[RWP] How to clean up guitar amp sim noises?

[Scott Chesworth]

Hi dude,

Yup, definitely back off the gain then! The next stage is probably for
you to spend time figuring out how your plugins respond, so start with
the amp set flat and tinker with each control to figure out what that
adds or subtracts sound-wise. When I'm getting to know a new plugin, I
try to split my time fairly evenly between playing whilst tweaking
controls, as well as pre-recording a few riffs I know I'll play well
and just concentrating on the amp controls with those riffs on a loop.
Reason being that this way, you're still spending some time with the
plugin as a guitar player, and your brain will get a chance to pick up
on what feels different as a player when you make adjustments, as well
as learning what your new plugin can do clinically. If you're going to
be recording yourself, both of those mindsets will come in useful at
different stages of the recording. If you can get at the presets of
whatever plugin you're using, find some that you like and go check out
the controls with that preset loaded to see how it's being used. Do
the same for presets that you really don't like too, because it'll
probably save you some time further down the line. When you're happy
that you've found a plugin that you're able to dial up something
consistent, throw in that Tubescreamer before the amp and run the same
experiment to find out what difference that makes. I know there's only
2 or 3 controls on a Tubescreamer, but they're very interactive placed
in front of a heavily driven amp, and not all plugs respond well to
them. After that, read up on EQ, watch some tutorials etc, and see
whether you can learn to identify the frequencies that rock your world
as well as the ones that could be cut out of your guitar sound so that
there's more chance the good stuff will get heard. Most of the fat
sound you're looking for will likely come from double or quad tracking
your guitar parts, but if you can double or quad track a guitar sound
that's great to start with instead of double or quad tracking
everything to disguise a pants guitar tone, then you're doing better
than most people already. Keep in mind at all times that even for
people who do this stuff for a living, it's a tall order nowadays to
get the sound of a single guitar track to stack up against the uberly
processed multi-amp and multi-mic rigs people are using on commercial
records, so if it sounds small on its own, that's probably ok, that's
what multitracking will fix.

Hope that all makes sense. Shout if I've used any terms you're not
familiar with. It sounds like quite a time and energy investment
written down, but it's even more so in real life :P

Scott

On 10/28/14, Hadi Rezaee <hadirezaei at gmx.com> wrote:
> Hi scott.
> Thanks for replying!
> My gain on the audio interface was all the way to the end. so yeah, my
> gain was fully hot!
> I didn't know i have to bring down the gain my my audio interface.
> If i do that, my electric guitar won't sound as fat as i want. What
> should i do then?
> I need to get that thick sound, so for that i increase the audio
> interface gain. am i doing the wrong thing? (I think i am)
> So what should i do then!
> On 10/29/2014 12:55 AM, Scott Chesworth wrote:
>>  From a quick listen on laptop speakers, it sounds like you're running
>> into that amp sim way too hot. Remember, these sims are mimicking the
>> response of a real amp as closely as possible, and a real amp
>> generally doesn't have a heap of gain before it in the signal chain. I
>> don't want to encourage bad habits, but when I'm recording guitar
>> through plugins like that, I pretty much ignore the meters and look
>> for the most realistic feel from the software instead of worrying
>> about getting a level that's deemed to be good practice. Often when
>> I'm mixing stuff for people who have recorded themselves, I find that
>> I'm trimming 30 DB or more off of DI guitars before my plugins start
>> responding anything like real-world amps. So yeah, first step, turn
>> down the gain on your interface.
>>
>> Couldn't get any sense of what style pickups you're playing from this,
>> but they're also going to raise the noise floor. Nearby electronics
>> could also be adding to that, so unless you're certain your guitar is
>> well shielded it'd be worth spending a minute spinning around in your
>> chair, walking around the room a bit etc with everything wired up as
>> you usually would to see if there's a place where that guitar is in
>> its happy place. It's also worth noting that a lot of great heavy
>> guitar sounds are just noisy as hell when there's nothing playing, so
>> concentrate on the sounds you're getting when you're actually playing
>> music first and foremost. That's the stuff that matters. Sometimes,
>> it's just gonna be noisy as hell and you're gonna have to run through
>> the song to clean up the exposed gaps manually. I've recorded a few
>> real amps where the hiss alone was scary to be in a room with, one of
>> those situations if someone decides this is the perfect time to
>> practice, then you're instantly dead by shred lol. I suppose what I'm
>> saying is that concentrating on cleaning up your sounds is all well
>> and good, but don't get fooled into not recording until everything is
>> perfect, because it's rare that anyone gets there, and a lot of people
>> never end up recording anything that they care about because they're
>> stuck down that rabbit hole.
>>
>> Good luck, and keep us posted
>>
>> Scott
>>
>> On 10/28/14, Hadi Rezaee <hadirezaei at gmx.com> wrote:
>>> Hi guys
>>>
>>> I know that there are very great members in this MailingList who produce
>>> awesome content even with limited resources.
>>> I need some advice/instructions about guitar sims, and how can i
>>> decrease their hiss, and fuzz sounds.
>>> I'm sure that everything  in my physical environment is ok, i got a very
>>> great cable with a scarlett 8i6 audio interface, so I think from this
>>> aspect, I should not get any noise or anything.
>>> Here's my REAPER FX chain, that i normally use:
>>>
>>> tse tube screamer
>>> Lepou lecto
>>> ReaVerb with some great mesa boogi cabs, (god cabs)
>>>
>>> That's all I've got. I have no  noise gates, no EQ, (Because i don't
>>> know how to work with them.
>>> First of all, when i crank up the input, There's a big hissing sound in
>>> the background, even when i'm not playing. It looks like a regular amp
>>> hissing sound, but it's just too loud, and I want to cut this off, so i
>>> could record without any  hissing noises.
>>> Second, I think the sound is having a little bit of fuz, and is not too
>>> warm for me.
>>> I want to try to  achieve that big,  smooth warm sound of  electric
>>> guitar.
>>> Here's a simple test that you can hear
>>> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/87868354/Hadi_guitar_tone_test.mp3
>>>
>>> Also, by the way, as you see, my  vollume is kind of.. low. if i try to
>>> raise reaper's master vollume, or the track vollume, i get a very bad
>>> buzzing sound on the guitar.
>>> Can anyone help me with this?
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> RWP mailing list
>>> RWP at reaaccess.com
>>> http://reaaccess.com/mailman/listinfo/rwp_reaaccess.com
>>>
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