Why Your Amp Sim Guitar Tones SUCK (and how to fix them!)
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- Опубліковано 14 тра 2024
- ►► Download your FREE Impulse Response Octopack by clicking HERE: frightboxrecordingacademy.com...
My amp sim guitar tones used to be terrible.
I chased my tail for years, constantly comparing my guitar tone to what I heard on my favorite records and it was always demoralizing.
I'd try every plugin and amp modeler under the sun, but nothing seemed to work. Sometimes I'd spend a ton of money and would end up with WORSE tone.
But here's the funny thing...
I used to only THINK that my tones were terrible. After learning the true secrets behind legit heavy music production, I realized that my amp sims and modelers weren't the problem.
The problem was that I wasn't listening for and doing the right things when it came time to produce my music. I was hyper-focused on crap that DIDN'T ACTUALLY MATTER.
I recently received an excellent email from a subscriber, Dominique, who's currently going through the exact same amp sim guitar tone HELL that I went through and his email struck a real chord with me.
Dominique was kind enough to send me actual files of both his raw DI track and printed amp sim tones so I could dive deep and inspect his issues.
Within seconds, I was able to detect his REAL Amp Sim Guitar Tone Issue and I decided to film a custom tutorial explaining what he can do to improve his results.
Because so many of us deal with this issue (myself included), I've decided to provide you with this exact tutorial so you can avoid wasting unnecessary time fiddling with your amp sims for no reason.
In this tutorial, I explain and showcase why you're struggling with your amp sim guitar tones and how you can fix your issues once and for all.
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►► Download your FREE Impulse Response Octopack by clicking HERE: frightboxrecordingacademy.com/ir-octopack/
How do I load them?
@@theperiidot Just use any IR loader. Many amp sims have IR loader built into them these days. The free Amped Roots by ML Sound Lab has an IR loader built into it already.
@@FrightboxRecording Yeah, I figured it out, thanks :)
I didn't realise IRs were in WAV format so it threw me a bit
God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen! God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen! God bless you, I will keep you in my prayers!
@@MRVIDEOMASTER-yw1qw Skill issue
Also for double tracking. Individually record each layer. Copy and pasting won’t result well.
I can't even think how much you've changed my mixing approach, Bobby! Thank you, dude! 🤘
You’re forgetting to say one thing. The bass in the mix has a lot to do with guitar tone.
Drums & vocals too.
@@almostliterally593 especially drums
Both sounds like amp sim tone amped roots has a distinct static fizzy sound. It's really hard to get that tight punchy impacty bouncy bassy emg tone
This has been a huge problem as soon as I bring his bass irs all out of whack. Have a video that can help with that ?
@@johnbernardo8339 cut some of the bass out of your guitars with an EQ. I usually cut my guitars between 70 and 100hz. Also cut your bass guitar between 30 and 40 hz as most people can't hear those frequencies and it just adds to the muddiness. Then just play around with the EQ on your guitars and bass to discover which frequencies sound the worst and cut those. With EQ's, cutting is often better than boosting, but either way, cut/boost in small amounts.
Then, like he said in this video, always double track your guitars and hard pan each (and no, this does NOT mean you just record a part once and then duplicate it. That does nothing. You need to literally play the same part twice, insuring you play as tight and similarly as possible.). Then going through and editing your parts to be tight (never early, sometimes a bit late) is important. Me personally I have a tendency to play a bit early. I have no clue why, so I often have to go in and move my parts back a bit.
Dude the last impulse you released a few months ago has been 100 percent my go to impulse. I'm excited to try these after work today :)
Great advice, this is all true and will massively impact the perceived tone in the full mix. I will add one more VERY IMPORTANT element to improving the perceived guitar tone in a metal mix: THE BASS TONE. It took me years to realize that my guitar tone was actually really good, but I was doing too much heavy lifting in the bass/low mids with it, and not enough with the actual bass guitar. Having that bass/subby support will make your guitar tone sound FULL and meaty, while the upper "twangy" or "gritty" parts of the bass will add bite and sizzle to the audible tone.
This is exactly the practical tips we need! Thank you! Subscribed!! Also, one thing I use to do for that really fatty sound is to quad-track, meaning to record not two guitar tracks, but four! Slamming!
This can work, but only if you're being extremely mindful of phase.
@@JTguitarlessons Thanks, this is important to remember!
