paintballnsk
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I wrote this in response to another post about "the right way to re-amp".
I hope this helps you out if you're looking to try this with your rig.
These are probably the best bang for the buck:
Radial X-Amp ($200, active)
Radial ProRMP ($100, passive)
John Cuniberti Reamp V.2 ($200, passive)
Little Labs Redeye ($225, passive)
I use the Little Labs Redeye. I haven't tried any of the others. Go check reviews to see which is best for you. I can say the Little Labs is very good for my needs.
When I'm recording real takes and not just screwing around, I run through the Little Labs. I record a track DI to my Presonus Firestudio Tube, and I grab the mic'd sound from the cab. You don't have to at this point if you don't want to, but if it's a good take and you like the amp settings, you might as well keep it.
Your setup should look like this (if you have a splitter like the redeye does):
DI:
Guitar -> DI Box -> *Amp -> *Mic -> *Interface * = optional
DI Box split -> Interface
Re-amp:
Interface -> Line Out -> Re-amp box -> Amp -> Mic -> Interface
You should have a recording interface that can run 96K w/24bit resolution, which most 96K sample rate devices have standard. You can get away with 16bit, the sample rate is more important. This will give the best clarity when re-amping. If you don't have high quality I/O you're going to send junk to the amp, and get junk back.
Record the DI track at roughly -3db. DI Guitar tends to be extrememly uncompressed and can clip depending on the consistency of your picking. If you have a hard limiter, like the one built onto the Firestudio Tube, it might help you out a little here. But don't overprocess your DI at this point. You want it as raw as possible.
Before you re-amp it you should normalize it and adjust the output to a little below 0. If you're clipping the amp back it off on the re-amp box or in presonus. I heard you can damage your amp if you do this wrong. If you're not getting the same "balls" out of the re-amp, bring the output track up, or remove the pad on the re-amp box, and adjust from there. If it's still a problem, you can use a tubescreamer, a volume boost pedal, or a compressor to help you out, but you shouldn't have to if you're running the DI/Re-Amp box correctly.
When you re-amp, you want to make sure the DI recorded track is the ONLY thing going out to your amp. Make sure you mute the mic input so you're not getting feedback through the amp. Ground loops have been a problem for me. You need to make sure the re-amp box isn't creating a ground problem between the interface and the amp. I solved this by grouding the chassis of the re-amp box to the chassis of my Presonus, but it might be different for you, I don't know. I also tried using a NS2 to help cut down on ground loop noise. The point is, if you have ground loop noise, something isn't wired right and you need to figure out what needs to be grounded correctly.
If you want to add some effects in Cubase/protools before you re-amp it that's all preference to you. I've run a little compression, but clean will work just as good. Sometimes a hard limiter and/or compression at the DI phase will save you from sounding over-processed after you mic it and then compress.
You might want to play with the cab in the room if you want your guitar tone to feel natural, especially if you want some high gain feedback in metal recordings. Some people prefer the isolated cab, that's up to you. Recording a dead DI and re-amping is like having the cab in another building, but I don't like it.
Now when you re-amp, you can go tweak away at your amp, cab, effects, and mic settings to get the tone you really want. The reason I started doing this was to tweak mic placement. I don't have 20 years of experience, so I can't sweep a mic for 2 minutes and say "that's your best spot for this sound for this mix". So it really helped me find the sweet spot on a couple of my cabs.
If you have latency problems because your interface/DAW is too slow, simply zoom in on the track and adjust it by hand. That's really the only good way you can get around this problem. I have a really fast computer and the top of the line Presonus (at the time). I don't care how fast your setup is, you're going to be a tiny bit off no matter what. Go fix it by hand.
It's an excellent tool if you're on that hunt for the perfect tone and the perfect take. It's also awesome if you want to take your DI to another studio, or use a different amp later, or remaster stuff, whatever. It's also good if you're recording your guitarist who lives hours away (my case) and don't want to make him drive back up to re-track stuff because you don't like the tone. For those of you that mix at 2 in the morning like I do, it will let you do some takes quietly, and crank it during hours that won't piss your neighbors off.
Also try some other fun stuff, like putting vocals or snare back through your tube amp. You can do some cool stuff. Try double tracking a couple different channels off the amp and blending them in your DAW, like a clean with chorus and a distorion with delay. You can't really get that "big" sound by doubling the same guitar take. If you want that you're still going to need to do at least 2 takes, and pan them 75%+ (I pan 85-100%). You can even do your own goofy effects by playing the track back and turning the mid up and down to simulate your own controlled "phaser" or something like that.
