have never re amped myself only hrad about it on this forum.

I thought all I would need to do was to take an output from the soundcard into an amp then mic it up and then record into the soundcard.
Does that sound right?

Cheers,
Eck

 

[ecktronic]

I've been thinking about this a lot recently (not doing it, but thinking about it ) -- it seems like the one thing missing would be the feedback interaction between the amp and the guitar. This may not be an important factor (depending on the style of music/playing/etc.), but could be. If you were playing/recording the tracks while using a re-amping device into your amp, you could still get the feedback loop, and the altered output of the guitar would be captured accordingly, even if it was specific to your amp and setup.

Anyway, my limited experience in the studio indicates that most of the time is spent on vocals and drums, and it's pretty easy to get a good guitar track, and benefit from the engineer's tracking experience, too. So, not a big time saver, I suppose. But if there are a bunch of cool amps you want to try out, it could be interesting.

Yeah I don't think that the natural feedback from the guitar to the amp are needed for us.

Cheers,
Eck

 

[ecktronic]

Just play it like you normally would, with the pickup you would normally use. Nothing magical will happen at the studio that will change everything. You are making this out to be much harder than you need to.

maybe I am. From my experience changing the pick up selector and also making small tweaks in tone knob can make a huge difference in the recorded tone. Ive never re amped before though.

What is wrong with your tone now? Now that I think about it, what's wrong with the Marshall?


Before you start running around trying to get a 'better' guitar sound, you have to figure out what a better sound is. You have to at least know what you don't like about the sound you have.

I hate any tone I have recorded with my marshall JCM2000 DSL50. It always sounds muddy, harsh and not very present no matter what I try. Ive spent a good while trying to get a decent distorted sound from my marshall with no luck.
My band play hard rock/metal (www.myspace.com/serotoneband)
The 1st song on our player is our new recordings if anyone fancies a quick listen to the gutiar tones Ive managed to get so far.

Cheers,
Eck

 

[ecktronic]

It's because a DI box is designed to take a high impedance line level signal and bring down the impedance and level to that of a mic signal. When you hook it up backwards, you are taking a line level signal (not a mic signal) and raising the impedance and level even more and trying to jam that into your amplifiers input.

Would turning down the fader on the channel to be re amped not work fine as a line out straight into the guitar amp?

Eck

 

[DAS19]

You can do that too its just better with the reamp box.

 

[Sonixx]

Tracking the Guitars and Bass ahead of time may not be much of a time/$$$ saver. what time is saved during tracking could be lost mixing and the amps still have to be tracked using the DIs

it will be fun for you and worth your time as a learning experience to track the DIs

you may be able to use all/some of the DIs. maybe you'll be lucky

you'll need a DI box like a Littlelabs Redeye or Radial

the studio will need the Reamp box like a Littlelabs Redeye or Radial

I don't think the Firepod will make much of a difference as long as the rest of the chain is correct and gain staged correctly

track to a click

if you track at the studio, record a DI also

a Professional Studio does not ensure an outcome that you will like. make sure the engineer fully understands what you want and has experience with your genre.

 

[ecktronic]

Tracking the Guitars and Bass ahead of time may not be much of a time/$$$ saver. what time is saved during tracking could be lost mixing and the amps still have to be tracked using the DIs

it will be fun for you and worth your time as a learning experience to track the DIs

you may be able to use all/some of the DIs. maybe you'll be lucky

you'll need a DI box like a Littlelabs Redeye or Radial

the studio will need the Reamp box like a Littlelabs Redeye or Radial

I don't think the Firepod will make much of a difference as long as the rest of the chain is correct and gain staged correctly

track to a click

if you track at the studio, record a DI also

a Professional Studio does not ensure an outcome that you like. make sure the engineer fully understands what you want and has experience with your genre.

Thanks man.
I suppose its a good idea for us to DI the tracks at our own studio then bring them into the studio and try out re amping and also try out normal recording. This gives us the most options.

So would you say I definitely want to get a DI box and a re amp DI box?
What could be the outcome if I didn't use these boxes, and could I not sure a DI box as a re amp box?

One for question, sorry. Could I use a box like the ART Tube pre amp as a DI box or would it be best to use a dedicated DI box?

Thank you,
Eck