I’ve been an Axe owner for about 14 months now. I experimented a bit with tone matching when I first got it but I was never happy with the results and at the time I didn’t understand why. I also didn’t seem to have much luck with others’ TM presets. So, I basically wrote it off and steered clear of tone-matching for over a year.
Just this past weekend, I started experimenting again…and finally, I get it! It’s all come full circle with me and the Axe.
Just as a bit of background info. I should mention that I basically just use the Axe for practicing and recording. I never use it live (I don’t play guitar in a live band) so I can’t speak to how well TM presets work in a live setting. I also primarily play high gain metal music (from 80s hair bands to modern technical death metal and just about everything in between).
Recently, I recorded a cover song strictly for the purposes of practicing some newly-learned mixing techniques and trying out various presets on the Axe via re-amping. I quickly learned that most of my presets that I was fairly happy with (in a solo practice setting) just sucked in a recorded mix. So, I started to ask myself why? What was different between the recorded tones of the bands I like and my presets? Was it the IR? EQ? Mixing techniques?
The answer was probably a little of all the above. Basically, I’ve learned that my ears were “off” and probably have been “off” for a long time. I began loading some of my favorite recordings into Cubase and listening to them over and over while watching a spectrum analyzer. I would specifically try to find parts in which I could isolate the guitar from the rest of the mix, particularly parts where only 1 guitar was playing on one side of the stereo field. I learned that my presets were just too bass and midrange heavy and were lacking the highs and presence needed to fit into the mix.
It was frustrating at first because I thought to myself, “I listen to this stuff all the time, how could I have been so “off”?” Then I began to remind myself of some things I already knew but maybe just hadn’t sunk in yet.
First, recorded tones often don’t sound that great played solo. Don’t believe me? Just find some stem tracks or load a song in Jammit and listen to the isolated guitar.
Second, the bass guitar in a mix really fills out parts of the frequency spectrum and blends with the guitar. It could be such that you don’t really even notice the bass guitar. It may be mixed in such a way where you don’t really hear the attack of the bass. However, I think that a lot of us subconsciously hear the blend of the bass and guitar and assume that it’s all guitars when actually it’s the both of them that contribute to that one overall tone.
Finally, our ears trick us. Once we get used to a particular general tone our ears want it to stay that way and any adjustments we make can be very unsettling at first. For example, let’s say you get used to a low presence type of tone. Bump the presence up significantly or download a preset made by someone else and your ears may tell you initially that the new tone is extremely harsh. In reality, it may be much closer to the “norm” for whatever genre of music you’re playing but your ears simply haven’t gotten used to it yet. You almost have to force yourself to “get used to” different tones before your ears can adjust.
Once I made the realizations mentioned above and they actually “sunk in”, I started thinking about tone-matching again. Could it be the missing link for me? Could I actually achieve very similar or identical tones to my favorite players? The Axe truly is an extraordinary piece of gear and I don’t have a problem creating presets that I’m 95% happy with. However, trying to come up with nearly identical tones to other players does not come without difficulty. The tools are there to come close, but often the IR falls short. There are some incredible IRs that come stock with the Axe and I love the new OH mixes and Producer Packs. As great as they are in their own right, they simply may not be the exact fit for what you need to achieve the tone in your head.
That’s where tone matching comes in. This past weekend I created some tone matches that were almost identical to the tracks I attempted to match. I checked them using Izotope Ozone’s “snapshot” feature. They turned out virtually identical except below 100 hz. Usually the tone match had too much level in this region compared to the actual track. This was a simple fix with a PEQ block and a low shelf set to -2 or -3 db.
It really was incredibly easy to do, too. I’d set up the TM block to recognize the USB input and either the L or R channel and play the CD on my computer (make sure to balance the audio to the L or R, whichever side applies-IMPORTANT STEP) to capture the reference signal. Then I’d play the same part on my guitar to capture the local signal. Of course, everything on the grid before the TM block (amp, drive, EQ, etc.) must be as close as you can get it to the reference track as possible and getting that right is the tricky part. Either you need experience and knowledge to know what amp to pick and how to dial in the settings or you may get lucky and find that information on the web. Then press “match”. That’s all there was to it.
It’s important to note that a TM preset you may find on Axe-Change or the forum may not work for you or may not sound right simply because the creator’s guitar/pickups are significantly different than yours. That, or the amp and any other blocks that come before the TM block just weren’t set up very well. For these reasons, I’ve come to realize that if I want a very accurate TM preset, I’m going to have to create it myself.
I’m incredibly excited about all this because it’s really a game-changer for me. It just seems so easy. As much as I love to tweak, sometimes when you’re looking for “that” tone it’s just exhilarating to come up with it in 5 minutes!
Sorry for the long post but I felt this might be helpful to some (plus I’m bored at work!). I notice a lot of people seem to really struggle with dialing in desired tones. A lot of people find that other’s presets (TM or other) just don’t work for them. Maybe your ears are “off”too. Maybe you just don’t understand the destination and you’re headed the wrong direction. Regardless, tone-matching in the Axe works and is very accurate. Thanks Fractal!
