guitar observations and a few questions

[RobScruggs]

One of these days I'm going to sit down and write a long letter to all the good friends out there in Taxi world. Just like NEIL sang. Until then here's a short letter so I can get back to recording some stuff before my girl says "You've been on the computer too long."

Taxi is worth the sign up fee for the feedback alone. PERIOD.

Then you throw in all resources and it's well worth it. Here's just one example for me to pass it forward.

My initial guitar recordings sounded a tad "muddy". No problem. I didn't know that until I got the feedback from the Taxi Team. I knew I had to
step up my guitar tone in computer world. That lead me to looking into current day amp modeling software. I don't normally plug stuff but I went out and bought
Amplitube 4. It's pretty sick. I went with the Orange amp edition. But they have every amp and cab modeled from Mesa, to Fender, to Dr Z!!!!
You name it. Anyway I hope the guitars sound better.

Michael mentioned 18 century country landscape painting as a metaphor for the aural landscape. Is an entire painting like an entire song?
Like where we focus our attention on the piece? Should the vocals be the most upfront thing? Do distorted guitars belong more in the background? Are hard pans on guitars a bad idea?

Ok back to recording

your fellow passenger
RLS

[Ted]

I had the same issue as a guitarist. I have some nice tube amps but it's not practical for me to try to use them for recording. But when I 'd try to use any of the high gain sounds from the stock Logic X plug-ins, I would get a horrific screeching/feedback type sound anytime I would mute the strings. I messed around with noise gate settings endlessly to no avail. I have no idea why this was happening.

I was in the market for a new interface anyway-- and the two that I was looking at (Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 and IK AXE I/O) came with either Guitar Rig 5 Pro or Amplitube 4. I watched a lot of demos and felt the Guitar Rig had better high end while the Amplitube had more low end oomph. I was really intrigued by the AXE !/O interface being tailored especially for guitarists-- but in the end I went with the NI interface and Guitar Rig mostly because I found some of the ambient guitar effects presets to be amazing and I could see them workiing in cinematic cues.

I went back to some of my tracks that I had recorded inititally with Logic plug-ins and re-amped them internally through Guitar Rig and they sound great.

I really would like to eventually get Amplitube 4-- some of the add on amps sound great. I was impressed with the Fender amps and also the Dimebag Darrell amp. The way their "store" works is a little weird, but I'll have to try them out.

[BradGray]

The amp modelling available is incredible. Also check out the Impulse responses available, as you can also emulate various guitar cab's as well.

As much as I love what's available modelling, micing a real amp will always give you something unique to you. Like a landscape painting, "it depends" on where and how you should choose to use it. If the guitar is a bit more up front, you could go more real. If it's more in the background, you could go modelling. You can mix and match, as in the end, it's all about the big picture, and not just the tone of a single instrument.

That said, I like both. But I happen to have a couple of good amps that really help with some of the tones I'm looking for - a '66 Fender Pro Reverb, and a Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister. Both are good amps, the fender is just beautiful - but not for everything. =)

HTH,
Brad

[Kolstad]

I think it is genre and style dependent. Listeners in some genres dont like digital sounds, and in other genres it is less important. I wouldnt do Americana tracks on a modeller, but using Guitar Rig for eg. trailers would be fine. So the right tool for the work is important. Today we have more tools to work with, and that is just great. If you are careful, you might be fine either way, but it is important to know the expectations of the listener and end users. I dont like discussions where this is absent, cause listeners do know. They might not be able to tell you, but people talk with their feet if they dont like something.

[RobScruggs]

Thanks for responding everyone. I see these considerations!! Indeed there is a limit to the modeling realism.
Also the pickups are key too. I have bareknuckle riff raffs in my guild and it's pretty tasty with the Orange amps.
Almost a Steve Howe Asia tone if you can believe it!!!!

[Krakoukask]

Hey there!

I do agree that nothing will replace mic-ing a good amp. The way the amp reacts to your playing is a thing on its own. But guitar plugins/sims have gotten a looooong way and they sound great!

I personally fell in love with the Neural DSP plugins (I use the Nolly Plugin as well as the Plini one).
The pros would be that it takes no time to setup and get a more than descent sound.

There are plenty of plugins for you to try and most of them have a trial period that should be enough for you to test the grounds.

I suppose if you're into "quick production" these plugins make a lot of sense and practically cost nothing with respect to getting that sound from an actual amp and mic-ing it.

Cheers