Re amping?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ecktronic
  • Start date Start date
ecktronic said:
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
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can you possibly get by without a DI and Remap box? sure.

but these devices are designed for this purpose and used correctly will ensure proper interfacing.

you won't need a Reamp Box if reamping at the studio and the studio has one. if the studio doesn't have one... hum :confused:

it's a good idea to have a descent DI box.

I'm not familiar with the ART stuff.

I can't say this enough... don't assume that because you are at a Professional Studio, you will get a superior outcome. if the Engineer is not experienced with your Genre, you may end up sounding like what the engineer usually mixes. I've recorded numerous bands because their Professional Studio experience and outcome did not meet their expectations. the recordings sounded good, but were not mixed for the Genre. FWIW a rule of thumb, the engineer influences more than the studio.

Be sure to bring in a CD that you like... as the mix template. Don't settle for less.

Good luck.
 
Sonixx said:
can you possibly get by without a DI and Remap box? sure.

but these devices are designed for this purpose and used correctly will ensure proper interfacing.

you won't need a Reamp Box if reamping at the studio and the studio has one. if the studio doesn't have one... hum :confused:

it's a good idea to have a descent DI box.

I'm not familiar with the ART stuff.

I can't say this enough... don't assume that because you are at a Professional Studio, you will get a superior outcome. if the Engineer is not experienced with your Genre, you may end up sounding like what the engineer usually mixes. I've recorded numerous bands because their Professional Studio experience and outcome did not meet their expectations. the recordings sounded good, but were not mixed for the Genre. FWIW a rule of thumb, the engineer influences more than the studio.

Be sure to bring in a CD that you like... as the mix template. Don't settle for less.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks again for the info.
I will be pretty hands on in the studio overseeing everything is done to the standards I am looking for. I will be looking around for a heavy rock/metal engineer, although its hard to find a great hard rock/metal engineer that isn't freelance in the UK and we can only afford an engineer that is in house as we are on a very tight budget. But I believe I can get the results I'm looking for within our budget if we are carefull. Thats why I was thinking of the re amp idea.
Yeah reference mixes will definitely be getting used when tracking.

Cheers,
Eck
 
ecktronic said:
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
Click to expand...
There are two things that you have to get straight in order to re-amp correctly:
1. Level
2. Impedance

You can adjust the level any number of ways, but if you don't have the impedance right, the amp won't react the same way as it would if you were plugging a guitar into it.
 
ecktronic said:
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.
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What pickup and tone setting do you normally play it with?

You are second-guessing yourself to death. If you really don't know what direction you are going, you might as well just play the part at the studio.

BTW, if you have passive pickups, you need to be using an active DI.


I listened to the stuff on myspace, it really doesn't sound bad. There is a general lack of midrange in the guitar tone. If you took it out in the mix,
that's great. If that's your guitar tone, I can see why you think it's muddy and harsh at the same time. Turn up the mids and shut off the 'scoop' switch. You might want to turn the gain down and turn down the mic on the bottom of the snare.
 
Farview said:
What pickup and tone setting do you normally play it with?

You are second-guessing yourself to death. If you really don't know what direction you are going, you might as well just play the part at the studio.

BTW, if you have passive pickups, you need to be using an active DI.


I listened to the stuff on myspace, it really doesn't sound bad. There is a general lack of midrange in the guitar tone. If you took it out in the mix,
that's great. If that's your guitar tone, I can see why you think it's muddy and harsh at the same time. Turn up the mids and shut off the 'scoop' switch. You might want to turn the gain down and turn down the mic on the bottom of the snare.
Click to expand...

I think my pickups are active, as when I plug line-in into my souncard the level is very hot and I have to turn down the soundcard input a good deal so it doesn't clip. I have a PRS McCarty Soapbar.

Thanks for listening to my bands myspace page.
The guitars to me are terrible on myspace. We are looking for ALOT better quality, something along the lines of old (or new) Deftones quality.

I had to scoop out the high mids as I didn't really know what a decent recorded guitar tone was back then and I used too much distortion also.

My Marshall just doesnt cut it for my style of music, tried many different settings and its all just turns out muddy lifeless and harsh to me. Im looking for really smooth high mids, tight low mids.
Ill get there on my mission for the killer recorded guitar tone. :)

Yeah the snare recordings were terrible also, so I really needed to use more of the bottom snare mic than I wanted to get any sort of high end snap. That came from lack of knowledge of recording techinques and but mostly an untuned snare.

Cheers,
Eck
 
Farview said:
There are two things that you have to get straight in order to re-amp correctly:
1. Level
2. Impedance

You can adjust the level any number of ways, but if you don't have the impedance right, the amp won't react the same way as it would if you were plugging a guitar into it.
Click to expand...

