The Tone Thread

[Greg_L]

Just trying to think how I could do this.

Run a cable from your emulated out to your interface. Monitor with that. The feed going to your cab impulse can be muted. It will still record.

[JD01]

Just trying to think how I could do this.

Run a cable from your emulated out to your interface. Monitor with that. The feed going to your cab impulse can be muted. It will still record.

[Minerman]

Run a cable from your emulated out to your interface. Monitor with that. The feed going to your cab impulse can be muted. It will still record.

And if you only wanna monitor that feed, right click on the record arm button for that track, & select "Disable Recording: Monitor Only"...

This is how I use 2 drum modules to record into a single track, without having to glue/stack/merge any of that shit...I have 3 tracks: module 1, module 2 & a folder, send the 2 module tracks to the folder, & record the output of the folder itself, voila turn 2/3 tracks into 1...

If your interface has extra outputs, I highly recommend a re-amp box dude, if you can get the di/performance recorded, you'll have both hands free to tweak the amp/mic/whatever, & be able to hear how it sits in your mix all at the same time...

[JD01]

Last one of the day. Custom and PRS, my usual amp settings with a Mesa cab impulse from Greg.

Punky Tone Test - Mesa.mp3

[Greg_L]

Last one of the day. Custom and PRS, my usual amp settings with a Mesa cab impulse from Greg.

Punky Tone Test - Mesa.mp3

I don't know about the reverb, but it's okay I guess. Not bad.

The bigger issue is you stole another fucking riff off me. Are you hacking my harddrive or something?

[WhiskeyJack]

I was able to get feedback with my POD and monitors but i had to track it separately fro mthe main rhythms and use Line 6's cheeseball tubescreamer sim with the gain cranked.

it worked. it sounded kinda of sad, but it worked.

[WhiskeyJack]

Last one of the day. Custom and PRS, my usual amp settings with a Mesa cab impulse from Greg.

Punky Tone Test - Mesa.mp3

I like the tones you are getting from your IR's dude. i am sure you are gonna find a home for all these things.

[JD01]

Last one of the day. Custom and PRS, my usual amp settings with a Mesa cab impulse from Greg.

Punky Tone Test - Mesa.mp3

I don't know about the reverb, but it's okay I guess. Not bad.

The bigger issue is you stole another fucking riff off me. Are you hacking my harddrive or something?

LOL, Gerg loves the 4 chord Phrygian punk!

These direct tracks seem to react with the reverb impulse a lot more than the normal tracks - I don't know if there's a hint of verb inherant in the cab impulse but I've swapped two or three old tracks for direct recordings with impulses now and I've had to dial the verb back on all of them.. They're also really, really loud!

[JD01]

Last one of the day. Custom and PRS, my usual amp settings with a Mesa cab impulse from Greg.

Punky Tone Test - Mesa.mp3

I like the tones you are getting from your IR's dude. i am sure you are gonna find a home for all these things.

Most importantly they allow me to track at all hours and I don't always have it in the back of my mind that I'm gonna piss the neighbours off.

[rammer24]

Most importantly they allow me to track at all hours and I don't always have it in the back of my mind that I'm gonna piss the neighbours off.

I could have sworn you discouraged me from that line of thinking a few pages ago.

[JD01]

Most importantly they allow me to track at all hours and I don't always have it in the back of my mind that I'm gonna piss the neighbours off.

I could have sworn you discouraged me from that line of thinking a few pages ago.

Do as I say, not as I do!!!

You're right though - I'm gonna try and stay in the habit of actually practicing my parts before recording them instead of practicing by tracking over and over again.

[WhiskeyJack]

I could have sworn you discouraged me from that line of thinking a few pages ago.

Do as I say, not as I do!!!

You're right though - I'm gonna try and stay in the habit of actually practicing my parts before recording them instead of practicing by tracking over and over again.

I could benefit from that too.

I like the tones you are getting from your IR's dude. i am sure you are gonna find a home for all these things.

Most importantly they allow me to track at all hours and I don't always have it in the back of my mind that I'm gonna piss the neighbours off.

Thats fair. You are a good neighbor. Hats off to JD.

[rammer24]

I'm gonna try and stay in the habit of actually practicing my parts before recording them instead of practicing by tracking over and over again.

I actually write/practice/record all at once almost all the time. I will rehearse a part, but it never hurts to have the record button engaged. I'm often recording as I'm arranging.

[JD01]

I'm gonna try and stay in the habit of actually practicing my parts before recording them instead of practicing by tracking over and over again.

I actually write/practice/record all at once almost all the time. I will rehearse a part, but it never hurts to have the record button engaged. I'm often recording as I'm arranging.

I used to do that too but I always ended up with song fragments all over the place that were a cunt to mix. So when I've done the arrangement I insert markers for all of the sections in Reaper, practice it a bit and then do all of the parts again in single takes.

I'm a bit better at mixing now so maybe I wouldn't have the problems I used to have... but still, I enjoy doing the final continuous takes.

[rammer24]

Everybody has their way of working. I never use markers, envelope automation, or any of that. I really use REAPER like a simple tape recorder on my computer. I have a project called "Scrap" where I just lay down any idea that pops into my head. I just pick up my guitar and record the idea right away, out of tune guitar and all. When I'm actually working on a song, I've already written 75% of it in my head. So, even though I will experiment, I pretty much already know what I'm going to be playing, more or less.

[Minerman]

These direct tracks seem to react with the reverb impulse a lot more than the normal tracks - I don't know if there's a hint of verb inherant in the cab impulse but I've swapped two or three old tracks for direct recordings with impulses now and I've had to dial the verb back on all of them.. They're also really, really loud!

