Blending clean tone with high gain for extra pick attack, string noise

blastbeatdown

blastbeatdown

Inspired
This is a studio trick that’s been around for a while. I was just wondering if anyone has ever tried something like this within your Axe Fx? I took a shot blending in DI or even the B7K drive. I wasn’t too impressed so I’m asking for pointers 🤙🏻

(Do I think it’s necessary? No not really, but something cool to experiment with.)

 
chris said:
Trick is to blend it so you barely hear the DI tone. It’s just for a bit of clarity under all that gain.
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Yup, I kinda figured if you can hear it enough to pick it out you’re probably doing it wrong. I was more curious how others are processing the dry signal, if at all.. EQ, drives, amps.
 
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blastbeatdown said:
Whoa, what? I’m gonna give it a shot 👍🏻 I thought it just added some upper “airy” frequencies
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You can select the frequency.

Could try an edge-of-breakup amp parallel turned way down too? I just tried it with my high gain amp block and a twin blended in - changes things but not sure I prefer it haha.

I thought adding a DI was mostly for giving distorted bass needed clarity :O
 
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Budda said:
You can select the frequency.

Could try an edge-of-breakup amp parallel turned way down too? I just tried it with my high gain amp block and a twin blended in - changes things but not sure I prefer it haha.

I thought adding a DI was mostly for giving distorted bass needed clarity :O
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No doubt. For bass I like using a crossover and keeping the lows clean and the highs distorted; very similar approach. I like the way it sounds merging both signals into amp + cab blocks rather than going pure DI for the low side.
 
RDeraz said:
I might be mistaken, but if I remember correctly, that's what the air parameter in the cab block does. Adds in direct signal.
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The "air" parameter is basically blending the amp's unfiltered output (pre- IR's) into the cab block's output. It can be useful for adding back some high treble sizzle, but I'm not sure how it would be useful in trying to blend in a clean signal.
 
I experimented with alternate signal paths when I first acquired my Axe-Fx. I soon realized that it was unnecessary. Getting good pick attack is just a matter of using the right pick, the right amp, and IRs, and EQing correctly.
 
boyce89976 said:
The "air" parameter is basically blending the amp's unfiltered output (pre- IR's) into the cab block's output. It can be useful for adding back some high treble sizzle, but I'm not sure how it would be useful in trying to blend in a clean signal.
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I didn’t like the results I got with the air parameter. I tried sweeping the frequency around to find a sweet spot, but for the most part it sounded shrill to me.

Ocnor said:
I experimented with alternate signal paths when I first acquired my Axe-Fx. I soon realized that it was unnecessary. Getting good pick attack is just a matter of using the right pick, the right amp, and IRs, and EQing correctly.
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I agree. This is pure curiosity on my part, borderline gluttony if I’m being honest. I use the Grinder boost on most of my high gain sounds. I feel like Fractal already gives me lots more pick attack and clarity than my traditional amps, and the Grinder makes it cut even more.

I also feel like the technique of blending a clean signal is more for when using insane amounts of gain. I use tons of gain compared to some, but I dial it back once it loses the articulation I’m looking for, and I’m fine with that approach.
 
I have heard good results when blending. I believe Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day usually runs two amps with one edge of breakup and the other driven harder. Those amps sound huge yet still a lot of attack!
 
Ocnor said:
I experimented with alternate signal paths when I first acquired my Axe-Fx. I soon realized that it was unnecessary. Getting good pick attack is just a matter of using the right pick, the right amp, and IRs, and EQing correctly.
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Buster plays obnoxiously low tuned stuff (which is also very difficult to play with alot of dissonant chord shapes) ,dropping many semitones or a octave below a low E1 ,with midi pitch shifts all over . In such cases this trick can actually help quite a bit . You can get your chain as right as possible and still desire a little more clarity.
Very easy to do it in the daw. Much more simpler than eqing for more attack.
 
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Werpinater said:
I have heard good results when blending. I believe Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day usually runs two amps with one edge of breakup and the other driven harder. Those amps sound huge yet still a lot of attack!
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Yes, I researched his tone when playing American Idiot. I built a preset with a blend of clean and gain (two amps). The clean sound gives you percussive attack and the higher gain tone gives you sustain.

I posted this a while back. Not at my axe right now : this is an AxeFx II preset.

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jin1995x said:
Buster plays obnoxiously low tuned stuff (which is also very difficult to play with alot of dissonant chord shapes) ,dropping many semitones or a octave below a low E1 ,with midi pitch shifts all over . In such cases this trick can actually help quite a bit . You can get your chain as right as possible and still desire a little more clarity.
Very easy to do it in the daw. Much more simpler than eqing for more attack.
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I tune to E1 and play lots of dissonant stuff. That’s what brings me here lol. I’m not big on the pitch shifting stuff though. People who don’t know this about me prob just think I’m being excessive, which possibly is still the case. I know at least one metal producer that does this in his DAW though (and also Buster, evidently).
 
blastbeatdown said:
I tune to E1 and play lots of dissonant stuff. That’s what brings me here lol. I’m not big on the pitch shifting stuff though. People who don’t know this about me prob just think I’m being excessive, which possibly is still the case. I know at least one metal producer that does this in his DAW though (and also Buster, evidently).
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yep 50% of time i am playing e1 or lower too other 50% its dropf# / drop g so i understand where you come from. But tbh i am not really a recording or mixing nerd. i prefer the sound we hear in the room playing live hearing all the dynamics and facing the speakers for some added resonance over multi layering mono tracks in daw and panning them and doing other shiz for added dynamics and width .



For example this is just camera audio of pitchshifted C1 chugs and it just sounds so brutal as it is. in a mix with other stuff i may or may not need to add stuff for this clarity, but thats just not fun enough many a times.
 
I’ve long suspected that they blended DI in with Josh Travis’ tone on this album, which is a classic by now for anyone who is into that music (2010). They even use DI for the intro to this song. It adds some “clank” to the guitar, which I most often associate with bass, but of course that makes sense because 8 string guitars encroach on bass territory.

That said, most engineers didn’t have a tried and true method of recording 8 string guitars back then. It’s less necessary with all the tools we have now. But I dig the way it sounds.

 
I'm experimenting with this and I hear phase issues whenever there is a clean sound mixed with a amp+cab signal at some point. It gets worse if you drop a comp and drive pedal. I'm guessing this is because the signal get slightly delayed when going through drives or compressors. Does anyone else experience this issue?
 
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In the olden days, a little extra clarity on a muddy tone was sometimes as simple as an engineer setting up a mic up on the guitar itself just for some pick attack and string noise and EQing and blending it in with the miced amps.
 
Chromatizm said:
I'm experimenting with this and I hear phase issues whenever there is a clean sound mixed with a amp+cab signal at some point. It gets worse if you drop a comp and drive pedal. I'm guessing this is because the signal get slightly delayed when going through drives or compressors. Does anyone else experience this issue?
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Anything parallel routed will have this. It's a bit of a big problem for my bass presets - usually using a filter block to invert the phase will get it closer, but sometimes also neither polarity is quite right. A heavy handed solution is to use a bypassed amp block in the parallel row to balance latency, IIRC
 
northern_fox said:
Anything parallel routed will have this. It's a bit of a big problem for my bass presets - usually using a filter block to invert the phase will get it closer, but sometimes also neither polarity is quite right. A heavy handed solution is to use a bypassed amp block in the parallel row to balance latency, IIRC
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^^This. Match up your blocks on both routes and most of your problems will go away.
 
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