Preparing your tracks for reamping: A Guide

[John Haddad (Shiva Industries)]

You guys think it would be possible/wise to use the high z instrument input on my Apogee Duet 2 soley as an Instrument DI or should I use my Radial Pro DI in conjuction with the Apogee's preamp's? Reason for asking is I have to go mobile sometimes and not sure what the best equipment to use/bring we me to the clients location. Any thoughts on this matter would be awesome.

[Dgrptr]

I am using an apogee one and going DI with guitar into my interface .
I am applying an instance of guitar rig 4 to my tracks and amp simulating.
How can I tell if it is recording the DI signal Pre fx? Obviously I am disabling the guitar rig 4 and hearin the clean signal but stillborn
Can I be sure that my clean signal is unyampered?

[MetalSir]

oh dudez,
I made the reamp for my album and i can definitely confirm you that INPUT 1 and 2 of the PRESONUS FP10 (the second version, dunno if it's the same for the firepod) ARE DIs.
I recorded guitar lines directly plugged in these lowz input and i remped everything using a reamp v2.
all sounds perfectly.

[gumplunger]

Originally Posted by Djabthrash

Then here is my second question : when using an ampsim as an effect on a DI track, and an impulse response right after in the FX chain, what kind of level is "appropriate" for your impulse response loader (be it Lecab, Recabinet, PI-101, ...) ? Something that peaks at -3/-4 ? (like the DI track) ? Do you use the "master volume"/"output volume" knob of your ampsim in such a way that you get a "peaks at -3/-4" signal out of it ?

Impulse responses are linear, meaning they don't take into account the dynamics of the input signal, so it doesn't really matter what your input level is as long as its not super low.

[JakeAC5253]

Originally Posted by gumplunger

Impulse responses are linear, meaning they don't take into account the dynamics of the input signal, so it doesn't really matter what your input level is as long as its not super low.

Actually they are not. If you have an analyzer program which shows a waterfall representation of an IR (and maybe it's only the good ones) you can see how the EQ curve changes as a function of time. What variables affect how well this transfers to an actual difference in sound, I don't know.

[gumplunger]

Well yeah, the frequency curve of an impulse response varies over time, but its still going to react the same to a signal at -10db as it would with a signal at 0db. Whereas an amp is a non-linear system in that its going to respond differently to changes in the input signal.

[blackbull]

Sorry for the noobery, but I dont get this:

USING AN AMP/POD/WONDERBOX:

You're going to need a direct box. There are many makes & types but they all pretty much do the same thing: They have an input, a "thru" and an XLR output... as well as a ground lift switch. Plug your guitar into the input, plug the XLR output into your cleanest preamp's mic input, & plug the "thru" into your guitar amp/Pod/whateverthefuckitisyouusefortone.

I have a Line 6 Pod. Is the pod a direct box or is that something I have to get additionally? I've experimented some with Podfarm, and what I did then was simply to record from input 3-8 which I thought was the pure raw signal. But this tutorial made it seem like it's not. Can anyone explain?

[SickBoy]

Originally Posted by blackbull

Sorry for the noobery, but I dont get this:

I have a Line 6 Pod. Is the pod a direct box or is that something I have to get additionally? I've experimented some with Podfarm, and what I did then was simply to record from input 3-8 which I thought was the pure raw signal. But this tutorial made it seem like it's not. Can anyone explain?

Is that PodXT you're talking about?
I own PodXT and its ASIO drivers support recording of the clean signal while monitoring/playing thru the effected/distorted signal, check the Control Panel of the ASIO driver. It's a form of DI recording but I suppose the quality is on the side of dedicated DI boxes and good quality mic preamps... But for home recording purposes it should do.

You can always buy a good DI box (Radial, Countryman, LittleLabs etc.) later on along with a nice mic pre if you get more serious about it.

[blackbull]

Originally Posted by SickBoy

Is that PodXT you're talking about?
I own PodXT and its ASIO drivers support recording of the clean signal while monitoring/playing thru the effected/distorted signal, check the Control Panel of the ASIO driver. It's a form of DI recording but I suppose the quality is on the side of dedicated DI boxes and good quality mic preamps... But for home recording purposes it should do.

You can always buy a good DI box (Radial, Countryman, LittleLabs etc.) later on along with a nice mic pre if you get more serious about it.

It's the X3. I just searched my mac for "asio" and I got nothing, so I suppose OS X doesn't use those drivers? When I used pod farm I heard my playing simply from pod farm itself. I think I can also just plug the speakers into the pod and hear the distorted signal through that while listening to the drums from the macbook's speakers as well. Thanks for clearing things up.

[aviel]

ok.. sorry for bringing this thread up again..

is there a good solution for a DI that can be used for both active and passive?
i have one EMG equipped guitar, and a passive one, jackson, and a stratocaster.

i was almost going to by the country man 85 but then i realized i might get problems on highes peaks with the EMGs?

[M.Lehto]

Short question, the guy reamping the tracks is complaining the lack of bottom and high ends after reamp. Is there any certain issues to take care of when running the signal into amp, how should the settings be etc? I'm not that familiar with reamping and he's no specialist for reamping either, but thinks the overall sound is always worse than when playing the guitars directly through the amp, but why? He's using Radial JD7, so that shouldn't be the problem either?

[deLuther]

I`m like reamped sound even more than direct

[Cacoph0ny]

I'm looking to get a re-amp box, is the Radial X-Amp a safe bet? I'm using an M-Audio Fast Track Pro right now, is this how it would work:

Fast Track Pro -> XLR on X-Amp -> Amp
and then the mic on the cab would go into the other input on the FT Pro
?

still a bit clueless on how re-amping is set up

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Seems right yes.

[zzzxtreme]

hi guys, i was about to shop for cheap radial or countryman DIs, but I notice someone mentioned Edirol soundcard. What I have currently is a roland octacapture with VS Preamps , a higher-end brother of edirol, and the reviews said it is very clean and neutral. do you guys think I still need those dedicated DIs ?


---edit---

as I understand it, guitar/bass > radial or redeye DI > soundcard's mic preamp > DAW

wouldn't the mic preamp already add coloration to the DI's signal ? So why bother ? Would it be better to use my GSP1101 bypass mode than record straight to the DAW via USB ?