You're content's solid my dude. I like the longer form approach, lots of good nuggets of info. Keep it up! If I could make a suggestion, get yourself a mic boom for that SM7b. it's picking up every bump/physical interaction with your desk (and resonating in your VO tracking)
@@Bozie8823 Hey man. Thank you for the comment. And mush appreciated. And I totally agree with you. I rushed a lot of things at the beginning. However I'm working on how I record my audio. The new videos should be up to par in terms of vocal audio 🙌
@@rubolf2153 I have done blind tests. The differences are obvious for me. Unfortunately I have to get permission to use the creators videos in my videos. You have to have extensive experience in mixing to understand this problem in its entirety. It's not just the interface. It's the guitar. Strings. Neck tension. Pickups. Playing. My experience tells me cheap guitars with cheap interfaces are not good. I must admit that I'm stunned that people are not willing to invest in great equipment. Why settle for something that cost 150 dollars? Why not strive for great quality? My "philosophy" is you get what you pay for. And what is your experience in mixing that brings you to the opinion that this does not really matter? How many different songs have you mixed and how many clients have sent you projects using cheap interfaces?
What is (in your opinion) the best overall interface for guitars and vocals? Is it the one in the beginning of the video? I’ve been looking to upgrade for awhile now because I am one of the focusrite 2i2 users. Now that I’ve been getting better at recording and mixing I’m noticing my di’s need help… desperately 😂
@@derekv9710 hey man! Ye DIs are a common problem for many people who possibly lack the knowledge in this particular field. And at least you are figuring it out. Was a serious learning curve for me 😅. So ya. Good question. There are many routes you can go. If you have the budget I would suggest the apollo twin X duo or the RME Baby Face pro FS. (which is less expensive) in terms of best interface there are others at a higher price. Your Guitar also plays a really big role in this formula. My experience tells me that cheaper production guiatrs in many cases do not produce a good result. Also the setup of your guitar is the other factor. Different pick ups will give you a different sound. Like passive vs active etc. Also brand of pickup. Too much or too little tension on the neck can also cause issues. So it's a bit tricky for me to say "just buy this interface" you would have to zoom out and look at everything in the chain. Because you might buy the new interface and get possibly a better DI however maybe not the ideal result due to other factors. I hope this makes sense?
@ that totally makes sense my man thank you so much. I rock higher end esps and they are setup fantastic. Fun fact incase you havnt used one or ran into this…but the digitech whammy/drop pedal affected my di so much it was insane. Then I tried straight to the interface with same everything and it was so noticeable it hit me like lighting 🤣 so now I’m going down the rabbit hole of di’s and luckily your video popped up and it was one of my first to watch and my last.. you have a new sub my guy!
@derekv9710 aah nice. ESP have some great guitars in the higher end. There are so many things that can impact the DI. It never ends. Well I'm happy the video could help. One more thing you can do, if you hve the budget. Is to run pre amp before the interface. There are some Neve clones for around 700 which do a great job. That also will saturtate the DI and give it a really warm character
@@derekv9710 awesome man! Not sure if I mentioned it. But make use of a string tension calculator when selecting the gauge for your recording and tuning. This will give the the best tension for that specific tuning. Guage is not so important. More so the tension
One could argue that on cheaper interfaces the DIs, that are delivered with it, may be bad. The A/D-Converters are mostly pretty solid even there and the conversion is dependent on those and the level you are recording in. So I would suggest to get an external DI box, if the contained DI is bad, which is oftentimes way cheaper. Then use that and record in line level, while leaving more than enough headroom if you want to use virtual amps or use a reamping setup and record that out of the box equipment with a microphone afterwards. Digital clipping is something you need to avoid under any circumstances, getting a DI signal louder inside the box after recording is not a problem, but If you have too less headroom, those ampsims can't be used to reach a sweet spot. If it doesn't resonate with you, to record in such low levels along with no distortion or effects, use the throughput of the external DI and send the signal parallel to an amp just for your ears and the right feeling. That way you also avoid tracking-problems, that could occur, if you use a virtual ampsim. Just be sure, that microphones are off. 😉 For real metal sound record at least two times the same material with different settings on the guitar side (pickups/tone/other guitar) and finalize it with eqs, panning and gain staging to your liking. The fun with DI recordings is, that you can create the desired sound post recordings, assuming your take was awesome.
