Want to improve your recording patches with your Axe-FX?

Deltones

Deltones

Experienced
I posted something similar on Gearslutz, but it's very relevant for this forum as well.

If you want to get the best recording patch you can get, then create your guitar presets though a single Auratone Mixcube. That'll put the focus on your mids. If you already have your stable of presets, then revise them through the Mixcube as well. Chances are you'll hear things that make you go lemon-faced and correct accordingly. A reference track from a CD with a sound close to what you were going for, also played through the Mixcube, is a big big help here. It doesn't matter if you have the Axe-Fx II or another Axe-Fx. In the end, you'll probably need less processing as far as EQ is concerned when it's time to mix your guitars tracks. Remember, I'm talking about recording patches here, not live patches.

The funny thing is that since I started doing that 2 weeks ago, when I'm just noodling around with my guitar, I almost prefer playing though the Mixcube now than through my HS-80M.
 
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flyingfadr said:
True ! Although we affectionately call them "Horrortones". ;-)
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Surprisingly, I really like how they sound, even for some music listening (Great for Beatles Mono Box Set). That's how I basically found out about its effect on my Axe-Fx. I had the Auratone on and the HS-80M off and and played back a track I was working on. Pretty much was a what the hell moment. I revised every single one of my patches through the Mixcube and made noticeable improvements.

One of the nice side effect is that since the Auratone is really focused on the mids, the guitar reacts better and I'm pretty certain I would be able to get a much better feedback situation than my Yamaha monitors. Even now, playing at low volume though the Auratone, I have better sustain, which dies pretty quickly on the HS-80.
 
So basically all you're saying is that the mid-heavy (and probably deficient in the highs) Auratones work better for what you want out of the Axe vs the more neutral Yamahas. This isn't all that surprising considering traditional guitar speakers have prominent mids and don't really do highs past about 8k.
 
laxu said:
So basically all you're saying is that the mid-heavy (and probably deficient in the highs) Auratones work better for what you want out of the Axe vs the more neutral Yamahas. This isn't all that surprising considering traditional guitar speakers have prominent mids and don't really do highs past about 8k.
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Yeah, pretty much. Don't forget that they're also deficient in the lows so you'll know straight away if your patch is too bottom and top heavy. One of the reasons the Mixcubes are used is to check your mix on something a lot less than hi-fi. Found out it worked great also for patch building. Might not work for everybody, but since this forum is for sharing ideas...
 
Couldn't a similar purpose be achieved my burning a mix or a simple guitar recording to CD, and then taking it out to your car and hearing it through your car's system?

Honestly, I can think of better ways to drop $450 than getting something intentionally designed to drop your rig down to the consumer level...
 
FreaqyFrequency said:
Couldn't a similar purpose be achieved my burning a mix or a simple guitar recording to CD, and then taking it out to your car and hearing it through your car's system?

Honestly, I can think of better ways to drop $450 than getting something intentionally designed to drop your rig down to the consumer level...
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Are you going to burn a CD and go to your car every time you want to adjust a few parameters? Not exactly practical. I agree that if you don't already have the Auratone Mixcubes in your studio, then yeah, blowing 450$ is not a good idea. But if you already have one and never thought of using it that way, then try the idea and fix your potential guitar problem straight at the source in real time. It will save you some time later in the process.
 
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I would probably just rewrite the track with my edits to CD after hearing what needed correcting in the car. The concept of the product is interesting, but I think the price is a little high for what it's offering. Do you really need to seek out a quality lo-fi/mid-exaggerating product to hear lo-fi/mid-exaggerated translations of your mix?

I believe you should get a mix to be able to translate on any set of speakers when you mix on something where all the details can be heard. "Lo-fi" in speakers covers a lot of ground, different frequency exaggerations, etc...there's certainly no one-master-fits-all solution to be found there. Your mix will sound different everywhere, and I think it's best to focus resources toward creating the original master in the purest environment possible.

Not trying to bash the product, as I can appreciate what its goals are, and its applications. My two cents. :)
 
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I was only joking... That is what we refer t them as in a large studio environment... We mix on high dollar studio monitors, but always throw the mix into a pair of auratones, to see how it translates... If it sound good ion auratones , it'll sound good pretty much anywhere... At least as far as balanced levels in a mix..
 
Damn, just realized that I confused the name Auratone with Avantone. I am talking about the Avantone Mixcubes. The Auratone were the originals. I have the Avantone, which are a lot less for a pair than the 450$ quoted earlier.
 
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Those look fun! The passives sell between $199-239 while the actives seem to sell between $449-469.

I like the idea. This could probably be helpful for all those youtube artists where most of their viewers probably have crappy headphones or speaker systems.

I might look into getting a pair of these.
 
Avenyr said:
Those look fun! I might look into getting a pair of these.
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They are, and go passive if you have a spare amp lying somewhere. They'll need a period of break-in when you get them, and even though they are not hi-fi (that's the point), they don't sound horrortone at all, at least to me :)

The important thing to remember if you guys decide to try the idea is that you have to use only 1 speaker if you install both of them. Personally, I have my pair of Yamaha's and only 1 Mixcube sitting between the two when I check for mono compatibility. The other Mixcube is still in its box.
 
I've been using those for a while now and they're a great resource for a/b-ing a mix or, like you said, your guitar patches. The average listener won't be listening to your music through a hi fi system with big speakers etc so they're great for getting an idea of how your tune will sound through computer speakers etc.
 
couldn't you achieve a similar effect by placing an eq on the master output that starts cutting from 150Hz down and 5k up?
 
clarky said:
couldn't you achieve a similar effect by placing an eq on the master output that starts cutting from 150Hz down and 5k up?
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Actually, I did that to all my patches with a PEQ block even before I tested them through the Mixcube. What the Mixcube will show is a near surgical reflection of what's going on in your mids. That's where the payoff will be most significant. In my case, the payoff was in the 500hz region. Every single of my patches that I thought sounded good through both of my Yamaha's made me recoil at how nasal they really were. When I referenced them against similar sounding tones from commercial releases, the difference was even more stark.

The goal of this is really to make your patch as record ready as you can from the get-go and save processing steps at a later stage. It's certainly not a necessity, but for me, it's proving out to be a great tool for the way I like to record my stuff. I reference everything through that speaker now.
 
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@ Deltones - based on your experience with the mixcube, what specifically do you think could be done with a PQ and/or a filter to replicate the sound you are talking about?
 
Capricorn said:
@ Deltones - based on your experience with the mixcube, what specifically do you think could be done with a PQ and/or a filter to replicate the sound you are talking about?
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My experience with them is not that long since I got them maybe 2 months ago and tried what I'm talking about in this thread about 2 weeks ago. I'm not even sure I could replicate the sound of the Mixcubes with my Yamaha monitors, Completely different beasts. But a first step you could do at least is that when you're building a patch with your current monitoring setup, turn OFF one speaker, always. This way at least, you will not get frequency interplay between the two speakers and probably will get a better representation of where you're going with your sound. And reference. Always reference with commercial releases or raw tracks that are proven to be of quality.
 
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