Please let me know if this helps,
-NSK
I hope this helps you out if you're looking to try this with your rig.
These are probably the best bang for the buck:
Radial X-Amp ($200, active)
Radial ProRMP ($100, passive)
John Cuniberti Reamp V.2 ($200, passive)
Little Labs Redeye ($225, passive)
I use the Little Labs Redeye. I haven't tried any of the others. Go check reviews to see which is best for you. I can say the Little Labs is very good for my needs.
When I'm recording real takes and not just screwing around, I run through the Little Labs. I record a track DI to my Presonus Firestudio Tube, and I grab the mic'd sound from the cab. You don't have to at this point if you don't want to, but if it's a good take and you like the amp settings, you might as well keep it.
Your setup should look like this (if you have a splitter like the redeye does):
DI:
Guitar -> DI Box -> *Amp -> *Mic -> *Interface * = optional
DI Box split -> Interface
Re-amp:
Interface -> Line Out -> Re-amp box -> Amp -> Mic -> Interface
You should have a recording interface that can run 96K w/24bit resolution, which most 96K sample rate devices have standard. You can get away with 16bit, the sample rate is more important. This will give the best clarity when re-amping. If you don't have high quality I/O you're going to send junk to the amp, and get junk back.
Record the DI track at roughly -3db. DI Guitar tends to be extrememly uncompressed and can clip depending on the consistency of your picking. If you have a hard limiter, like the one built onto the Firestudio Tube, it might help you out a little here. But don't overprocess your DI at this point. You want it as raw as possible.
Before you re-amp it you should normalize it and adjust the output to a little below 0. If you're clipping the amp back it off on the re-amp box or in presonus. I heard you can damage your amp if you do this wrong. If you're not getting the same "balls" out of the re-amp, bring the output track up, or remove the pad on the re-amp box, and adjust from there. If it's still a problem, you can use a tubescreamer, a volume boost pedal, or a compressor to help you out, but you shouldn't have to if you're running the DI/Re-Amp box correctly.
When you re-amp, you want to make sure the DI recorded track is the ONLY thing going out to your amp. Make sure you mute the mic input so you're not getting feedback through the amp. Ground loops have been a problem for me. You need to make sure the re-amp box isn't creating a ground problem between the interface and the amp. I solved this by grouding the chassis of the re-amp box to the chassis of my Presonus, but it might be different for you, I don't know. I also tried using a NS2 to help cut down on ground loop noise. The point is, if you have ground loop noise, something isn't wired right and you need to figure out what needs to be grounded correctly.
If you want to add some effects in Cubase/protools before you re-amp it that's all preference to you. I've run a little compression, but clean will work just as good. Sometimes a hard limiter and/or compression at the DI phase will save you from sounding over-processed after you mic it and then compress.
You might want to play with the cab in the room if you want your guitar tone to feel natural, especially if you want some high gain feedback in metal recordings. Some people prefer the isolated cab, that's up to you. Recording a dead DI and re-amping is like having the cab in another building, but I don't like it.
Now when you re-amp, you can go tweak away at your amp, cab, effects, and mic settings to get the tone you really want. The reason I started doing this was to tweak mic placement. I don't have 20 years of experience, so I can't sweep a mic for 2 minutes and say "that's your best spot for this sound for this mix". So it really helped me find the sweet spot on a couple of my cabs.
If you have latency problems because your interface/DAW is too slow, simply zoom in on the track and adjust it by hand. That's really the only good way you can get around this problem. I have a really fast computer and the top of the line Presonus (at the time). I don't care how fast your setup is, you're going to be a tiny bit off no matter what. Go fix it by hand.
It's an excellent tool if you're on that hunt for the perfect tone and the perfect take. It's also awesome if you want to take your DI to another studio, or use a different amp later, or remaster stuff, whatever. It's also good if you're recording your guitarist who lives hours away (my case) and don't want to make him drive back up to re-track stuff because you don't like the tone. For those of you that mix at 2 in the morning like I do, it will let you do some takes quietly, and crank it during hours that won't piss your neighbors off.
Also try some other fun stuff, like putting vocals or snare back through your tube amp. You can do some cool stuff. Try double tracking a couple different channels off the amp and blending them in your DAW, like a clean with chorus and a distorion with delay. You can't really get that "big" sound by doubling the same guitar take. If you want that you're still going to need to do at least 2 takes, and pan them 75%+ (I pan 85-100%). You can even do your own goofy effects by playing the track back and turning the mid up and down to simulate your own controlled "phaser" or something like that.
Please let me know if this helps,
-NSK