@@sebastianreichardt4897 there are many options to try when it cormes to using a cheap interface. And like I said, many other factors have to be looked at. Like guitar used. Pickups. Playing style, how good is the player. It all adds up. I have heard decent enough DIs come out of a cheap interface. However In most cases the guitar and the player are very good. Gain staging and all those technical aspects of course make a decent difference, however the issue I have with cheap interfaces is the signal conversion. I personally do not find it to be very good. I had a client send me DIs form a cheap focus right. They just did not work in the mix. So we upgraded his interface to the apollo. 500 dollar apollo. And it made a huge difference however there were still problems. And then we figured out that his guitar was causing sonic issues in the signal. And so we changed his guitar and it worked out great. Also another band I worked with recorded through a cheap focus right. And 1000 dollar guitars. Dis were horrible. I sent them my baby face. Gave them my tips on string tension and so on, and the result was mind blowing. Meaning the before and after. I think the cheap interfaces are great for writing. And demos however I'm a strong believer in saving the money for something that will give great results every time.
@@MetalMixdownStudios With the focus in special, I had similar problems with its conversion into the digital plane. Same with a steinberg Interface; but I used a M-Audio Fasttrack now for years and got good results out of it. Recently I bought an behringer u-phoria interface with midas preamps, and I like the results even more. So, like you say, it depends on multiple factors and a decent spent will not always guarantee good results either. You can also invest even more into an external DI like an Avalon etc. and sometimes that will hold even better results. I appreciate your insights and the expieriences you shared, very much. So using your ears in every single case and develop trust in them is always a good advice. 😎🤘
@@sebastianreichardt4897 ye I think many people have issues getting a good sound form the cheap focusrites.. And that's also true that expsive might not produce a great result, with regards to other factors being involved. And it's good that you are trying different things. For me it's just experimenting as much as possible until something gives. And thank you very much! I appreciate you taking the time to comment bakc and forth. 🙌
@@MetalMixdownStudios I like experimenting much, but that takes time. While I'm not a professional, its oftentimes like doing all the parts as far as possible, playing and practice guitar and keys, recording, mixing and mastering. If allowed to ask; are you mainly focused on production (mixing/mastering) as it seems at first sight or are you into recording and playing instruments, too? (composing, writing Texts & music, arranging)
@@sebastianreichardt4897 I totally get it. The best way for me to get out of a cycle of "no completion" is to just set a dead line for myself, for any given project and make sure I follow through. I did a lot of writing in the past however not as much because yes my main focus is working with musicians or bands to develop their sound. However in the future to come I'm going to start some writing. For now I just have fun with sample packs for example and compose that way. I also to text and lyrics
@@Durkhead sorry man but what you are saying here is absolutely not true. There is no fix to a bad DI. If the DI is workable then possibly there are some minor things you can do. A bad Di is a bad DI. Once all that sonic inconsistency is transferred into the signal it is there to stay, anything you add to it will only enhance the negative tonal qualities.
You dont need to spend more than bout 150 on a interface Also i bet if you did a blind test youd never know the difference between the 2 interfaces that you have
I have done blind tests with a band, and I can tell the difference, there is obvious tonal differences between a cheap interface and a more expensive one. Any experienced mixing engineer can spot a bad DI, they are very obvious. as i mentioned in the video there are sonic giveaways for a bad DI. you can buy a budget interface, however that has to be paired with a very good guitar with a seriously clean setup and very tight playing. It is not only the cheap interface that is to blame, there are to many things to name when it comes to this subject. If you are saying you do not need to spend more than 150 then I am suggesting you have possibly not spent enough time understanding the subject.
@@Durkhead the evidence of the bad DI shows up when an amp sim is applied. Only a very trained ear can hear a bad DI on its own. This takes years to hear the small differences. And what what I'm saying is not wrong, as you state. This is based on years of experience. And when I have the time I will do a comparison between a mix with bad DIs and good dis. The difference is night and day.
@Durkhead Sorry to say it, but you don't know much about sound. There are many different DI sounds and bad converters can be recognized by their muddy and less clear sound and this has a negative effect on the final sound. You'll definitely need more time mixing if you have a cheap interface. The expensive ones cost so much money for a reason.
@pr0t0typ50 Very good explanation man. That is such an accurate description! Totally agree with you. At times these kinds of DI's are almost impossible to work with.
Stop that nonsense about audio interfaces. Your typical branded 100-300 bucks interface (Steinberg, Presonus, Focusrite whatever) will be absolutely fine for your guitar DIs as long as you're not running into headroom problems (which generally isn't a thing nowadays to begin with). There's absolutely no need to delude yourself into believing you need to throw some random x amount of "more money" at a problem that's not there.