Really impressed with your setup man. I'm a noobie and seeing that massive EQ with all the tracks was boss! Instant subscribe with notifications turned to all 🤙
Great tutorial. Love your IR's!!n I originally dismissed them because they were quieter than my other IRs. When I learned to volume match, I found them to be richer and smoother than the ones that came with my Mooer. In fact I've replaced all of the stock IR's with yours and a few others.
Awesome video Bobby. I think all of us have obsessed (or still do) over guitar tones. There’s no such thing as perfection and you’ll never be satisfied trying to achieve it. The tools are available more than ever to get absolute great results with amp sims. Your channel has been a huge inspiration for just getting stuff done and moving on instead of staying in the same rut of tone chasing. Thanks again for these tutorials!
Always amazing source of great nuggets of information. Thanks bro for all the great knowledge you give us
Another great video, you are killing it with great info!!!
Couple more things to make good amp sim sounds:
1. Run your DI through a pre-amp plugin BEFORE you hit the front end of the amp sim. I like Acoustica Gold, but the UAD 1073 or Waves Schepps 73 will also work fine. They add super-subtle harmonic saturation, and a lot of people put them at the END of their chain, where it's frankly inaudible most of the time. But if you add that color and density and THEN amp your sound, it makes a big difference. Ideally you'd be tracking through an excellent preamp, but if all you have is a focusrite or behringer this is the next best thing.
2. Good IRs. We all know this, but 99% of the difference between good amp sims and bad amp sims is IRs. Ownhammer, York Audio, Two Notes Wall of Sound are all top-flight options.
3. Low pass the fizz. Really important for heavy sounds through V30s, they sound like a can full of angry bees unless you cut everything about 10-12k. (You did this here but I want to emphasize it again).
4. At the very end of the chain, get something ORGANIC. Run it through outboard gear if you have any, through Acustica or other convolution-based processing, or a GOOD tape sim plugin if that's your only option. Make your guitar sound "touch grass" on the way into the master fader and you'll be amazed at the results.
Facts
Even better is running it with a direct box in front of an amp.
Preach it Bobby, really useful video man! Once I discovered editing in Reaper, it was the greatest boost to my tone ever! Also, what really is important is a guitar that's perfectly in tune (same with the bass, 2 guitars and a bass perfectly in tune and on the grid just instantly sound pro...). So my guitar has an evertune bridge and that has sped up the recording process so much, I'm absolutely in love with it!
Subscribing for sure... I love you made this video so fast after receiving the email. I concur, as soon as you played his track, i was like, umm, that sounds pretty f'in dope.
Damn! Great content and really digging the instruction/ideas
I confirm that these impulse response are great material ! Thumbs up well deserved as always 👍
I think one thing that possibly wasn't covered. The person that submitted the track didn't mention what output they were using. The reason they thought it sounded bad could be because they're using bad headphones or speakers. My tone sounds drastically different depending on what I'm listening to it through.
Never an issue. Chances are if they are listening to their favorite songs or stuff on youtube, they are doing it through the same stuff that they are making their tones with.
@@ProfessorGroyper but it could still be that they think it doesn't work. I had this with my bass sections. Turned them way up to hear them through headphones and monitors. Sounded shit in the car. Then I realized my bass drum and bass just need more high end to be audible through small drivers without just being way too loud. It's really not clear what's meant by "my tone doesn't work in the mix".
Bobby - you are a record producer in the purist sense! You bring so much to the table!
Great video Bobby, so much inspiring
I use the same Amped Roots plugin. I love it. For a while I was using your IR's but now I've been sticking with the IR's in the amp sim because they have that tone that I've always wanted.
freeman fluff
This channel has become one of the best recording instructional channels for metal!
Fucking fact.
This is THEE channel for metal production! I don't see anyone else exposing the stuff that's super easy but sounds hard
I think it has always been 😎
@@Trazodonemusic Exactly 💯
@Heikki P-T Absolutely i should have worded that it has become my favorite channel for metal after few yrs sifting through so many different channels.
i know from my personal experience we might hear a tone on a particular album and when our own tone doesnt get close to it we automatically think its sucks. Sometimes we dont realize that sometimes they are using multiple tones to create one sound. Also, another thing is if we prefer darker tones but current tone is brighter (or vice versa) we tend to say it sucks. Not really knowing how to articulate why because not experienced to determine those differences of brighter or darker tones.
exactly!