Sorry for my ignorance but what exactly is the reason for having the right impedance? I dont really know about any of this.

Eck
 
ecktronic said:
Sorry for my ignorance but what exactly is the reason for having the right impedance? I dont really know about any of this.

Eck
Click to expand...
If you have an impedance mismatch, it will throw off the frequency response. You will load down the pickup and lose high end.

If you have soapbar pickups, they are not active. Unless you have a 9 volt battery that needs to be changed every so often, you don't have active pickups. That might also be part of your tone problem. Soapbars are not the most 'metal' of pickups. They are more of a classic rock, jazz sort of thing. They are single coils, that's why you are having a problem with the Marshall.

It's a really nice guitar, but not the first choice for metal tone. Try something with some humbuckers and see if your marshall gets closer.
 
Oh, and getting back to worrying about the pickup selector and tone control position for the performance track:

At some point you just have to make a desision and live with it. If you have no idea what you are going to be reamping through and/or what settings it will have, you have no way of knowing which pickup, etc, etc... You should just do what you normally do and tailor the sound of the amp/mic/preamp/etc... to what you have laid down for the DI track.
 
Farview said:
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.
Click to expand...


then it's probably a good think that i have almost never in my life re-amped anything.

and re-amp boxes start at like 200$ wtf is up with that.
 
giraffe said:
then it's probably a good think that i have almost never in my life re-amped anything.

and re-amp boxes start at like 200$ wtf is up with that.
Click to expand...
It's kind of a trick to get the impedance to go up with the level going down. Since re-amp devices are specialty items, no one really makes a crappy one that would sell for cheap.

Decent transformers cost money. Just A/B a whirlwind imp ($30 passive) with a Radial JDI ($200 passive) and you will hear the difference.
 
I usually know which pickup I want to use for which guitar part.
 
There are two things that you have to get straight in order to re-amp correctly:
1. Level
2. Impedance

You can adjust the level any number of ways, but if you don't have the impedance right, the amp won't react the same way as it would if you were plugging a guitar into it.
Click to expand...

that being said...does anyone know of any affordable devices for dropping a balanced line level signal to a balanced mic level signal?

i'm wondering because i found an audio-technica impedance converter sitting around today that i didn't even know i had...it has a low impedance input for a microphone, and a high-impedance output to hit an amp with. as a result, i'm considering trying out a signal chain that would look something like this:

mixer mono output(balanced, line level)-->[line-to-mic level conversion]-->A-T impedance converter-->amp
 
Farview said:
If you have an impedance mismatch, it will throw off the frequency response. You will load down the pickup and lose high end.

If you have soapbar pickups, they are not active. Unless you have a 9 volt battery that needs to be changed every so often, you don't have active pickups. That might also be part of your tone problem. Soapbars are not the most 'metal' of pickups. They are more of a classic rock, jazz sort of thing. They are single coils, that's why you are having a problem with the Marshall.

It's a really nice guitar, but not the first choice for metal tone. Try something with some humbuckers and see if your marshall gets closer.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say the PRS is the problem for my distorted guitar tone, but I do see what you are saying as it isn't the first choice for hard rock/metal!
I was thinking of changing my pickups but I'm not sure its possible to change soapbar pickups.

Sounds like Impedance matching is very important then! I'll definetly be watchin the impedence now.

Cheer,s
Eck
 
Farview said:
Oh, and getting back to worrying about the pickup selector and tone control position for the performance track:

At some point you just have to make a desision and live with it. If you have no idea what you are going to be reamping through and/or what settings it will have, you have no way of knowing which pickup, etc, etc... You should just do what you normally do and tailor the sound of the amp/mic/preamp/etc... to what you have laid down for the DI track.
Click to expand...

Yeah you are totally right. I wish I knew more types of amps that suit hard rock/metal. Not realy any good shops near me that I can try any out unfortunately. :(
I know I don't want a Mesa since the other guitarist in my band has a Mesa.

Eck
 
Farview said:
It's kind of a trick to get the impedance to go up with the level going down. Since re-amp devices are specialty items, no one really makes a crappy one that would sell for cheap.

Decent transformers cost money. Just A/B a whirlwind imp ($30 passive) with a Radial JDI ($200 passive) and you will hear the difference.
Click to expand...

I did notice the expense of good DI boxes and re amp boxes woah!
I was one that was $600!! It was pretty much a DI/pre amp/re amp box all in 1 but still thats an expensive wee box.

Eck
 
ecktronic said:
I did notice the expense of good DI boxes and re amp boxes woah!
I was one that was $600!! It was pretty much a DI/pre amp/re amp box all in 1 but still thats an expensive wee box.

Eck
Click to expand...
That's 3 $200 boxes in one rack unit. Makes perfect sense.
 
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