Guitar Questions... Please Help...

[JonnyGinese]

hey guys,

I've been messing around with Amplitube and I just can't find a sound that i really like... let alone a veriaty of sounds that I'm going to need. So.. Am I just waisting my time with this thing? or will i find something... I was thinking of running a condenser, Dynamic and a DI off the same guitar/amp and see what I come up with. Do you guys think its better jstu to Mic the musicians Amp the way he thinks he wants it to sound? Also.. do you think its a good idea to record the clean track as well so that I can mess around wiht differnt sounds for Amplitube later on?... Any advice will be great. thanks

Jonny

[spkguitar]

Am I just waisting my time with this thing?

Amplitube has some good sounds, but it is not for everybody. If you've been messing around with it for a long time and you haven't come across anything you like, you probably won't

Do you guys think its better jstu to Mic the musicians Amp the way he thinks he wants it to sound?

Always. (unless he doesn't know that it sucks, and even then...) If he likes the way it sounds, it's your job as an engineer to capture that sound edit accurately /edit.

do you think its a good idea to record the clean track as well so that I can mess around wiht differnt sounds for Amplitube later on?

Yes, I think it's a good idea, and I do it all the time; not just with plugins like amplitube, but for possible reamping later on.

[superpenguin79]

Spike hit the nail on the head with this one... I would suggest either micing the guitarists cab or recording clean and re-amping later. As far as technology is coming along, there is still nothing like cranking the good old amp to 10 and having that sound captured properly. If you are looking for good cab mic techniques, try the link on my website in my sig under my links section called studio handbook. There are a lot of great refferences in there to get started and develop off of. the secret is to get the sound from the instrument and amp that you want before you start placing a mic in front of it. A good sound will sound good in a recording regardless, and excellent sounds come from excellent players meeting knowledgable and well experienced engineers. goodluck and remember to have fun! peace

[JonnyGinese]

thanks for the advice guys.. oh.. by any chance does anyone have any nice presets that they have made in Amplitube? I acctually got a sound i liked today(5 minutes after i posted). I'm just wondering if anyone else has any nice once that they use and are willing to share. cya

Jonny

[albee1952]

Presets are kind of meaningless as it will be dependant on the sound of the direct guitar recording. This is something that just requires trying all of your options. Check out the NI Guitar Rig and Combo Amp plugins. I think Guitar Rig blows Amplitube away but it is a cpu hog. Once you get a good sound, bounce or record that processed track to a new audio track so you can disable the plugin. Use it on 3 tracks and you will likely hit the red on cpu.

[crookedtourguy]

I concur with spkguitar, superpenquin and albee1952, They are all giving you some very sound advice. I would say capturing the cleanest possible sound of the instrument (DI and directly micing the instrument) is a important as grabbing their perfect amp sound. There is just so much more one can do with a well recorded clean sound.
As for software, I have no recommendations, I haven't found anything out there that I like.

[fredsparky]

I have a lot of real cool presets if you want them. Just send me your e-mail. There are a lot of great sounds to use.

Mike

[rchaffin]

Mike the amp and run a DI for re-amping later! I read where Andy Sneap had to re-amp ALL of the guitars on Triviums 'Ascendancy' release. Even the bass. Really FAT guitars on that one!

[Joe Evans]

I just tried the Native Instruments Guitar Combo demo and to me it blows Amplitube away. I already own Amplitube version 1 and was anxiously awaiting the version 2 upgrade, but I think I might purchase the NI software instead. The NI stuff seems to "play" more like a real amp to me with regards to responsiveness and tone. I like it!

[JonnyGinese]

Yeah, a friend of mine has NI Guitar Rig and I jsut tried it out... even the presets on it are 10x better then amplitube. I'm diffinatly going to have to buy it now.