The Theory of Recording Dry ???

[BluMusic]

Greetings All Knowing ~

As I have stated many times before, I am by far a great musician and a lousy sound engineer. Ok, so I came up with a couple of CDs that sound pretty good in the car and on my home system. But how I arrived at that product quality is a question mark. As most all musicians know, recording say a guitar track with your various affects has all to do with how you play your licks. I mean the shape and sound is directly connected to the attack & delay. But I'm reading in Cubase that this program doesn't process outboard affects very good and one should record a dry signal then add your affects later. This is weird to me because when I try to do this, I, can't get the same groove that I do with the affects on. So, the obvious answer is how I monitor what I'm doing. I suppose one should monitor with all the bells and whistles yet what's actually going on the track is a dry signal. I have two problems with this.

1. I guess I don't have my setup so that I can seperate the signal as such.
What I'm hearing in the phones is what's getting recorded. So, how do I
do this?
2. I don't use the packaged affects in Cubase very much, especially the
guitar stuff. I, use a Pod Pro for my guitar tracks. Even the keyboard
patches that I tend to play with have inboard affects layered on them.

So, what's a guy to do because not for nothing but when I listen back, I generally don't hear on the track what I heard going in.

Anybody got an answer for me?

Thanks,
HD

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Harley: [You don't make cycles on the side do you?]

I record with a Yam 2816--I put effects into the cans but the effects are NOT recorded. I'm sure you can do this with most any system. However, I know zip about Cubase or any other PC based system. I've been using a SIAB from the 4 trackers then 8 tracker Tascams to the MD8 and finally the Yam digital box.

Effects in the cans are beneficial, in my small opinion, especially for vocalists, as it kind of lets the talent hear a large live ambient comfortable sound--AND, this boost is NOT being recorded but helps the singer or soloist get this nice feeling of juicy sound. To me, this is good.

Now, the real art comes in mixing. I've used one reverb patch in the cans when recording and then used a different patch, with delays, and tweaking when mixing.

I think a good clean signal and a track that has enough "bump" in the volume is a good start. After that, you have many choices when you mix. Spending a few hours or a few days or a few weeks looking for the best mix is all part of recording. But, when you get that one nice CD track down solid, well, it makes you feel GOOD.

I'm sure the CUBASE folks can give you more specific info.

Happy New Year
Green Hornet

 

[BluMusic]

Hi Green ~

No, I own a couple of bikes that's all. Anyway, I understand and I'm going to fool around with separating the affects signals in the [cans] as you say tonight. But that doesn't answer the question on guitar affects. When I'm recording guitar or keyboards that have inboard contained affects on their patches, how do I record a clean dry signal with that? I should mention that my board is a Mackie CR1604 .. And the Cubase Forum seems to be closed down for some reason. Even the Recording Forum isn't up right now.

C-Ya

 

[Rokket]

If you are happy with the sounds you are getting, why try to change it just to conform? The rules for recording, at least to me, are not set in stone. I will probably be slammed for this, but to me, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I don't know much about cubase either, but it seems to me that if you assign your effects to a buss when you record, you should be able to hear them and not record them. I may be way off, since I don't record to pc. I use a digital 8 tracker like Green hornet, and the effects don't get recorded onto the tracks.
Get into your manuals, or contact the Cubase people. I'm pretty sure there is a way to record dry tracks, and they can tell you how.

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Harley:

If you are using a keyboard patch that has effects, usually, that is what you will get on the recorded track. You can amend patches, or change them to some extent on a keyboard; however, it depends on the keyboard as to whether or not you can DROP the effect, say a reverb that is part of the patch.

As to the strings/guitar, I'm not sure since I don't use guitar gear in my work; I do use string/guitar patches from the keyboard; I have folks who do record bass for some of my work; but, if you are playing through an effects type guitar unit of sorts, I'm not sure if you can remove the effect and get it to a dry state. So, I'll let the string/pros help you out there.

But, keep recording. Les Paul did great with overdubbing tracks and adding reverb to Mary Ford's vocals--so who knows what you can discover?

Cheers,
Green Hornet

 

[noisedude]

Just one Hornetto ... geeeev it to me ...

 

[Rokket]

And the Cubase Forum seems to be closed down for some reason. Even the Recording Forum isn't up right now.

Try to go on the website and look for a "Contact Us" link or something like that. You should be able to shoot an email to a tech for assistance. Or download the user's manual.


Even better, take this question to the Cubase User's Forum right here on this bbs. I bet there are some experts over there who could help you out.

 

[BluMusic]

Ok Guys ~ I think I get the picture. I like the concept of if it ain't broke. But I'm thinking that maybe it is broke. Because the reason I posted this was it appears my system processor is getting over loaded. Since I'm mostly a Fusion Guitarist, I tend to record Guitar (live) - Bass (module) - Drums (live) - Vocals and maybe on a few some keys. So I keep it simple pretty much. But when I get the wild hair up my butt to put down some electro-jazz stuff, the patches I use on keyboards is pretty heavily layered along with the Bass patches as well.
And what comes out on the tracks is not the way it sounded through my phones or monitors. So, I'm thinking that the system can't keep up with the effects and is altering my sounds. So maybe dry on whatever I can go dry on is the way.

Peace Out

 

[Rokket]

Good luck with it. Go to the Cubase forum, like I said. They can help you out. Sorry I am pretty much like a silicon boob job. Nice to look at, but pretty worthless otherwise, as far a pc direct recording.

 

[BluMusic]

Sorry I am pretty much like a silicon boob job. Nice to look at, but pretty worthless otherwise.

TOO FUNNY !!! The Cubase Forum is shut down my friend ... no help there