hensh!n_vfs
Member
I tried this route for many years with little success. Thankfully with all the plugins included in Logic, you shouldn't need more than a few to get an adequate "mixed guitar tone". Doing the mixing before even touching the record button is certainly possible, but I find that things don't always sound how you want them to once all the instruments are added.
My workflow usually goes like this:
1. Use a baseline preset I'm familiar with that best represents the tone I'm after for a particular track.
2. Adjust any scenes or EQ in the preset to get closer to my mental ideal for the guitar tone.
3. Record into logic (Double Track, Hard Panning L/R).
4. Use Logic plugins (the stock presets are a great place to start) to begin sculpting my tone relatively to what I'm looking to achieve (usually cutting the frequencies 80hz and below).
I know many like to record a dry signal then reamp later if they need to change the tone, but this has never worked for me. Often it is the spontaneity in the moment where I come up with the best takes, but reamping is always an option if you know more or less what you want.
The problem I have run into with trying to mix the guitar too much before recording, is I don't have a reference for the bass, drums, keyboards and so forth. Once everything gets added it's usually easier for me to cut what I don't need from the guitar and possibly add what I need a little more of. It's usually best to try and get in the ballpark with the source though, otherwise you'll spend all day EQ'ing a track (which I totally wouldn't know anything about).
I'd say if you know exactly what you want going in, it's more than plausible to get a mostly "mixed down" guitar track from the Axe III. Just be careful with sculpting too much before dropping the track in Logic, since it can be a pain to add frequencies in after the fact (or having to re-record altogether). Also as someone who recently switched over to Logic from GarageBand, I can tell you that Logic makes the workflow much smoother and the post-processing area relatively painless to the point where I wish I converted years ago. Good luck!
My workflow usually goes like this:
1. Use a baseline preset I'm familiar with that best represents the tone I'm after for a particular track.
2. Adjust any scenes or EQ in the preset to get closer to my mental ideal for the guitar tone.
3. Record into logic (Double Track, Hard Panning L/R).
4. Use Logic plugins (the stock presets are a great place to start) to begin sculpting my tone relatively to what I'm looking to achieve (usually cutting the frequencies 80hz and below).
I know many like to record a dry signal then reamp later if they need to change the tone, but this has never worked for me. Often it is the spontaneity in the moment where I come up with the best takes, but reamping is always an option if you know more or less what you want.
The problem I have run into with trying to mix the guitar too much before recording, is I don't have a reference for the bass, drums, keyboards and so forth. Once everything gets added it's usually easier for me to cut what I don't need from the guitar and possibly add what I need a little more of. It's usually best to try and get in the ballpark with the source though, otherwise you'll spend all day EQ'ing a track (which I totally wouldn't know anything about).
I'd say if you know exactly what you want going in, it's more than plausible to get a mostly "mixed down" guitar track from the Axe III. Just be careful with sculpting too much before dropping the track in Logic, since it can be a pain to add frequencies in after the fact (or having to re-record altogether). Also as someone who recently switched over to Logic from GarageBand, I can tell you that Logic makes the workflow much smoother and the post-processing area relatively painless to the point where I wish I converted years ago. Good luck!