So what's your recording chain?

Gnarmageddon

Gnarmageddon

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Feb 14, 2022
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I admit I am a studio dweller and a one-man band. I've spent years on stage and in the studio alike, but these days people aren't lining up to pay money to watch a guy approaching fifty playing everything by himself, so yeah, I just write and record everything myself (many years working professionally as an engineer before I 'sold out' to go work in advertising certainly helps).

But I'm still a guitarist, which means losing sleep at night mentally chasing every last possible little detail in pursuit of tone. I've got a couple different 'go-to' setups, thought I'd share and see if there are any other nuggets out there of "hmmm... I should try that".

My "usual" is guitar to DI on a Solid State Logic Alpha Channel. These are modeled after the input section of the 9000J console, but with the addition of their VHD circuit that lets you blend JFET even- and odd-order harmonics to taste, along with a rudimentary EQ - not as surgical as the console, but you can at least low-cut and scoop pre-A/D.

I'm doing all of my "amplification" in ToneHub these days. I reviewed this a couple years back and continue to be absolutely smoked by what this plug-in is capable of. I've got a couple nice amps in my collection, but NYC apartment life doesn't really allow for revving up the VHT Pittbull.

What's everyone using? Anything cool to share?
 
Same boat for me. I do a lot of cloud based collaboration and session work for some independent artists and studios.

My signal chain is actually pretty lame as far as gear goes. I plug my guitar into a Helix Rack. From there it feeds channels 3 and 4 on my Focusrite i1820 interface. After that, I track in ProTools.

I have a ton of simple rigs set up using stock amps and two custom IRs of an old Marshall 1966 2x12 cab I used to have. It had some old 65 watt Celestions loaded. One IR was done with a 57/121 blend with a BAE 1073 preamp for each mic. The second IR is an AKG 414 and Nuemann U67 back in the room. Again, the BAE 1073 was used. I didn't make the IR. My buddy Bruce knows how to do that stuff, so he did a couple of my cabs before I sold them off. We rented the preamps and mics.

In the Helix, I use a gain block first to lower the input gain hitting the "amp". Then there's the amp. After that it goes to the two IRs. That's it. Four blocks. Rarely I'll have a preset with a room reverb behind the "room" IR if I need more space in the tone. All other effects are added later or by the producer that requested the tracks.

Sometimes I'm asked to send DI'd tracks so the producer and their client can pick the amp sounds. For those types if sessions, I still use the Helix. I have two presets setup as DI. What I have there is two paths. One allows me to monitor my amp sound through Focusrite's mix software, while sending two mono DIs to Protools.

The "amp" path goes to channel 3 on the interface. Usually, I'll just use a stock amp/cab block for monitoring. The DI path goes to channel 4. In protools I record two tracks with channel 4 assigned as the input. I keep one take as it is. The second, I process with a 100% mix delay set anywhere between 15ms to 62ms to give it a good double take feel.

My DI path in the Helix has a Rolls Compressor going into a "mic preamp" followed by a graphic EQ. I'll usually roll off some of the low end and smooth the mids to get the cleanest, most even response take I can.

So far my clients are happy. I enjoy my end product on self-produced material, so I guess it's all good!!
 
Still experimenting and definitely a novice but mine is:

Electric Guitar > Boogie Mark V > SM57 Mic > Scarlett Solo > Macbook > Logic

Acoustic Guitar > AT2020 Mic > Scarlett Solo > Macbook > Logic

I have tinkered with plugins and they are fun but I really prefer the sound of the raw acoustic and the tube amp. I will add other instruments via MIDI or plug in a bass but that's about it. Enough to capture song ideas and have fun but certainly not pro quality!
 
Ahhhh a Logic guy! I'm a Cubase user myself. Quit using ProTools in 2003 - every negative thing PT users say about Avid now (overpriced, buggy, shitty tech support, etc) was true back then, too. Cubase "just works" for me.
 
Great thread! Always good to know what's going on "out there."

I'm blending old school and new... running mostly PRS tube amps into a Two Notes load box and Cab M IR loader, into a Scarlett 2i4 interface, then into Logic. I recently upgraded my MacBook from a quite old basic model to a 16" Pro model with the M1 Pro chip, and will be upgrading my interface soon as well. Not totally settled on what I'll get, most likely an Apollo x4, but possible it could be a Clarett or something similar, just trying to decide if having the outboard processing for UA plugins is worth it for me. My mic locker is sparse, but gets the job done - 57, 58, e906, AT4040, and Heil PR20 (awesome mic). Would like to add a 160 ribbon and a better condenser someday, too.

markd21 said:
Same boat for me. I do a lot of cloud based collaboration and session work for some independent artists and studios.