Bobby, great video. One thing really important to me was hear the guitar tone (double tracked and paned, just like you said) with the bass together because as a guitar player i made the mistake for a couple of years adding to much low end to the guitar tone and was pure s**t hahahahaha. Greetings bro, great content.
Hey man - really dig the free IR's - they sound awesome.
Yoooo wow this just showed up in my feed. You looked familiar. And it’s cause you did work with a band I was in 11 years ago. Good shit 🤙🏻
great and helpful video!
I got the octopack ! Really cool stuff! I liked his tone too, perhaps I would suggest to hit the strings a little bit harder, but it sounds very nice!
Yep, it was clear within three notes, that the problem is the sloopy playing. I would say another factor besides IRs and tight playing/editing are pickups. If they have to much bass it can easilly creat muddy, fuzzy tone. Tube screamer type pedal or heavy eq before amp solves this problem though.
This video with your sharing is gold \m/ try to work with my guitar track and amp sim better
Thanks a lot for this video, it was really helpful.
Something I struggle with is after I double track and pan, it sounds pretty good, but then when I export to test it out on other speakers, it sounds too "busy" to the point where everything gets distorted. Particularly on a phone, which I know it's a bad way to listen, but I compare it to pro mixes and it's a noticeable difference.
I've been mixing for around three years. Mostly my own music, but also some projects for friends. In that time, the thing that I've struggled with the most is guitars.
I think my biggest issue in the past has been with having my guitars too bright and forward. I don't really do metal, but I do dense rock with distorted guitars. So a lot of the principles are the same, or at least I would think they would be. Anyway, when I've listened closely to the guitars in mixes I like, I've noticed that they're less fizzy, quieter, and farther back spatially than mine. So now I'm experimenting with mixing them a bit darker and quieter. For me, the challenging part is to not have them be too muddy, especially if I'm doing palm mutes. I do the Andy Sneap multi-band compressor trick, but I still find it's a tough balance to strike.
Anyway, longwinded personal narrative aside, I just want to say that I love your channel. That's why I watch even though I'm not a metal guy. I love that you don't come across as arrogant or a rigid thinker. So many channels are just someone condescending telling you "Never do this" or "Always do this." I love your delivery.
Yeah for a recent project I've been working on guitar mixing a lot, to the point where I had different tracks set up for different parts of the mix and it still didn't sound good universally. It's so hard since I want everything: "presence in the high end", "not too harsh", "heavy and loud", "not drowning out the singer", "great bass", "not invading Bass territory", "wide and big", "focused" etc
Great video man 🎉
A good raw tone right at the start and the editing process make a great difference.
1000% bang on!
That mix was 🔥
Great informative video! I too struggle with tone all the time. I’m not recording anything as of yet, but just chugging along with Metallica. One day it sounds awesome, next day not so much. I downloaded the roots free plugin and am waiting for my audio interface to arrive so I can dive into all that. One question, I also downloaded your free ir pack, is it compatible with the Flamma fx 100 multi fx pedal. Some work with it and some don’t. Thanks 🤘
That's so true... playing tight with the drums and the bass is absolutely essential when getting a good mix, specially because it will give your mix punch and frequencies won't be jumping around. I remember finding that out when I recorded some killer guitars but they sounded weird in the mix and I couldn't understand why, then I realized that one of the tracks was off tempo a little bit ahead of the other instruments, I basically just pulled it back into the grid and my mix changed completely.
Another thing is to make sure the guitars work in the context of the mix. If you have lots of heavy low end elements going on already on the track, then you want a brighter guitar sound with the lows pulled down. If there's vocals going on, then try and make sure the guitar tracks aren't too busy in that area. With the high-end fizz, you've got to consider the cymbals and the like - if they're busy and in that space, then you can pull that down on the guitar tone. Basically try and get a sense of balance across your mix.
That guitar tone is crushing!! \m/
Man, I've been playing guitar for almost 20 years but only now I decided to grow my Instagram and my UA-cam. Your video just popped earlier here for me and I saved it as "Watch later". I just watched it and would like to say thanks!
I try to not have it, but I sometimes get this "impostor syndrome" before/after recording and what you did here was so awesome and it looked so simple... that is experience in our faces! hahaha
I'll stick to your channel and if you have any course/lessons I'd like to learn more from you! Cheers! :D
Happy to have been a help!