I've noticed ampsim/impulse tracks seem to need way less reverb than my amp'd tracks...dunno why, but they do...

Shan: I'm assuming you were running your POD into your interface, I was always lucky to be able to use my POD as my interface with the Line 6 vst's in the daw, even with the little GuitarPort interface I had for a while...My point is, if you can get a good di, there are lots of ways to get the tone...

Rami: That's cool the way you do your thing man, I've often wondered how you guys do your thing...While I'm an effect & automation junkie, I can say I know why you don't use automation in your mixes: you don't really need it because you track the old-school way with your dynamics in your playing/performance...Even if I fucked the mix up on your song, I gotta say it honestly didn't need much at all after getting the levels halfway decent...

Myself, I automate the fuck outta everything, like for a guitar solo/break, I'll nudge the lead up a db or so & drop the rhythm gtrs down a hair via automation...For my vocals, most times I go through each phrase, nudging sometimes each word up/down where I think it needs it, with your tracks, it wasn't really needed...A compressor will help on that, but I'm pretty picky, too much sometimes, but I love this shit...

Same thing with bass, guitars, whatever, if I think a certain part needs to stand out, I'll automate the volume on 'em a little, then drop it back down when the song goes to the next part...Sometimes I'll automate the bass to keep growing in volume through the whole song, like the band's playing harder/louder as the song goes along...

Again, I'm too picky, but I love this shit & right now, I'm doing what I've wanted to do my whole life: stay home & play/live/eat/sleep/breathe music...It sucks that I almost died to get where I'm at now, but I'm having a blast, I'm like a teenager again, only I know better now than to get out & get into trouble...

[rammer24]

Rami: That's cool the way you do your thing man, I've often wondered how you guys do your thing...While I'm an effect & automation junkie, I can say I know why you don't use automation in your mixes: you don't really need it because you track the old-school way with your dynamics in your playing/performance...Even if I fucked the mix up on your song, I gotta say it honestly didn't need much at all after getting the levels halfway decent...

HAHA! You didn't fuck anything up.

As far as automation is nconcerned, I don't "Automate" in the sense of using those squiggly lines under my track. But I do still automate in my own way. If I want part of a track louder, like a guitar solo, I'll just put it on a new track and adjust the volume of that track. That way , I can also add delay, pan it wherever I want, or whatever else I might want on that part of the track. So, while I don't use conventional automation, I still do it in my own way.

[Greg_L]

Everybody has their way of working. I never use markers, envelope automation, or any of that. I really use REAPER like a simple tape recorder on my computer. I have a project called "Scrap" where I just lay down any idea that pops into my head. I just pick up my guitar and record the idea right away, out of tune guitar and all. When I'm actually working on a song, I've already written 75% of it in my head. So, even though I will experiment, I pretty much already know what I'm going to be playing, more or less.

I'm the same way. Between scratch tracks and just arranging the thing in my head, by the time it's time to track for real, it's almost like doing a cover song that I already know how to play.

[Minerman]

HAHA! You didn't fuck anything up.

As far as automation is nconcerned, I don't "Automate" in the sense of using those squiggly lines under my track. But I do still automate in my own way. If I want part of a track louder, like a guitar solo, I'll just put it on a new track and adjust the volume of that track. That way , I can also add delay, pan it wherever I want, or whatever else I might want on that part of the track. So, while I don't use conventional automation, I still do it in my own way.

I already figured you did your automation via clip volume dude, but thanks for letting me pick your brain, one can never, ever have too much information/help/tips, regardless...There's always something more to learn...

Check out my cowbell:



Well, it's not quite there yet, but it will be...I'm making a diy tambourine for my e-kit too...I could've used some of the pads from the other kit, but these will be small & easy to fit into the kit without having to move a bunch of shit around...
Gotta say, I'm still learning to play drums, but I'm hooked...

[Greg_L]

While miner's modding flowerpots into midi-cowbells, I think I've decided to try an amp mod on one of my amps.

The test subject will be a 50w Plexi reissue. I picked this amp up for a steal a few years ago so I figure what the hell. It's not an original Plexi, nor did I spend a ton of money on it, and it's so basic that surely I can't screw it up too badly. Hopefully.

Anyway, I have two things to do to it.
1) PPIMV - Post Phase Inverter Master Volume. Pretty self-explanatory and should be pretty easy.
2) One-Wire Cascaded gain mod. This one is *supposedly* one of the simpler gain mods you can do to a NMV 4-holer Marshall. This mod will yield an 80s hair shredder type tone. Not that I'm an 80s hair shredder nor do I like that horrid music, but I do like the "brown sound" type tone.

My concern is that the mod will keep the amp from also functioning as stock, so I'll need to find a way to make it switchable, hopefully with a push/pull pot. I don't want to drill new holes, nor do I want to make the amp useless because I do love it's raw natural sound.

So a Plexi works as a two channel amp. You have a bright channel, and a normal channel. They are independent of each other, but they can be combined by linking the channels together with a small jumper cable. This doesn't stack them though, it just combines them in parallel. You do this more for tone shaping than adding gain. The mod will add gain by cascading the gain stages into each other. The first gain stage will cram the signal into the next gain stage instead of them just running next to each other. The normal channel inputs will not be normal channel inputs anymore. They will become mega hair metal gain shred inputs. The bright channel inputs will hopefully remain as stock for the classic Plexi sound.

So stay tuned mofos.