In studio: Direct & IRs vs. Cab & mic?

Rontti

Rontti

Member
(moved from recordings subforum)

Our band is starting studio sessions in a few months and I've wondered, which method have you fellow Fractal users preferred when recording an album (metal):

1) Axe II + good quality IRs --> digital out (usb, spdif, aes/ebu)
2) Same as above but with analog out
3) Axe II + tube amp fx return --> cab and mic
4) Same as above but with solid state neutral power amp

I would be interested, if someone has experience with the first and second options and how have you perceived if there's significant difference compared to third and fourth one, which I guess are pretty common? Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the impression I've had. It's just our another guitarist is more of a traditional guy and goes always with tube head & cab, so I'm just curious if I could talk him into this option.
 
Options 1 and 2 are my preferences.
As far as convincing your other guitarist, try shooting an IR of his cab and go from there.
I've done 1-4 and the perceived differences are almost ALWAYS immediately lost in the mix.
Not to mention I feel like building a fort around the mic and cabinet to avoid it being bumped/ruined.
YMMV.
 
Don't forget to record a dry guitar track for re-amping purposes! That way, if at the end of the day you don't like either the IR or Cab/Mic, you can either switch the amp, change settings, use a different IR or even switch which cab (go from a 4x12 to a 2x12 and mics (that aplies to both IR and real cab/mic).

Yes, that might create way to many choices where the forest becomes Mirkwood, but at least you don't have to re-record the track because it has too much gain or other features that can't be "fixed in the mix."
 
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Option 1 or 2 will be quicker. If you're paying the studio by the hour that might save you some $$$ as well as getting a good sound.

As already suggested, try a re-amping track
 
Thx everyone! Maybe we try some ABing, but I think IRs will nail in the end. I have sold all my cabs and at our price range, studios may don't have all those Mesa, Diezel, Engl etc good sounding / expensive cabs lying around. So it's a bit hard to believe that some real but just ok sounding cab would bring satisfying results compared to IR of an optimal sounding cab.
 
I'd personally record a raw DI track and re-amp through models and IRs. The flexibility to refine your tone during mixing is pretty fantastic. Also, any punches will be absolutely invisible. I've seen this technique used on some pretty amazing albums by some of the top artists using Fractal Audio products.

USB probably won't be an option in a pro studio. AES might work, if by chance they want the project to be recorded at 48k. Otherwise, use their analog i/o.
 
Admin M@ said:
USB probably won't be an option in a pro studio. AES might work, if by chance they want the project to be recorded at 48k. Otherwise, use their analog i/o.
Click to expand...

Ok, so let's assume the studio prefers analog i/o. And yes, I definitely want to use dry DI track for reamping. But if USB is out of the game, could the DI track be routed to a second analog out of AFX? If it can be done from digital out only, then I guess we just have to hope that the studio has sufficient inputs :D
 
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