Plenty of good advice here. There's plenty of improvements you can try before you hit the software too. Action and intonation to help tuning - and string gauge, pick choice and pickup height in the context of gain staging. I've recently optimised (lowered) my pickups and its made a world of difference to the sound of the guitar sims I use. More clarity and less harshness.
Solid tone all be it maybe too much gain where the note definition isn't popping enough. I'd say roll it back just a bit and maybe pick a tad harder to compensate and it could make a world's difference. Also like you showed with the simple EQ, even just filters alone to get rid of that nasty digital noise on the top end and all the sub low build up, along with hard panning can make any tone what you need. Love these vids Bobby you really do make mixing simple as it should be \m/
This is great advice! New sub here!
hey dude, great video. subbed. Issue I'm having is a ton of hiss when my guitar fades out and just after I mute the strings. I can gate it, but I can hear it over the tone whilst its playing too, its just mased a bit by the riffage. Any idea what I could be doing wrong?
Thanks for making this video. I am using the roots sim as well, i love everything from ML Soundlab. But I'm getting an annoying noise between silenced spots between chugs and if I gate too much it cuts my guitar off. Now, i don't have that problem on my headrush when I use custom plugins. So if i use those ony laptop amp sims it should fix it?
dude... massive respect for this
This video help me overcome some issues with understanding what are "right" sound of amp sim inside the box
Happy to hear that!
I really hope guitar cab tone moves beyond static impulses some day. There are dynamic sampling technologies available for years now (like volterra kernals) that can change dynamically much nearer the real thing.
Fantastic video mate! What you say is so true. 😉
I use Archetype Gojira in FL Studio recorded with an Ibanez M80M into a 2nd gen Scarlett Solo 2i2. I get some pretty decent tones down to about drop D but I want to record songs all the way down to drop E where any tone, setting, level you name it I've tried it, sounds like garbage. I've tried lowering gain everywhere, (on the guitar, interface and DAW) making sure my DI tracks are solid but no amount of fiddling and post EQ seems to help. I've even tried to Pre-EQ the DI track before putting it through Neural. Just wondering is it simply my bad interface that's causing the issue? Is it FL studio itself? Is it because im using studio headphones to find the tone and not proper monitors? Could it be the Lundgren pickups on my guitar? Any help much appreciated
Another thing I’d like to add is that a lot of guitarist (myself included) like to get the chuckiest tone from the get go but in reality in a full mix bass guitar will provide the low and the guitars will often be highpassed from around 60-250hz depending on the tuning. When we try to get the “perfect” tone while your mono track is soloed, we often add too much low end which can make the playing sound sloppy and can also mess up the dynamics.. that’s why amp sims are great, you can use a tone that’s comfortable for you when tracking, then in mixing just swap it with one that suits the mix better. Also, sometimes for a quad-tracked mix I like to combine 2 or even 3 different amps. Too many is probably not a great idea but they can add different qualities and favors to the full mix
Thanks for the tips, I like the idea of combining amps and quad tracking (yes it can get out of hand, but it's fun to experiment). I'm trying to start with bass first in my mixes lately, by translating left hand piano parts into proper basslines to provide support and structure. You are definitely right, bass guitar fills that frequency range in such a manner that extra low end on guitars sound mushy and creates a mess of the lower mid frequencies. In the past I would resort to EQ "surgery" to salvage things, but this is less than ideal. Better to dial it in thinner and add more to taste. I love this new domain of amp sims, they've matured to the point my outboard gear is not always needed.
Thats a really solid guitar sound
Hello! When you say double track and pan them left and right, does this mean- two track guitar LEFT and two track guitar RIGHT? Not copy and paste but tracked playing the same thing but somewhat similar or is that just one track left and one track right?
Hey Bobby, just download your Octa pack amp Sims. I am just wondering what do you use for your impulse response loader in DAW. Thanks.
Thanks dude. I think this is exactly what I'm going through too. I'm checking out Neural and Bogren trials and feel like they sound pretty bad. Gonna try using them in a mix and see how it changes. Using an Audient ID4 AI.
Was hoping you would cover/address/tackle input signal volume woes. Such as loudness and clipping from the source (E.g. Kemper) vs controlling the level(s) from within the DAW
Have you done any vids about stereo imaging? I don't think my base tone is bad, but it never seems my stereo field is as big as the pros. I double-track as close to the pocket as you mentioned in this vid, and I pan hard L/R. It's not enough. In various places I've read suggestions that the EQ slightly between L and R, but they never say exactly HOW. I've tried stereo enhancement plugins, but they seem to do very little. Any advice would be appreciated!
