Recording guitar tracks: Using effects pedals vs. adding plugin effects, afterwards, within a DAW?

I don't really like the OD type of plugins that I have, so I use my pedals, and the vibe, wah and chorus. For compression I'll go ITB. Reverb goes both ways. I've done some stuff with my old Line6 PODxt in lieu of an amp.
 
I might use a compressor pedal, mostly because I prefer to have it before distortion, delays etc. Compression for the mix is a different thing, but a compressed and distorted guitar probably won need much in the mix.

It's nice to have some reverb while playing, but I prefer to set that up as an effect that doesn't get recorded and add it bank later. If it's part of the recording, it can interfere with editing.
 
I have the ability to record amps so that's what I do but there are a lot of 'bedroom' productions using amp sims that sound perfectly acceptable (depending on genre) however from what I have read/heard a good IR loader and speaker IRs are required to get it 'right'. I would guess that there is some sort of learning curve involved , but it should be doable and for many, easier than mic'ing an amp.
 
There's really no difference to how I track guitars now with the Strymon Iridium as opposed to mic'ing amps (which I will still do from time to time). I rarely use compression before the amp for rhythm guitars - but I will plug in the Barber Tone Press in front of the Iridium for most lead guitar stuff.

I do also tend to add reverb while I record - but it never gets printed. Reverb and delay always get added later so I'm not stuck with anything at the tracking phase.
 
In many ways the sound you create through using effects can become somewhat of an extension of the instrument itself. Dirt is a great example, but delay and modulation effects can also have an influence on the performance itself. Distortion (or fuzz or overdrive if you like) is a bit more critical, imo. Your playing dynamics and how you allow the notes to sustain while you're playing will change depending on the gain structure of your sound. I think it's critical to have that sound in the right ballpark to be able to pull off a performance with the right feel. There's a feedback loop between your brain and the guitar, amp and any effects that you want in the chain that affects what your fingers do with the performance.

If you wanted to have something you could use to reamp, I guess you could use a DI box to split the signal so you have something dry with no effects on it to use. But then you'd probably still want to have a conventional amp set up to monitor through while you play, so you have a sound. It's rare for someone to just plug into a recording console and print that sound. It's not a conventional sound. I say rare because sometimes people do it, but I think it's usually to get that unconventional sound, not to turn it into something different after the fact. If there's no amp (or profiler, modeler, IRs, effects chain etc...) to monitor when you print the track, it's a very different feel.

Another consideration would be the order of your effects chain. Anything that you would typically use in an effects loop might be safe enough to apply after the fact. If the effect is wah or univibe, or something that typically wants to see your guitar's input signal before the rest of your pedal chain in front of the amp, it's not going to sound the same after the fact.
 
You have to 'feel' the voice of your guitar as you play.
Hearing just a weak clean voice will not help you interact with the bad-ass dirty processed voice.
 
let’s be honest. If we don’t have our individual sound we’ll play like crap.

When our tone is golden, the magic of playing is there sometimes even to the point of playing better than we thought we could.

So even if we don’t ‘print’ to the daw, at least set it up to inspire.

Pedals, plugins, what ever nails your tone is good.
And with the magic of a daw you can get a processed sound as well as a dry sound that you can alter later.

But the important part is you getting a guitar tone that inspires.

Excuse my rambling, I’m not saying anything you don’t already know.
 
I mostly do my pedals as physical pedals.

I think the important distinction is going to be your workflow tho.
If you're recording actual amplifiers, using virtual pedals complicates things because then you have to start thinking about re-amping and the more complicated gain staging that comes with that. Plus, you're running through your A/D converters an additional time
If you're using virtual amps, it hardly matters.
 
Electric guitar is such versatile instrument...
The whole point of "squash boxes" and gain options is to cover the entire spectrum from sweet and clean, to holy shit what the fuck is that!?
Since your "style" is always going to shine through, the function of a DAW is to simply make your guitar sit well in a mix.
When I'm sound checking my guitars, my goal is to record them with a minimum of editing in the DAW. If I'm too bright in the mix, I try re-EQing my amp first.
Recording both dry and wet trax simultaneously is a very useful practice; That's why I use a looper in "front" of my effects ;)
 
Thank you all for the replies. They've been interesting to read. The concensus here reflects my own conclusions; I feel I need to be hearing what the final sound should be like, while I'm actually playing it. I think I may start splitting the guitar signal, so I end up with one track containing the ouput of my pedals, and another with the unprocessed sound. Then, the clean track can be modified with plugins, if I change my mind about what the guitar part should sound like.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top