@@honigdachs. Hey man. Firstly I won't be stopping anything. As I am entitled to my own subjective experiences and opinions . Non the less thank you for commenting and taking part in the discussion. Secondly what is your experience in mixing different DIs? And how many songs have you mixed? Again. It's not only the interface. There are many factors that contribute to a bad sounding DI. For example. Guitar choice. Pickup choice. Strings. Tuning. And in terms of low tuning, too much or too little tension on the neck. Height of the pickups. Internal electronics. Floyde rose vs Hard tail. Intonation. The list goes on. In my own experience pairing cheap guitars with cheap interface does not usually produce a great sounding DI. Normally what I'm hearing with cheap interfaces is a muddy low end. Kind of dismantled sounding. And just an over all lack of clarity. The converters also do a poor job when that signal is passed from the guitar to through the interface and in to your DAW. I see a lot of guys being predi "triggered" by what I am saying. The reason why I have come to this conclusion is because I have mixed so many songs it's almost a joke. Meaning I have gained a lot of experience in working with many different DI sounds. I have also helped bands produce better DIs by upgrading their equipment and guitars. And the results where amazing. And the bands in question leveled up their productions. If you do not enjoy what I'm saying attemp being polite and friendly, then maybe we can talk about it. And have a discussion like adults. However as soon as I see a comment like this I just cannot take it seriously. I would suggest learning how to speak to people and having a level of respect and acceptence for my opinion. Take care
@Caynug well the whole point of the video is to explain the importance of DI quality.. Bad Dis are notorious amoungst musicians recording at home and going online, and the first thing they see is a cheap focusrite, and everyone is telling them to buy it and it works well. That's not true, too much marketing behind these products and not enough truth and real knowledge on what it takes to get the guitar DI to a high level. Remember this is only my subjective opinion on the matter. My own experiences. If you don't like the title of the video then unfortunately I can't do much about that. Take care 🙌
You're content's solid my dude. I like the longer form approach, lots of good nuggets of info. Keep it up! If I could make a suggestion, get yourself a mic boom for that SM7b. it's picking up every bump/physical interaction with your desk (and resonating in your VO tracking)
@@Bozie8823 Hey man. Thank you for the comment. And mush appreciated. And I totally agree with you. I rushed a lot of things at the beginning. However I'm working on how I record my audio. The new videos should be up to par in terms of vocal audio 🙌
That master buss chain looks awfully familiar 🤔🤓
Do a blind test of cheap vs hi end interface. It’s the last thing to worry about imo
@@rubolf2153 I have done blind tests. The differences are obvious for me. Unfortunately I have to get permission to use the creators videos in my videos. You have to have extensive experience in mixing to understand this problem in its entirety. It's not just the interface. It's the guitar. Strings. Neck tension. Pickups. Playing. My experience tells me cheap guitars with cheap interfaces are not good. I must admit that I'm stunned that people are not willing to invest in great equipment. Why settle for something that cost 150 dollars? Why not strive for great quality? My "philosophy" is you get what you pay for. And what is your experience in mixing that brings you to the opinion that this does not really matter? How many different songs have you mixed and how many clients have sent you projects using cheap interfaces?
What is (in your opinion) the best overall interface for guitars and vocals? Is it the one in the beginning of the video? I’ve been looking to upgrade for awhile now because I am one of the focusrite 2i2 users. Now that I’ve been getting better at recording and mixing I’m noticing my di’s need help… desperately 😂
@@derekv9710 hey man! Ye DIs are a common problem for many people who possibly lack the knowledge in this particular field. And at least you are figuring it out. Was a serious learning curve for me 😅.
So ya. Good question. There are many routes you can go. If you have the budget I would suggest the apollo twin X duo or the RME Baby Face pro FS. (which is less expensive) in terms of best interface there are others at a higher price. Your Guitar also plays a really big role in this formula. My experience tells me that cheaper production guiatrs in many cases do not produce a good result. Also the setup of your guitar is the other factor. Different pick ups will give you a different sound. Like passive vs active etc. Also brand of pickup. Too much or too little tension on the neck can also cause issues. So it's a bit tricky for me to say "just buy this interface" you would have to zoom out and look at everything in the chain. Because you might buy the new interface and get possibly a better DI however maybe not the ideal result due to other factors. I hope this makes sense?
@ that totally makes sense my man thank you so much. I rock higher end esps and they are setup fantastic. Fun fact incase you havnt used one or ran into this…but the digitech whammy/drop pedal affected my di so much it was insane. Then I tried straight to the interface with same everything and it was so noticeable it hit me like lighting 🤣 so now I’m going down the rabbit hole of di’s and luckily your video popped up and it was one of my first to watch and my last.. you have a new sub my guy!