My signal chain is actually pretty lame as far as gear goes. I plug my guitar into a Helix Rack. From there it feeds channels 3 and 4 on my Focusrite i1820 interface. After that, I track in ProTools.

I have a ton of simple rigs set up using stock amps and two custom IRs of an old Marshall 1966 2x12 cab I used to have. It had some old 65 watt Celestions loaded. One IR was done with a 57/121 blend with a BAE 1073 preamp for each mic. The second IR is an AKG 414 and Nuemann U67 back in the room. Again, the BAE 1073 was used. I didn't make the IR. My buddy Bruce knows how to do that stuff, so he did a couple of my cabs before I sold them off. We rented the preamps and mics.

In the Helix, I use a gain block first to lower the input gain hitting the "amp". Then there's the amp. After that it goes to the two IRs. That's it. Four blocks. Rarely I'll have a preset with a room reverb behind the "room" IR if I need more space in the tone. All other effects are added later or by the producer that requested the tracks.

Sometimes I'm asked to send DI'd tracks so the producer and their client can pick the amp sounds. For those types if sessions, I still use the Helix. I have two presets setup as DI. What I have there is two paths. One allows me to monitor my amp sound through Focusrite's mix software, while sending two mono DIs to Protools.

The "amp" path goes to channel 3 on the interface. Usually, I'll just use a stock amp/cab block for monitoring. The DI path goes to channel 4. In protools I record two tracks with channel 4 assigned as the input. I keep one take as it is. The second, I process with a 100% mix delay set anywhere between 15ms to 62ms to give it a good double take feel.

My DI path in the Helix has a Rolls Compressor going into a "mic preamp" followed by a graphic EQ. I'll usually roll off some of the low end and smooth the mids to get the cleanest, most even response take I can.

So far my clients are happy. I enjoy my end product on self-produced material, so I guess it's all good!!
Click to expand...

I'm very interested in what you do! So, if I may ask... how did you get into doing this, and how are you connecting with clients these days? Remote session work is how I'd like to get into doing some actual work with my gear and skills, I'm hoping to dip my toes into some basic work and just see where it goes, but don't know where to start, especially in terms of just getting connected with opportunities.
 
andy474x said:
I'm very interested in what you do! So, if I may ask... how did you get into doing this, and how are you connecting with clients these days? Remote session work is how I'd like to get into doing some actual work with my gear and skills, I'm hoping to dip my toes into some basic work and just see where it goes, but don't know where to start, especially in terms of just getting connected with opportunities.
Click to expand...

I started with a girl in my church. She had written a song that she wanted to record. Being a member on the Praise Team, I told I'd be glad to fo it. Long story short, I used a click when tracking her guitar track. Aftetward I added drums, bass, electric guitar and some lead fills. She passed the tune around a lot in the local singer-songwriter circle. I did a few more. Eventually bumping up to engineering a couple of EPs at my studio.

At the same time I was advertising in Craigslist that I had good rates for singer-songwriter demos. No bands or hard stuff. Got some work that way, too.

A lot of what I do is still fed from that singer-songwriter circle in FL. It did help that back in 2018 I was nominated as guitarist of the year and (separately) song writer of the year by a music organization in FL. I lost both, but it brought some name recognition.

These days I'll market in Craigslist and through sites like fiverr and airgigs. I am not making a killing doing it. In fact, a lot of times I'll only charge like $50 for my playing on a track. And. In all honesty, I mostly do bass tracks. Second most is lead guitar fills. Maybe 1/5th of my session gigs are laying down full tracks on a song. It's still awesomely fun.

Essentially once I talk to a client about feel, tone, style, complexity/razzle-dazzlement they send me a couple of stems in .wav format. These files tend to come via Dropbox or OneDrive. When I send my work back, it's the same - Dropbox or OneDrive. The client reviews my tracks (I always send multiple takes with different vibes) and takes notes. Sometimes it's good the first time. Other times we talk again after I review the notes. Sometimes we just ZOOM right from the beginning and I'll play some ideas until the other end is satisfied.

Anyway. That's the way I got it going.
 
Ahhh Cubase! First tried it in 2006 and when my system locked up, Cubase put a message on my screen that said "There has been a problem with the system. You should save your open files under a new name, exit and restart your computer.". As a programmer of about 15 years at that point, I was to say the least, impressed with how it handled that situation. I looked into it's history (MIDI, VST) and was convinced I wanted to commit to it. Started on v5 I think and currently on 10. Pro-Tools always annoyed me with the "buy our interface or hit the road" attitude back in the day! I already have the purchase of Cubase 12 in the bag (bought 11 with included upgrade to 12) but I have not installed yet.

