Difficult to record with? Some tips please..

B

batlason

Member
I find it extremely difficult to record rythm parts with this thing.
its so dry and incredibly unforgiving of the slightest and I mean the tiniest mistakes.
Something I dont find when recording with a real amp, with a real amp it kind of "hides" your mistakes sometimes
how do you if in anyway get some of this realness to the axe?

please help...my fingers hurt after 60 takes of the same track over and over....
I'm double tracking a crunchy jcm800 most settings around 5 give or take a little..
 
What would you hear? It seems to me, if you have two ways to save this issue: practice, practice, practice ... or try a cheap, crap signal processor or fx unit in the fx loop ... ;-)



....ok .... just kidding ... hmmmm .... but honestly, what is needed? Some more undirectness? try out a reverb in parallel: Mix to 100%, use only predelay (0 db), Level as wanted ... don`t know man ... what exactly are those every little ... mistakes??? hm?
 
I'm a very accurate player and precise, I just find that the unit is incredibly dry and unforgiving and the tiniest mistakes seem to scream out.
 
batlason said:
I'm a very accurate player and precise, I just find that the unit is incredibly dry and unforgiving and the tiniest mistakes seem to scream out.
Click to expand...

... well no "washing out" ... what goes in - comes out ... same problem like a dynamic mic like a SM58 vs. any vocal condesor mics .... uhhhh .... i have just these ideas: 1) the pre-reverb idea 2) working with the noise gate 3) volume problems prob. compressor?! ... or you cut every problematic frequencies with PEQ? .... difficult ...
 
In comparison to miking an amp, you might be missing some of the room.
Try adding this back in your DAW. Do you have a good impulse response reverb?

Here is one of the best:
http://www.audioease.com/Pages/Altiverb ... bMain.html

Your mic pre may also have some slight compression characteristics that you are missing. A good channel strip plugin can really help (plus gives you good hands-on post recording EQ capabilities)

Pricey but nicey:
http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=334
 
batlason said:
Something I dont find when recording with a real amp, with a real amp it kind of "hides" your mistakes sometimes how do you if in anyway get some of this realness to the axe?
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don't know what kind of amp you're talking about.
I played a Framus Ruby Riot (kinda like a Matchless) for years and it was insanely accurate and challenging to play.
Also loads of fun if you did it right.

To get a more compressed sound out of the Axe, set Master high and turn up the Sag.

One side effect of the Axe is, that it'll make you a better guitar player - eventually :)
 
batlason said:
I'm a very accurate player and precise, I just find that the unit is incredibly dry and unforgiving and the tiniest mistakes seem to scream out.
Click to expand...

Er, not accurate and precise enough then are you?

Seriously, is this some sort of joke?
 
vinnieRice said:
batlason said:
I'm a very accurate player and precise, I just find that the unit is incredibly dry and unforgiving and the tiniest mistakes seem to scream out.
Click to expand...

Er, not accurate and precise enough then are you?

Seriously, is this some sort of joke?
Click to expand...

No joke...guess it's time to practise then.
But thanks for the tips matman and don, maybe some processing and compression can help.
 
Batlason
I kind of know what you mean-in a different vain-The Ultra picks up fret noise on my Strats that my MusicMan112RD50 does not. So, what's at fault here? Are my necks too flat or action too low? I would say yes-The Ultra isn't creating something that's not there-it's bringing out something that was hidden. I have rolled back the Hi Resonance to Pre-firmware 10 specs Appx 248 (5.0 is default in FW 10.02). I love my Musicman but I cannot fault the Ultra for unmasking noises. So I do know what you mean, but you definitely can get rid of it and I have found that the same settings that eliminate the fret noise for me work the same in every patch
Good Luck
 
Maybe if you post a link to something you have worked on we would have a better idea of how to respond constructively?

Honestly the AXEFX is a great unit and responds closely to a real amp but not the same way. If you find that a real amp hides your mistakes I would be interested in knowing what kind of amp - because I would not consider an amp that hides your nuances (mistakes or otherwise) a good amp.

A great amp will show your playing for exactly what it is. If you are good you will sound good. If you make some mistakes you will hear those and they will be spat out at you venemously. Try playing a SLO100 or something like that - you will get to know your flaws really, really quickly.

If the AXEFX is giving you the same education then that is a much cheaper teacher than a boutique amp. See it as an opportunity. H

The other factor is that maybe the sound you are dialing is simply not what you want to be hearing and it is putting you off a bit and causing anxiety in your playing? If I dont hear myself the way I want to hear myself then my hands dont play as well as when I hear a tone I can think of as ME.
 
SteveTurner said:
Maybe if you post a link to something you have worked on we would have a better idea of how to respond constructively?

Honestly the AXEFX is a great unit and responds closely to a real amp but not the same way. If you find that a real amp hides your mistakes I would be interested in knowing what kind of amp - because I would not consider an amp that hides your nuances (mistakes or otherwise) a good amp.
Click to expand...

Maybe as some have mentioned it might not be the amp but the recording process as a whole, I do not find this problem using a real
Marshall 800 2203 or the 2210 with a Marshall 19060A Cab with 2x Celestion 75's and 2x Vintage 30's into a SM57 into Whatever interface into cubase pro tools live etc. It could be the early reflection reverbs the real mic is picking up or the natural compression from the speakers I dont know. But in my opinion it felt like the axe was exaterating every tiny nuance, hopefully this can be managed to some degree...
setting up my guitar better (action / intonation etc) using a dash of verb, some sag (compression) inside the axe some reverb....running through a better channel strip (slight eq / more compression) I dont know exactly, this was just a wondering, at least it gave me some ideas for making the guitar sound better hopefully. At worst I realized I'm not as accurate as I thougt I was and need to practise more (maybe going for a 210bpm 3/4 beat was a stretch for this song;) ) .

I am in no way saying the axe is a bad unit, I feel the recorded tones sound almost exactly the same as the real thing (using the equivelent redwirez mic aswell) I will see how this goes and might post some clips later on.
 
I don't claim to be a great player at all, but I have to say that if an amp hides your mistakes, it probably also hides some cool nuances that you would want to be heard. Is that really what you want?

Some condensor mics on acoustic guitars can pick up every tiny fret buzz and squeak in a very unflattering way. When I run across this, I either switch mics or mix down the level of that mic to where it's adding just enough detail. Maybe you need to play with mic and cab choices to find combinations that are less detailed and present sounding to your ears.

If you're really a clean and precise player etc, then detailed would be what you'd want I would think.
 
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