Recorded clip doesn't sound exactly like what I hear on the phones out.

maharzan

maharzan

Experienced
I have been meaning to ask this from the beginning but haven't been able to. I have recorded few clips and while the phones sound smoother the recorded ones sounds a a bit brittle, bright. I am recording directly from the USB. Does it happen to you? What am I doing wrong? I am listening to the record from the same headphones. It just doesn't sound right, high frequency fizz that pearches my ears..
 
I always think the sound right from the AXEFX out to the headphone sounds way worse than when I listen to it through protools and my projectmix headphone out. I can't get the USB to even record right through protools so I don't know about USB recording. I get so much latency and double tracking sound I can't use it and gave up trying to figure it out.
 
I've not tried this with headphones, but the sound is identical listening through my monitors as a play, and when I listen to the playback.

There could be a perception issue as you are not feeling the guitar and hearing it acoustically as you play.
 
I don't think its a perception. When I play a note and let it ring, I don't hear the slight high end but when I play the recorded one, I hear it, plus the level seems also higher on the recorded one. I am using the same headphones. I am wondering if there are auto filter/global settings different during recording or its not recording to its full capacity. It feels like the analog tone has been made to digital mp3. :(
 
In my experience this is the nature of headphone outputs on guitar processors. The headphone out doesn't sound as good as playing back a direct recorded piece from the same patch. I couldn't tell you technically why this happens, but it's normal and there's nothing wrong with any settings or blocks. This is part of the reason why patch creation through headphones isn't really a good idea, the sound direct to the headphones is not entirely representative of the actual patch sound. I'd imagine if you had a frfr headphone it could work
 
There have been other recent threads where users have said that Output1 sounds different from the headphone output on the front. IIRC someone felt they got much better tone by plugging their IEMs directly into the Output 1 jacks at the rear of the unit, although the OP is having the opposite effect. I wonder if the headphone amplifier in the Axe is noticeably coloring the sound.

It'd be nice if someone from Fractal could weigh in on this (e.g., explain if/why the headphone out could differ from output 1).
 
well, are your headphones as FRFR as your speakers you've listened to your recordings? If not, then there you go. Any system will affect the sound in some way, studio monitors vs live pa, vs floor monitors vs headphones. So it is not surprising that the recording sounds different than your headphones.
 
wake911 said:
well, are your headphones as FRFR as your speakers you've listened to your recordings? If not, then there you go. Any system will affect the sound in some way, studio monitors vs live pa, vs floor monitors vs headphones. So it is not surprising that the recording sounds different than your headphones.
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The OP said he was listening to the recording using the same headphones.
 
There are too many variables here. What kind of cables are you using (you mentioned not using USB)? What kind of audio interface are you using? Where do you have the cables plugged into the interface? Etc. Etc. Etc.
 
I am listening from the same headphones, playing and recording, then listening to the recording.. so only difference I see here is the output of the USB vs output of the headphones. I think I should try recording from a DI interface.

I haven't used my speakers as I now have a baby in my room, no loud noises. :( But when I did sometime back, it sounded too boomy. I have KRK - 6 which are not at all best speakers.
 
which DAW do you use? Perhaps there is some plugin active on the channel you are recording to or on the stereo out?
 
I tried directly with soundcloud and also tried it with Logic Pro. Similar results. Recorded one sounding a bit brighter and I can hear the hustle bustle high end.
 
Ok, finally figured out how to use Mbox 2 Pro with Logic. So, turns out that the DAW recording is more accurate. I am not sure if recording from DAW is different from USB recording. I will have to check that.
 
What if It's the volume? Volume can do weird stuff sometimes. Other than that, it just may be that the headphone amp in the axe 2 is doing something.
 
I found that boosting the highs on the Global Graphic EQ when developing patches using my Sony 7509HD headphones gets me much closer to a properly EQed sound live thru full range speakers(with the Global EQ Flat). Of course I am trying not to wake anyone. So I agree that, the headphone out for me cuts high end more than the line outs.
 
jakbur said:
So I agree that, the headphone out for me cuts high end more than the line outs.
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Or your headphones cut more high end (or have stronger mids and lows) than your speakers. :)

Headphone response isn't as flat as it's made out to be. Shift your 'phones a couple of millimeters on your head, and the response curve changes. Put your cans on someone else's head, and the shape of their ear canals will give a different response from what you get.
 
LostInSpace said:
There have been other recent threads where users have said that Output1 sounds different from the headphone output on the front. IIRC someone felt they got much better tone by plugging their IEMs directly into the Output 1 jacks at the rear of the unit, although the OP is having the opposite effect. I wonder if the headphone amplifier in the Axe is noticeably coloring the sound.

It'd be nice if someone from Fractal could weigh in on this (e.g., explain if/why the headphone out could differ from output 1).
Click to expand...

Yes please, if someone from Fractal could clear this up that'd be really nice.
 
The headphone output frequency response is flat. The OP is probably having his ears play tricks on him since when he's recording he's getting some bone conduction from the guitar itself. As bone conduction is biased towards low frequencies this will give the impression that the sound isn't as bright. On playback it's just the recorded signal.
 
People have the same experience recording their own voice. You are used to hearing the resonance of your body mixed with the input of your ears. On playback its easy to think your voice hasn't been recorded accurately.
 
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