HUGE thanks for this. Question: at what points are you setting you LO cut and HI cut? I've been using LO cut at around 80-120 and HI cut at around 10K-12K. What are you using here? Thanks
Yup, I usually go for settings near-identical to the settings you described. If it's a tone that's overall fizzy, I'll sometimes low-pass down to 8-6Khz, but only in extreme cases.
Thanks man!
Please do a in depth guitar editing tutorial
If you want perfect guitar takes grid and then use vocal align to tighten the tightens even more
Keep posting videos forever man! Even if you reposted I’d prolly watch it lol
What is the reason you say to export tracks in mono?
Huge thank you for the free IRs, btw. I think they sound nicer and more natural than most of what I've tried in ToneX.
double tracking and hard panning, OHHHHHH LORD YOU HAVE SAVED ME!!!!
I have a 2014 presonus audio box. Is that why anything I plug in sounds like shit. Even if I plug in a cd player and try to record my favourite periphery song to play along it STILL sounds like shit!! Is it the audio box or my computer?? Fml.
This is great stuff.. im just a beginner player messing with plugins not recording (atm) is there a plug in to make what youre playing live come across as stereo hard left and right that would make it sound like its in a mix without being in one?
archetype rabea?
very cool. subbed
The biggest issue I've found with many amateur guitarists is just what you said: sloppy playing (bad timing etc), weak picking and an inability to mute strings that aren't supposed to be played/heard. Especially the last one seems to be a big issue for many. This is unfortunately something that can't be "fixed in the mix", which some expect me to do. I would tell them that you can't polish a turd, but it seems like that idiom has been disproven so I need a new way to explain this to them.
why should we send stems in mono, not stereo? how do I do that when exporting?!
Do you mean stems are tracks?
Ive struggled with my kemper for years trying to get "the tone" with so many endless options. Ive purchased 100s of packs and IR packs over the years it never ends.
Saying that ive just purchased the Tue Madsen kemper pack and its SICK! Combined with Mendel's ir pack it crushes! 🤟😛 but this time next week my taste will probably change again and the cycle starts over...oh to be a musician lol
I know the feeling, that's why I've been using the same amp sim for almost a decade 😂
@@FrightboxRecording What decent amp sims is that old? 😅Other than Emissary and LePou stuff 🤔
so, the issue I am running into is I am using a Line 6 Helix LT. as well as the Plug-in for the DAW as well. what is super strange. is live, my helix LT sounds unreal. going through my interface ( focusrite 2i2) everything sounds incredibly muddy and fizzy. but bypassing the LT and just using the Helix plugin itself, I still run into things sounding fizzy and muddy. it is INCREDIBLY annoying. I am using Presonus Eris E5 studio monitors as well. what makes even less sense, is I run into the same issues at my bands recording studio. we have top line Gear (not just saying that, we really do) and there we use a Kemper as the interface to plug the guitar into, then goes into the Line 6 helix plug in, and there I have the same issues of things sounding stupid muddy or fizzy. i just don't get it. what the eff am I doing wrong here, my dudes.
I forgot to add that this issue I am having is before any recording is happening. its when I am using the Helix editor or Plugin to make new guitar sounds or edit my LT for new tones. for the LT i end up having to use a powered cab, to edit my sound, which then sounds amazing and how it does live. unfortunately when I use the plugin i dont have that luxury.
You need a good impulse response ( digital cab)
Or just mic up your actual cab if you like how it sounds
when i was new to guitar rec i couldn't understand the difference between the amp sound I hear by own ears, in the room, and the tone that works within the mix - the sound that the mic "hears" in front of a cab.
Hey! I just wanted to say great video, I also wanted to ask how do you get barely any hiss sound from that much gain on your amp sim? I'm using Amped ROOTS and I get this annoying hiss sound because of the gain, turning the gain down still has some hiss.
use noise gate , use the gojira amp sim from neural dsp 100 times better ots worth the money
hey! cool vid thank you for that.
my only question is about 7:25 in the vid. you say hard panning the guitars. thats ok i do that every time. but with different cabs and tones. thats a problem? cause my guitars sounds like they floats in the air every time and like i put reverb on it but i doesnt:D
Sounds like they are out of phase. Do some research on phasing issues caused by panning guitar tracks.