@derekv9710 aah nice. ESP have some great guitars in the higher end. There are so many things that can impact the DI. It never ends. Well I'm happy the video could help. One more thing you can do, if you hve the budget. Is to run pre amp before the interface. There are some Neve clones for around 700 which do a great job. That also will saturtate the DI and give it a really warm character
@@MetalMixdownStudios awesome you are the man! I’m definitely going to upgrade and take your advice
@@derekv9710 awesome man! Not sure if I mentioned it. But make use of a string tension calculator when selecting the gauge for your recording and tuning. This will give the the best tension for that specific tuning. Guage is not so important. More so the tension
One could argue that on cheaper interfaces the DIs, that are delivered with it, may be bad. The A/D-Converters are mostly pretty solid even there and the conversion is dependent on those and the level you are recording in. So I would suggest to get an external DI box, if the contained DI is bad, which is oftentimes way cheaper. Then use that and record in line level, while leaving more than enough headroom if you want to use virtual amps or use a reamping setup and record that out of the box equipment with a microphone afterwards. Digital clipping is something you need to avoid under any circumstances, getting a DI signal louder inside the box after recording is not a problem, but If you have too less headroom, those ampsims can't be used to reach a sweet spot. If it doesn't resonate with you, to record in such low levels along with no distortion or effects, use the throughput of the external DI and send the signal parallel to an amp just for your ears and the right feeling. That way you also avoid tracking-problems, that could occur, if you use a virtual ampsim. Just be sure, that microphones are off. 😉 For real metal sound record at least two times the same material with different settings on the guitar side (pickups/tone/other guitar) and finalize it with eqs, panning and gain staging to your liking. The fun with DI recordings is, that you can create the desired sound post recordings, assuming your take was awesome.
@@sebastianreichardt4897 there are many options to try when it cormes to using a cheap interface. And like I said, many other factors have to be looked at. Like guitar used. Pickups. Playing style, how good is the player. It all adds up. I have heard decent enough DIs come out of a cheap interface. However In most cases the guitar and the player are very good. Gain staging and all those technical aspects of course make a decent difference, however the issue I have with cheap interfaces is the signal conversion. I personally do not find it to be very good. I had a client send me DIs form a cheap focus right. They just did not work in the mix. So we upgraded his interface to the apollo. 500 dollar apollo. And it made a huge difference however there were still problems. And then we figured out that his guitar was causing sonic issues in the signal. And so we changed his guitar and it worked out great. Also another band I worked with recorded through a cheap focus right. And 1000 dollar guitars. Dis were horrible. I sent them my baby face. Gave them my tips on string tension and so on, and the result was mind blowing. Meaning the before and after. I think the cheap interfaces are great for writing. And demos however I'm a strong believer in saving the money for something that will give great results every time.
@@MetalMixdownStudios With the focus in special, I had similar problems with its conversion into the digital plane. Same with a steinberg Interface; but I used a M-Audio Fasttrack now for years and got good results out of it. Recently I bought an behringer u-phoria interface with midas preamps, and I like the results even more. So, like you say, it depends on multiple factors and a decent spent will not always guarantee good results either. You can also invest even more into an external DI like an Avalon etc. and sometimes that will hold even better results. I appreciate your insights and the expieriences you shared, very much. So using your ears in every single case and develop trust in them is always a good advice. 😎🤘
@@sebastianreichardt4897 ye I think many people have issues getting a good sound form the cheap focusrites.. And that's also true that expsive might not produce a great result, with regards to other factors being involved. And it's good that you are trying different things. For me it's just experimenting as much as possible until something gives. And thank you very much! I appreciate you taking the time to comment bakc and forth. 🙌
@@MetalMixdownStudios I like experimenting much, but that takes time. While I'm not a professional, its oftentimes like doing all the parts as far as possible, playing and practice guitar and keys, recording, mixing and mastering. If allowed to ask; are you mainly focused on production (mixing/mastering) as it seems at first sight or are you into recording and playing instruments, too? (composing, writing Texts & music, arranging)
@@sebastianreichardt4897 I totally get it. The best way for me to get out of a cycle of "no completion" is to just set a dead line for myself, for any given project and make sure I follow through. I did a lot of writing in the past however not as much because yes my main focus is working with musicians or bands to develop their sound. However in the future to come I'm going to start some writing. For now I just have fun with sample packs for example and compose that way. I also to text and lyrics
Add to that, you r converting instrument level to line level, bad DI can effect the sound in a bad way.
Its easy to fix a di though you can edit for timing add an exciter or saturation and autotune for bad intonation
@@Durkhead sorry man but what you are saying here is absolutely not true. There is no fix to a bad DI. If the DI is workable then possibly there are some minor things you can do.
