Ableton Forum

Just interested really.

I'm recording the dry signal but monitoring through GR3, then routing to another track and can record the wet through either GR3 or my outboard gear, or the mic'd up amp through the other output on the DI box. I guess it's great to keep your options open but what do you guys do, any preferred routing in Live and through your outboard gear?

What works for you and what result are you aiming for (tone, genre etc. as that probably influences your choices)

I use Amplitube X-Gear/SVX/Amplitube 2 and used to record dry, whith Amplitube as an insert effect in each guitar and bass track.
But amp sims are CPU heavy, so I regularly had to freeze tracks.
I then realised that I re-amp like - ehr - never? To me, the amp's and stomps' sound affects my playing so much, I only tweak them before I record.

Sure, I do tweak things to make the guitar parts fit in the mix, but almost exclusively outside of Amplitube. We're mainly talking panning, eq and perhaps a bit of reverb here. Maybe this is by habit. I recorded all analogue for many years and this mirros that workflow.

Anyway, since I realised this, I've been recording all guitars and basses wet. I have an input track with Amplitube as an insert and then use that track post fx as the input source for all my bass and guitar tracks. All effects except for Amplitube are still applied as inserts and/or sends on the recorded material, but this still saves me a LOT of CPU. And I kinda like the workflow. I actually think it's good to limit your options a bit.

guitar/bass -> zoom gfx-8 -> peavey pv-8 mixer with dbx 266 inserted and other outboard fx -> emu 1616m interface -> live
once the track is recorded i treat it as a sample, so no "classical" reamping, but chopping up, pitching up and down, and using fx till it no longer sounds like a guitar. sometimes i just leave the track as i recorded it, depends on the track it's in.

I always record guitar parts wet. S540 -> Pod XT -> Ultralite.

I use an old Zoom 9030 multi effect processor for lead and distorted riffs,
that goes into a behringer Xenyx 802 and then routed into Audio Card using aux send.
In this way I monitor via hardware. When using headphones I monitor through audio card so no hardware monitor. Otherwise I use to record the clean guitar into live through Xenyx 802 or by bypassing 9030. I then use only Live effects. The same is valid for Bass guitar.

- Best
- Pasha




Edited 2 times because I'm dumb and I always press enter when submit is in focus

guitars-
-2 Channels...sometimes 3...
- one coming out of the amp head-direct...
-...another mic (sm57) very close to the speaker cabinet...aimed at a speaker..
-3rd could be a room mic... usually Shure KSM44...
sometimes in the same room sometimes in the hallway...
-the direct ch is mostly used for sidechaining/ emphasizing parts...

-all fx are recorded...
(I don't like dem amp/guitar-rack emulations...
another reason is the performance is usually affected by the REAL sound coming out of the amp... )
Fender TwinVerb / small VOX amp
Dunlop HendrixWah, Yamaha Digital delay, Ibanez tubescreamer pedals ,Lexicon LXP 15ii Reverb
..all channels go through TASCAMM3500/MACKIE8BUS for recorded through MOTU24io / RME multiface

bass...
1 direct from the amp head... another 1 if I want to record fx or cabinet...
4x12" MaRSHALL cab + 17" Turbosound PA cab (!!!!)
use a Marshal DBS7000 amp to drive both

Acoustic guitar -> Laptop Microphone -> Live! Word.

guitar -> effects (if needed) -> vox da5 amp -> line out to mackie 1604 vlz -> sub outs to motu 828 -> macbook pro -> live

i usually record everything except reverb which i apply later to match the track unless the guitar sound is supposed to be washed or something. other effects though usually come before/during recording.

similar setup with bass only replace vox da5 with tube di box

mesa tube amp pedal into a ton of pedals into a millenia STT-1 channel strip into 1616m into box. basic answer: instrument pre, which i find makes all the difference in the world.

Whoa!!! So many different things.

I like the variety of hardware gear coming through. But I love the acoustic straight into Live too, why not? Keep it simple and all that.

I think generally though whats coming through is people's preferences once you've experimented for a while (or how you have played for a long time).

I've been trying this this evening and it seems to work well,

DI Box split A>gate>compressor>Ultralite>Macbook>Live
DI Box split B>Fender Twin>Rode NT1A>Ultralite>macbook>Live

This gives me two tracks one dry but via a valve amp which I can then tweak in Live with whatever effects.

The other DI but pre-gated and compressed which sounds nice and is great coupled with the amp'd sound.

Then I'm still left with all the usual routes in Live to re-record wet signals, mix them up etc.

A bit of it is horses for courses too though, the same method won't always provide the right outcome for the project i guess.

I am looking to add an EQ unit and a multi effects rack unit to my hardware gear though...I like the old Zoom unit Pasha, I've been scoping them out on EBay...I'm liking the Behringer range.

Kind of wishing I hadn't sold all those old Boss pedals....twice

I like GR3 alot, but I do miss the analogue goodness Now I'm thinking I can get the best results by mixing and matching software and hardware, digital and analogue.

one things for sure, s'fun trying it all out!

It all depends. If I'm using amp sims, I'll record dry and monitor through the sim. In that case, my signal path is:

Guitar>RK1 (the original RK used as a DI box)>first gen Kore controller>Live

If I'm using my Boogie combo, I use the recording out of that into the Kore controller.

Both have their plusses and minuses. I like the flexibility of the sims, but I like that I can get feedback at lots lower volumes using the hardware. YMMV...

ew

Wow, a real mix of different methods. Way cool.

UKR, did you get your volume issue sorted?

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like it really was a line volume issue on the Motu or in the software.

...

Guitar>Paul Reed Smith/Waves Guitar Interface>Apogee Duet. Dry signal actually gets recorded but use GTR3 to get the amps and effects.

Depends on what I'm trying to achieve and whether or not there are people/family around in my times of inspiration.

If I'm alone, I prefer to mic up my Fender Frontman amp or Roland Cube 30 with an SM57, record clean or overdriven (through Boss pedals or Zoom guitar multi FX). I tend to record less distortion than I need as that can easily be added on later with plugins if required and I find that generally speaking, you need less distortion to cut through recording than you might use live.

However, in consideration of others, I do sometimes record DI guitar, into my Alesis IO14 interface with the XLR preamps and then treat the sound with processing later. I use Steinberg Warp VST or Amplitube for distorted sounds, I also often throw on Audio Damage's Fluid chorus VST, and use compressors and EQ from various sources.

Given the choice, I would always record with mics, DI sound and processing is getting closer but never quite captures the dynamics as well.

It really is clear that there are so many ways to do it to suit different reasons, from technical reasons (like needing to control the distortion or change effects later) to social issues (like not being able to make a loud noise cos the kids are sleeping when you want to record).

It has really onyl just struck me as people list there methods, how flexible modern kit is, we really are lucky guys in that sense...if only I was 15 years younger.

Landrvr1, yep, DI Box sorted the issue allowing me to use the pad and trim on the Motu. The signal from the DiMarzio Pus on the Nez is just too hot to go straight into the Ultralite, I dont hav the same problem with the Fender.

Getting the DI Box has also allowed me to set up the routing as I described above which I am loving hard!