Just this past weekend, I started experimenting again…and finally, I get it! It’s all come full circle with me and the Axe.
Just as a bit of background info. I should mention that I basically just use the Axe for practicing and recording. I never use it live (I don’t play guitar in a live band) so I can’t speak to how well TM presets work in a live setting. I also primarily play high gain metal music (from 80s hair bands to modern technical death metal and just about everything in between).
Recently, I recorded a cover song strictly for the purposes of practicing some newly-learned mixing techniques and trying out various presets on the Axe via re-amping. I quickly learned that most of my presets that I was fairly happy with (in a solo practice setting) just sucked in a recorded mix. So, I started to ask myself why? What was different between the recorded tones of the bands I like and my presets? Was it the IR? EQ? Mixing techniques?
The answer was probably a little of all the above. Basically, I’ve learned that my ears were “off” and probably have been “off” for a long time. I began loading some of my favorite recordings into Cubase and listening to them over and over while watching a spectrum analyzer. I would specifically try to find parts in which I could isolate the guitar from the rest of the mix, particularly parts where only 1 guitar was playing on one side of the stereo field. I learned that my presets were just too bass and midrange heavy and were lacking the highs and presence needed to fit into the mix.
It was frustrating at first because I thought to myself, “I listen to this stuff all the time, how could I have been so “off”?” Then I began to remind myself of some things I already knew but maybe just hadn’t sunk in yet.
First, recorded tones often don’t sound that great played solo. Don’t believe me? Just find some stem tracks or load a song in Jammit and listen to the isolated guitar.
Second, the bass guitar in a mix really fills out parts of the frequency spectrum and blends with the guitar. It could be such that you don’t really even notice the bass guitar. It may be mixed in such a way where you don’t really hear the attack of the bass. However, I think that a lot of us subconsciously hear the blend of the bass and guitar and assume that it’s all guitars when actually it’s the both of them that contribute to that one overall tone.
Finally, our ears trick us. Once we get used to a particular general tone our ears want it to stay that way and any adjustments we make can be very unsettling at first. For example, let’s say you get used to a low presence type of tone. Bump the presence up significantly or download a preset made by someone else and your ears may tell you initially that the new tone is extremely harsh. In reality, it may be much closer to the “norm” for whatever genre of music you’re playing but your ears simply haven’t gotten used to it yet. You almost have to force yourself to “get used to” different tones before your ears can adjust.
Once I made the realizations mentioned above and they actually “sunk in”, I started thinking about tone-matching again. Could it be the missing link for me? Could I actually achieve very similar or identical tones to my favorite players? The Axe truly is an extraordinary piece of gear and I don’t have a problem creating presets that I’m 95% happy with. However, trying to come up with nearly identical tones to other players does not come without difficulty. The tools are there to come close, but often the IR falls short. There are some incredible IRs that come stock with the Axe and I love the new OH mixes and Producer Packs. As great as they are in their own right, they simply may not be the exact fit for what you need to achieve the tone in your head.
That’s where tone matching comes in. This past weekend I created some tone matches that were almost identical to the tracks I attempted to match. I checked them using Izotope Ozone’s “snapshot” feature. They turned out virtually identical except below 100 hz. Usually the tone match had too much level in this region compared to the actual track. This was a simple fix with a PEQ block and a low shelf set to -2 or -3 db.
It really was incredibly easy to do, too. I’d set up the TM block to recognize the USB input and either the L or R channel and play the CD on my computer (make sure to balance the audio to the L or R, whichever side applies-IMPORTANT STEP) to capture the reference signal. Then I’d play the same part on my guitar to capture the local signal. Of course, everything on the grid before the TM block (amp, drive, EQ, etc.) must be as close as you can get it to the reference track as possible and getting that right is the tricky part. Either you need experience and knowledge to know what amp to pick and how to dial in the settings or you may get lucky and find that information on the web. Then press “match”. That’s all there was to it.
It’s important to note that a TM preset you may find on Axe-Change or the forum may not work for you or may not sound right simply because the creator’s guitar/pickups are significantly different than yours. That, or the amp and any other blocks that come before the TM block just weren’t set up very well. For these reasons, I’ve come to realize that if I want a very accurate TM preset, I’m going to have to create it myself.
I’m incredibly excited about all this because it’s really a game-changer for me. It just seems so easy. As much as I love to tweak, sometimes when you’re looking for “that” tone it’s just exhilarating to come up with it in 5 minutes!
Sorry for the long post but I felt this might be helpful to some (plus I’m bored at work!). I notice a lot of people seem to really struggle with dialing in desired tones. A lot of people find that other’s presets (TM or other) just don’t work for them. Maybe your ears are “off”too. Maybe you just don’t understand the destination and you’re headed the wrong direction. Regardless, tone-matching in the Axe works and is very accurate. Thanks Fractal!