My current set up (though have not recorded anything since adding the Axe FXIII, previous chain would have included NI Guitar Rig 6 for tone shaping) is:
Electric Guitar>Axe FXIII>Tascam Model 12>Win 10 Cubase 10 Pro
Acoustic Guitar>Mic And jack channels>Shure SM81L (mic pair in 90deg array)>Axe FXIII (jack)>Tascam Model 12>Win 10 Cubase 10 Pro
Vocal>Rode NTR (favorite)/Shure SM7B/Shure SM58>Tascam Model 12>Win 10 Cubase Pro.

Live (been putting together a live set and ready to start auditioning for some local gigs), the Rode or SM7B ain't happening from my experience/testing, but I am looking at the Telefunken M80 or M81 for a solid live vocal mic! If anyone has any knowledge or experience with those mics, would love to hear your thoughts!! The only change in the scenario form above in my live chain is I am not going into Cubase, but instead going into my PA.

Been using Addictive Drums since 2015 and I really like their sounds. I also have the Abbey Road drum stuff from Native Instruments as well as several other NI drum kits, but do not like them as much as my Addictive Drums. Next recordings will be using the kick pedals I have been playing for my drum tracks, so don't know how much I will be using the pre recorded stuff since I have gotten in the mode of "kicking" my own, all new to me as of last year!
 
Well I'm still at the beginner level when it comes to recording experience, but it's always fun to learn. And of course it doesn't stop me from trying out some recording gear. I'd been using an Apollo x8 (overkill much?) because I'm a sucker for old effects processors but wanted to experiment with UAD while having enough analog I/O for the outboard units to experiment with routing. And I experimented with Luna, too.

But after having to move my desk and racks around recently, I've decided to go in another direction - effectively splitting up my control interface and most of my I/O with MADI. So now it'll be an RME MADIface Pro at the desk connected to a Ferrofish Pulse 16MX for all A/D in the rack, going to Logic.

Guitar chain is various tube amps into reactive load box / IRs via DeLisle amp switch into one channel. I use York Audio IRs and favor the 57+121 mixes. Bass preamp DI in to another channel. And then a Lexicon PCM 80, 91, and Eventide H3500 on their own channels for effects.
 
I have a Two Notes Reload when I want to track and/or reamp with my Archon. I've also used an Axe-FX and, for a time, a Kemper.

For vocals, I've had better results with a good old SM7, sometimes I'll use a GAP-Pre 73 in between as a preamp for additional coloring, not that my MOTU can't handle the SM7 being such a gain hungry mic.
 
I'm interested in doing a few videos. I'm trying to figure out the best signal chain for recording audio and video. I DO NOT want something elaborate, but was hoping for something better than sitting my iphone on a stand and using it for camera and just letting it's mic pic up the sound. I don't mind using the iphone video as I'm sure it's good enough. Just trying to figure a good way to record audio and video and sync them up in a DAW. Especially since my DAW is in a PC, not Mac. If I could record video and audio into Garage Band or something I'd just do it all in the ipad, but not sure how to do that.
 
DreamTheaterRules said:
I'm interested in doing a few videos. I'm trying to figure out the best signal chain for recording audio and video. I DO NOT want something elaborate, but was hoping for something better than sitting my iphone on a stand and using it for camera and just letting it's mic pic up the sound. I don't mind using the iphone video as I'm sure it's good enough. Just trying to figure a good way to record audio and video and sync them up in a DAW. Especially since my DAW is in a PC, not Mac. If I could record video and audio into Garage Band or something I'd just do it all in the ipad, but not sure how to do that.
Click to expand...
Hmmm... I'm not an Apple guy, but I do know that you can get an audio interface for the iPad. If you get the right USB adaptor something like my Zoom L12 or smaller would do the trick.
 
dmatthews said:
Hmmm... I'm not an Apple guy, but I do know that you can get an audio interface for the iPad. If you get the right USB adaptor something like my Zoom L12 or smaller would do the trick.
Click to expand...
I've got an SSL 2+ I'm just trying to find a simple way to make a video for say Youtube or like if I wanted to do another version of Happy Birthday to send to a friend, or do a little demo of some guitar gear or something.
 
DreamTheaterRules said:
I've got an SSL 2+ I'm just trying to find a simple way to make a video for say Youtube or like if I wanted to do another version of Happy Birthday to send to a friend, or do a little demo of some guitar gear or something.
Click to expand...

Record video on your iPhone while recording audio on your computer. Use a “slate” (that movie clapper thingy) at the beginning of recording both (any loud impulse will do) and then line them up in your video editing software.
 
sergiodeblanc said:
Record video on your iPhone while recording audio on your computer. Use a “slate” (that movie clapper thingy) at the beginning of recording both (any loud impulse will do) and then line them up in your video editing software.
Click to expand...
Never heard of a slate. I used to clap so I could line the tracks up.
 
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