General Music Chat

Some use TonePorts to get that crisp 'crunch' you mentioned. Some hate it, so it's more of a personal thing than a universal rule. Mic-ing should be good enough to not affect the tone.

It's all bout the recording room. Basements/lower levels are best. No windows, tightly shut door, hung carpets/thick blankets, etc.
Also, make sure the mic is not touching anything that might move or even slightly vibrate or go in cycles. This causes unwanted noise that you will bust your balls trying to find out where it came from.

Next up is: your computer. Make sure you got a decent soundcard [e.g.: Creative's Audigy] and that nothing is running on your computer. Having a minimum of 4 Gigs of RAM as well as a minimum of 10% of your Hard Disk, should help things run smoothly. Shutting down your network connection helps and so does keeping only the minimum security programs.

There's more, but this should be enough [if you don't already know most/all of it].

I know you're going to say you love your GT-3, but how do you like it? Is it everyhting you thought it would be after buying and playing with it a while?

I have its predesessor from the early 90's (gsp legend 21) and I liked that processor alot, though you can't really run it direct because it lacks the really stiff crunch - you need to rely on an amp and speakers to get that. It seems all the new processors are coming out in pedal form (POD, GT3), etc. Are you running your GT3 thru a rackmount amp or directly into a PA system? And the DI you speak about, you don't need anything between that and your computer's audio card (Firewire board withstanding).

thanks for your feedback. I'm seriously considering investing in one,
Chris

Well, I do love my GT-3 and it was something that I've bought in a Pawn Shop for pretty cheap ($100). So, I didn't really have much expectation from it, other than hoping it would last me for a while

I recently changed my setup, to give more body to my tone. I used to plug my GT-3 directly into my mixer (worked great), but since I've updated my rack, I got creative a bit. My setup goes as follow:

GT-3 -> DI -> Expander/Gate (rack) -> Compressor/Limiter (rack) -> 24-track Mixer (Firewire Mixer/Sound Card).

The GT-3 doesn't have a grounded ouput, so I use a DI to annul the ground (only purpose).

About the "lacks the really stiff crunch" from direct recording, I hear that a lot...haha. Most ppl use too much gain, bass and treble in their Pedal settings. Allow some of the work to be done through the process of mixing. As I always say, it's easier to add, than it is to subtract! Also, if you have a pedal that doesn't have a DI output setting, it would be very, very hard to get the tone you are looking for. On the GT-3, there's no DI output setting, but there's a Headphone output setting, which works great for me. Any other output settings just doesn't do it for me...it's too high pitch and grainy. I have a small rack, but most of my mixing is done on the computer. I have all kinds of tools (plugins) that helps me get the sound I want. If you can get your hands on a BBE Sonic Maximizer (pedal or plugin), you'll be impressed on how your tone will improve, dramatically....you'll get that real stiff sound you are looking for.

Other than that, there's not much else to say! You just need to experiment a lot and have as much patience as possible ...haha! It honestly took me 2-3 months to get the perfect tone that I was looking for (a cross between Megadeth and Helloween).

Don't hesitate to ask me anything, I dig this stuff

A lot of ppl “trash talk” recording through DI, but you would be surprised on the amount of bands that are using this method to get the exact tone they are looking for.

I absolutely agree. I rarely use my amp when I recording. I usually go right into ProTools and let the engineer make me sound good.

I ussually track with a POD PRO straight into the board then supplement that later with amps, works great for me, sometimes the POD tracks are as good as the amp tracks.

Some use TonePorts to get that crisp 'crunch' you mentioned. Some hate it, so it's more of a personal thing than a universal rule. Mic-ing should be good enough to not affect the tone.

Looked it up on youtube (man, youtube is such a great thing for learning). I think I'd rather supplement my existing setup with something. Anyone have an opinion on Boss pedals? I've always steared away from them because they seemed cheesy when i first learned about them - I don't know where I got that notion but I'm still somewhat skeptical - they seem pretty popular tho.

Thanks!
Chris

I ussually track with a POD PRO straight into the board then supplement that later with amps, works great for me, sometimes the POD tracks are as good as the amp tracks.

What do you mean "supplement" them? Are you talking about re-recording with an amp on a second track? I don't quite get it.

On a side note, I've been learning tons on the net researching this topic, and I really apprecaite all this great feedback. Tone is affected sooooo much by volume, room dynamics, etc. I can see how incredibly hard it is to find that sweet spot live as well as on recording.

I was in a studio a while back with my guitar plugged into my legend 21, driving some large speakers and turned way up, the grind was really impressive. I loved that tone. Turned down, it was wimpy. Such a difference. I can't imagine micing something at that volume and being able to hear any backing tracks to play against... what a challenge!

so i'm thinking a distortion or overdrive pedal to supplement my gsp at low volumes for recording. No idea if that will work, but I'll be sure to post my interpretation of the results.

thanks.
chris

*snip*
Other than that, there's not much else to say! You just need to experiment a lot and have as much patience as possible ...haha! It honestly took me 2-3 months to get the perfect tone that I was looking for (a cross between Megadeth and Helloween).

Don't hesitate to ask me anything, I dig this stuff

doh, you shouldn't have made that offer. Now I'm sure to bug you relentlessly

Thanks for the great info. I'm looking up that BBE Sonic Maximizer as I type now.

Chris

haha, no worries, man! I might be able to help you out, if you are looking for the plugin version of BBE!

Chris,

When we track or cut scratch tracks I use the POD, cause its easier than having another noisemaker in the room somewhere. We mic drums live in a seperate room, the bassist and I line in and the singer has his own room.

The POD PRO has a direct lineout that is just the uneffected guitar signal, plus the one that goes thru the preamp. You can take the naked signal and put it back thru the POD and Re AMP for different amp sounds, or I bring in a couple of amps na dmic them up. I havent tryed it yet, but we could route that naked signal back to a real amp and mic it up. Its pretty cool. A lot of studios have those little kidney bean pod pedals laying around, cause they do sound good. I imagine if truth be told a lot of radio hits have used just the POD for the guitar tones, mainly for convenience.

Theres reallly no right way. Try stuff if you have time and find out what works for you.

Im sure folks have heard the song Crazy On You by Heart. The nasty guitar line that comes in on the top of the acoustic guitar is just a straight signal from a guitar into the board jacked up to push the tape into saturation. You cant do that with digital stuff it will sound horrible.

Im sure you could take a distortion pedal straight into a mixer board and get a workable tone.

Just experiment if you can and let others know the results.