You should be able to solve it with some troubleshooting tips you find online.
My guess is the IRs (mics) in the panned tracks are out of phase. Can be solved. Just research it
Keep it simple and use the same stuff on both sides. No reason to make life complicated.
@@filterscape thank you for the help! I will do my research:)
I scrunched my face hard to the solo guitar track. That's a good tone!
How to get anything like lukather or Gilmore tho? Or anything clean/chorus?
Actual content starts at 5:00 :) But I understand why UA-cam has to include this "onboarding" intro. Thank you for sharing !
How would you pan a guitar solo? I know panning wide is usually the way to go but does that apply to solos as well?
Guitar solos are usually panned center. It's rhythms that sound odd up the center in most cases.
@@FrightboxRecording Ok i thought so. Appreciate the reply.
I recommend that people make their own impulse responses from their own gear. When I first started using IRs I was impressed by the tech, but I didn't like that I sounded like I was playing through someone else's gear. Making my own IRs largely alleviated that problem. I still haven't enjoyed any amp sims I've tried. I currently prefer to use an outboard preamp (like a Peavy Rockmaster or Mesa Studio Preamp).
Yeah, it all sounded good. Is his input set to the right gain stage...somewhere above 12 and below 6db? -=80)
I figured something out literally about an hour ago (as of writing this comment).
First of all, watch the Misha Mansoor video Misha Mansoor's Guitar Recording Tips where he explains how to set up your interface.
Second, once you're done with that, open your amp sim. Turn the Input knob to the lowest possible level where you can still have an output.
Finally, if the amp sim has a Noise Gate, dial it to wherever you don't hear any noise.
After these steps, do as is told in the video. Your tone, especially in a mix, might go to a whole new level.
Im often worried about my tone as it always seems so direct, even when multitracked and hard panned, but it might be a levels thing regarding the mix. Like my mix levels are too loud, leaving little headroom and then my guitars are either abrasive or not heard at all 😂
Im here because of years of not getting di amp sim or live cab tones to sound good. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I really don't. My guitars sound nothing like any youtube video or tutorial just off the rip. Ive been mixing for a couple years now and have produced one ep for a band and I still don't know what I'm doing. How my rack is set up is I have a Composer Pro XL going into a Art TPII, going into my main the umc 1820. My guitars always go straight into the umc. the live mics always go into the umc. If im recording as session or just writing riffs the level is usually around -12, and bring it up later in the mix. I always have some static loud guitar tone. I cant get it out. No matter what eq or gain staging or anything. I have no Idea what is happening. Please help me homie
Thank you I was searching the solution for 3hours
the video that plays when you get the ir's has a demo of a song that sounds pretty neat, is it released anywhere? does it have a name?
The demo is just a handful of riffs I wrote for these mixing vids...maybe it'll become a real song one day!
I always fix my tone with an added tape saturator. But often it's not because the tone is thin or anything, just to find that tone that I find awesome, to give some idiosyncratic (as far as possible) flavour to my ampsimsound.
I usually throw some tape sat in the main bus of my mix after the compressor, the compressor makes everything glue together but the tape sat restores the organicity in the mix and also makes everything sound gnarlier.
@@guitarlair Thanks for the tip!
I'll be posting the exact same comment under every amp sim troubleshooting video, hoping that someone might see it and benefit from it.
For the past 7 months I've been banging my head against the wall over why I can't get a good guitar tone in ANY amp sim. Every single one I've tried sounded dull, lifeless, weak, muddy, fizzy, thin, just completely dead and unusable. It drove me nearly insane because I know from friends how it CAN sound, but could never get it to sound like that myself.
I'm running a Scarlett Solo 3rd gen straight into a brand new laptop with fresh Windows 10, so software issues are unlikely. I have three guitars, two of which are not worth mentioning, the third one is a Harley Benton Fusion III with passive humbuckers - an awesome piece of equipment with some great features. I've seen every review of that guitar, yet never could get it to sound right. I got it for rock and metal, but it never really sounded rock and metal, so at one point I even questioned the guitar. It's not the guitar.