A bad Di is a bad DI. Once all that sonic inconsistency is transferred into the signal it is there to stay, anything you add to it will only enhance the negative tonal qualities.
100 percent man. I am sure you understand the pain of this subject.
@@MetalMixdownStudios thats so wrong
You dont need to spend more than bout 150 on a interface
Also i bet if you did a blind test youd never know the difference between the 2 interfaces that you have
I have done blind tests with a band, and I can tell the difference, there is obvious tonal differences between a cheap interface and a more expensive one. Any experienced mixing engineer can spot a bad DI, they are very obvious.
as i mentioned in the video there are sonic giveaways for a bad DI. you can buy a budget interface, however that has to be paired with a very good guitar with a seriously clean setup
and very tight playing. It is not only the cheap interface that is to blame, there are to many things to name when it comes to this subject. If you are saying you do not need to spend more than 150 then I am suggesting you have possibly not spent enough time understanding the subject.
@@MetalMixdownStudioswhy dont you put out a video then?
Split the signal record though both interfaces gained matched and post the audio
@@Durkhead the evidence of the bad DI shows up when an amp sim is applied. Only a very trained ear can hear a bad DI on its own. This takes years to hear the small differences. And what what I'm saying is not wrong, as you state. This is based on years of experience. And when I have the time I will do a comparison between a mix with bad DIs and good dis. The difference is night and day.
@Durkhead Sorry to say it, but you don't know much about sound. There are many different DI sounds and bad converters can be recognized by their muddy and less clear sound and this has a negative effect on the final sound. You'll definitely need more time mixing if you have a cheap interface. The expensive ones cost so much money for a reason.
@pr0t0typ50 Very good explanation man. That is such an accurate description! Totally agree with you. At times these kinds of DI's are almost impossible to work with.
Stop that nonsense about audio interfaces. Your typical branded 100-300 bucks interface (Steinberg, Presonus, Focusrite whatever) will be absolutely fine for your guitar DIs as long as you're not running into headroom problems (which generally isn't a thing nowadays to begin with). There's absolutely no need to delude yourself into believing you need to throw some random x amount of "more money" at a problem that's not there.
@@honigdachs. Hey man. Firstly I won't be stopping anything. As I am entitled to my own subjective experiences and opinions . Non the less thank you for commenting and taking part in the discussion. Secondly what is your experience in mixing different DIs? And how many songs have you mixed? Again. It's not only the interface. There are many factors that contribute to a bad sounding DI. For example. Guitar choice. Pickup choice. Strings. Tuning. And in terms of low tuning, too much or too little tension on the neck. Height of the pickups. Internal electronics. Floyde rose vs Hard tail. Intonation. The list goes on. In my own experience pairing cheap guitars with cheap interface does not usually produce a great sounding DI. Normally what I'm hearing with cheap interfaces is a muddy low end. Kind of dismantled sounding. And just an over all lack of clarity. The converters also do a poor job when that signal is passed from the guitar to through the interface and in to your DAW.
I see a lot of guys being predi "triggered" by what I am saying. The reason why I have come to this conclusion is because I have mixed so many songs it's almost a joke. Meaning I have gained a lot of experience in working with many different DI sounds. I have also helped bands produce better DIs by upgrading their equipment and guitars. And the results where amazing. And the bands in question leveled up their productions. If you do not enjoy what I'm saying attemp being polite and friendly, then maybe we can talk about it. And have a discussion like adults. However as soon as I see a comment like this I just cannot take it seriously. I would suggest learning how to speak to people and having a level of respect and acceptence for my opinion. Take care
@@MetalMixdownStudios👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
"Fine" is very different from "good" or "great" in terms of quality when it comes to DI's my friend. He's correct.
@TheWoodish well said 🙌
@@TheWoodish No, you people are completely deluding yourselves.
That title is so bad I dont think you should go down this route
@@Caynug the music production route?
@@MetalMixdownStudios "THE TRUTH ABOUT..." is clearly chosen man.
@Caynug well the whole point of the video is to explain the importance of DI quality.. Bad Dis are notorious amoungst musicians recording at home and going online, and the first thing they see is a cheap focusrite, and everyone is telling them to buy it and it works well. That's not true, too much marketing behind these products and not enough truth and real knowledge on what it takes to get the guitar DI to a high level. Remember this is only my subjective opinion on the matter. My own experiences. If you don't like the title of the video then unfortunately I can't do much about that. Take care 🙌
@@MetalMixdownStudios "The importance of good DI signals in mixing metal guitars" would have catched the pros in this industry way more
@Caynug I hear you. Good point