First Axe-FX II test recording (Steve Vai - Liberty)

M

marvin

New Member
Got my axe2 last friday, and after few hours of studying the device I ended up with this first try. It's a short clip recorded with Boss BR-600 digital recorder. Backing track is so called "naked track".

Steve Vai - Liberty


I had to double my lead tracks in order to get that tone, so I would like to hear if anyone has good ideas how to get that sound straight from the axe without resorting to double track recordings.
 
I've been experimenting with my axe for about a week now, and I'm still not able to get that double track sound I'm looking for. How on earth they do it? How do they make one guitar sound like two guitars played in unison?
 
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Hmm, maybe it´s just played twice...
But anyway, you could try to put 2 outs in one tone... one with 7-12ms delay, it will give that 2 guitar feeling.
 
It's a good idea but...problem with delay is the fact, that all of the output is delayed in respect to the original signal (which is always there and always in time). Anyways... so far I've not been able to isolate (or kill) the original signal from that secondary route.

What i'm trying to say is that the delay alone is not going to do it. What is needed is certainly some sort of signal branching (maybe with additional effects) without introducing the original signal to the secondary route. Only the echo of it.
 
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This sounds excellent, nice work! Can you post your patch and guitar details please? I noticed your sound does the same thing my Vai patches do -- makes the picking sound overly sharp. I'd love to know how to get that Vai sound w/o hearing the pick attack at all. I am sure it's more in my fingers than in the patch anyway :)
 
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Nice sound.

I would try using a pitch-shifter to greate a doubler - effect.

Here you can delay, pan and detune the signals independently.

experiment with the placement in the grid.

I would use it in a live situation.

In the studio I would record two tomes to double.

AAEN

PS You could put two delay-blocks after the pitch one with L-input on with R-input. Pan them accordingly.
Post the patch, so we can see your work.
 
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marvin said:
How on earth they do it? How do they make one guitar sound like two guitars played in unison?
Click to expand...
It's almost always two guitars, recorded one on top of the other.

There are ways you can approximate a double-tracked sound. Each way involves separation.
  1. Separation in time — use a delay;
  2. Separation in space — pan left/right;
  3. Separation in frequency — use pitch shift/detune;
  4. Separation in tone — use different amp and cab sims, different effects...the sky is the limit.
Each of these things will help you get closer to a double-tracked sound, but there's no perfect substitute for actually recording a part twice.
 
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vbrilon said:
This sounds excellent, nice work! Can you post your patch and guitar details please? I noticed your sound does the same thing my Vai patches do -- makes the picking sound overly sharp. I'd love to know how to get that Vai sound w/o hearing the pick attack at all. I am sure it's more in my fingers than in the patch anyway :)
Click to expand...

I used Ibanzez S420 in this recording. I would like to get rid of that picking sound too, but as you mentioned it may very well be that it has more to do with technique. I'm sorry, but I do not have that original pacth anymore, because I've been messing with it so much that it sounds totally different now.
 
Rex said:
It's almost always two guitars, recorded one on top of the other.

There are ways you can approximate a double-tracked sound. Each way involves separation.
  1. Separation in time — use a delay;
  2. Separation in space — pan left/right;
  3. Separation in frequency — use pitch shift/detune;
  4. Separation in tone — use different amp and cab sims, different effects...the sky is the limit.
Each of these things will help you get closer to a double-tracked sound, but there's no perfect substitute for actually recording a part twice.
Click to expand...

This was a very good explanation. Thank you. Now I see that there is much more to it than I originally assumed.

I will try those methods and see how they work. I already have some ideas :)
 
Vai usually triples each note in a harmony. It gives it an added symphonic effect. I wouldn't count on ever 'getting' that effect. Even live he uses 2 and sometimes 3 guitars. As for the smooth pick attack, as mentioned above, use the neck pickup. For this album, I believe he used a PAF. I don't believe he had his Evolutions from Dimarzio at that time. If his guitar was the one with the Sustainer Vai used a Fast Track in the neck position. This was told to me by a tech at Dimarzio.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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