Over the past six months I've changed cables, I've reinstalled drivers and rolled back to older versions, played with Windows settings, changed bit rate, and tried every single amp sim I could get my hands on (Amplitube 5, Bias FX 1 + 2, Scuffham Amps, STL Emissary, Neural DSP, ML Sound Labs, Guitar Rig 6). I changed TRS and USB cables, I played with pickup height, tried INST level, LINE level, no gain, max gain, 12 o'clock gain - everything you could think of.
I've read every forum, every thread, every article, watched every video - all the sims sounded like complete ass. I was going insane. I woke up thinking about it, went to sleep thinking about it.
And then the rock gods extended their picks and showed me the light. I came across a thread in the AudioSex forum created by @MaxSxB, he's on UA-cam. He had the exact same problem and had tried everything. So I scrolled hopelessly through his thread, not hoping to find anything, but I did.
The answer to your troubles is probably a DI box.
Now, I knew about DI boxes before that, but all the comparison videos focused on some insignificant changes to frequencies and what not, so I never really considered it would make a difference, but I was running out of options. I got a cheap Behringer DI100 with an XLR out to XLR in cable, plugged in to the Solo, and lo and behold - the tone was there. It felt like I could hear well for the very first time in my life. The guitar sounded full, rich, it had punch and a roundhouse kick, it squealed and screamed, and all amp sims sounded different from each other. No more endless EQing, no more noise, no more struggles - just plug and play in the best possible way.
If nothing else works, get a DI box. In all seriousness, it will change your life.
TL:DR: Get a damn DI box. Now.
His riffs reminded me of the band Biohazard. Pretty good guitar tone imo.
Im using ADAM V5Ts for monitoring and that sound is not bad.
hola bobby .. soy de argentina! mi problema es que no puedo sacarle un buen sonido a guitarras de heavy metal afinadas en 440 .. estoy mezclando dos bandas que usan la afinacion estandard y no encuentro tutorial de guitarras de metal afinadas asi.. todos los que encuentro son drop d.. c.. etc. gracias por hacer tan buenos videos!!
It seems to be the Distortion/ Overdrives in most cases that are SO brittle with that fizzy top end ,it drive me bonkers. I have YET to find a smooth rich Distortion- think 'Alan Parsons Project' type guitar sounds. Then again as a drummer first my palm muting leave a lot to be desired!
when you say double track, you mean to track one guitar and hard pan it left. then re-track the same guitar part on a separate track and hard pan that one all the way right?
Yes that’s exactly what it means. Don’t copy and paste the same performance.
Thanks!
My DI Tele sound straight into my RME is really muddy sounding before it even gets to an amp sim. I was surprised by how much low end mud a simple DI guitar has. I'm on neck pick up sure, but the mud just seems way excessive to me. Anyone concur?
what daw is he using in this video?
Thanks! I had this suspicion myself, that maybe it didn't sound "bad" or "digital" and it was just bad songwriting/rhythm/mixing. I think I was probably right!
7:40 I would definitely agree that one shouldn't be afraid to quantize a guitar part, but do know that it means you need more practice (probably with a metronome). Remember, at some point you'll have to play this live in some cramped dive bar where there is no second take.
But that's not what a studio production is about. We're making a recording that will be there for life, things need to be on the grid. Live is whatever.
@@JTguitarlessons which is why I said you shouldn't be afraid to quantize your part if you think it's necessary. But your live shows are important. They are your marketing and your bankroll simultaneously. You won't make any money off of an album, it's not 1979, and streaming pays you in dirt. You make money playing shows, and selling merch (and as an opener... mainly merch). Neither of which will generate much revenue if you can't play in time. And if you can play in time to a metronome, while sitting, in a studio, with comfortable gear, and multiple takes, then it's probably safe to assume you won't have a shot in hell trying to do it while running around on stage, playing to a live drummer, having to hit cues or pedals/patches, and maybe singing backup (or lead) vocals, while being blinded by a spotlight and having shit monitoring from the in-house sound guy, because you're the local opener no one came to see.
Man, I've struggled much with the hizz and fizz of ampsims! Too much high end and it's just taxing on the ear. Not enough and the guitars become dull.
Do I still need an impulse response if I use neural dsp archetypes? I've gotten multiple answers. It's really confusing.
It has a built in cab sim section.... So, the impulse response is already there.
@thespotlights9278 Yes, that's what I understood but then I've seen other videos suggest amp Sims sound like crap without an IR so I was like, "huh?" from being under the impression DSP archetypes were like any other amp sim
great vid