New to recording distorted guitar

BrandonBass77 · 09-22-2019, 09:51 PM

Hi all,

I'm new to recording distorted guitar and I'm not sure I'm doing it entirely right in Reaper. In the sample images I've attached below the first waveform section is a lead part and the second waveform section are some power chords. Why I'm concerned is because the both look the same in terms of clipping and no diversity to the way the waveforms look. I'm naturally a bass player and this isn't a problem on that instrument.

I have learned to set up an amp sim and a cab IR and have multiple free VSTs that I can use interchangeably but the results are all the same.

For what it's worth, I'm running the following pedals, before they hit my audio interface:
Tuner -> OD(clean boost) -> Distortion -> Chorus(off here) -> Noise Gate.

I've included my current FX chain as an attached png too. I'm playing a Telecaster with humbucker pickups at both the bridge and neck.

Thanks, looking forward to any insight I can get here!

Pashkuli · 09-23-2019, 02:59 AM

Well you say you are using the same Distortion pedal (hardware) before it hits the audio-interface. Of course it will sound quite the same.

Also by using the Emissary, do you use its Lead or Clean channel in combination with the Distortion pedal On?
If it is with the Lead channel you are doubling the distortion of the pedal - usually that leads to a mess.
The Clean channel then might be suitable if the Distortion pedal is On and blasting.

Also depends on how well the Distortion Pedal before the Noise Gate have been set up. Maybe try the Noise gate pedal before the Dist pedal!?

Just an estimation but seems like that even with a OD boost, Dist, and Emissary, your recorded signal (wet I suppose on picture 2 - the waveform) is quite low. There is no reference scale shown, so that is just a subjective assumption (I may not be correct). hence gain staging is arguably not been set up correctly.

Sound samples would have been much, way much more informative about your situation (complains).

numberthirty · 09-23-2019, 04:21 AM

Along that same line, how does it sound to you?

- On The "Quiet" Side?
- Anything That Really Sticks Out As Sounding Wrong?

Edit:

One other thing...

Are these active pickups we are talking about? Higher gain pickups?

SoundGuyDave · 09-23-2019, 05:56 PM

Lets cut to the chase... Distorted guitar is, well, distorted. That distortion manifests as clipping, and with higher-gain (like an OD into a dist. pedal, into an amp) that will further clip the signal. When the signal clips, you wind up with virtually no dynamic range, more of an on/off (playing vs. not playing), so yes, your waveforms will wind up looking like sausages since there isn't any dynamic range to the waveform.

What a lot of people do when working with amp sim VSTs is to "print the DI." You would put a DI box FIRST in your hardware chain (or maybe second, after the overdrive? Experiment.) and record that to one track, and take the output of the pedal chain and record that simlutaneously to another track. That will give you a "clean" version of what you played that can then be processed by the VST without having you locked into the pedal settings on the other channel. I think that you'll find the "DI" channel to look quite a bit more familiar to you.

BrandonBass77 · 09-23-2019, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adXok

Well you say you are using the same Distortion pedal (hardware) before it hits the audio-interface. Of course it will sound quite the same.

Also by using the Emissary, do you use its Lead or Clean channel in combination with the Distortion pedal On?
If it is with the Lead channel you are doubling the distortion of the pedal - usually that leads to a mess.
The Clean channel then might be suitable if the Distortion pedal is On and blasting.

Also depends on how well the Distortion Pedal before the Noise Gate have been set up. Maybe try the Noise gate pedal before the Dist pedal!?

Just an estimation but seems like that even with a OD boost, Dist, and Emissary, your recorded signal (wet I suppose on picture 2 - the waveform) is quite low. There is no reference scale shown, so that is just a subjective assumption (I may not be correct). hence gain staging is arguably not been set up correctly.

Sound samples would have been much, way much more informative about your situation (complains).

So I recorded a little clip here where I played without the distortion and then followed it by turning the distortion on. The waveforms go from pretty dynamic when playing clean to "sausage like" when I turn the distortion pedal on. The waveform pic is attached, and a sound sample can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/brandon-tate-...-sound/s-zPcnM

The FX Chain is still the same, and this is going thru the Emissary on the clean channel with the gain set all the way down. My audio interface is a Focusrite 2i2 (1st gen) and I recorded this with the input dial at 3 o'clock

numberthirty · 09-24-2019, 12:25 AM

Honestly, your "Sausage Like" wasn't half as bad as I was prepared for.

You mind going into the details of brands/models on those effects?

BrandonBass77 · 09-24-2019, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by numberthirty

Honestly, your "Sausage Like" wasn't half as bad as I was prepared for.

You mind going into the details of brands/models on those effects?

Sure! In regards to the OD and Distortion, I'm using an EHX Soul Food (OD) and a TC Electronic Dark Matter (distortion)

BrandonBass77 · 09-24-2019, 08:33 PM

So quick update for everyone. Thank you all for your help!

In messing around a little more, I discovered by playing/recording thru the lead channel on the Emissary w/o my distortion pedal yielded much prettier and dynamic wave forms.

I'm still puzzled that if I run my distortion pedal thru the Emissary's clean channel, I'm still getting the "sausage" waveforms on screen.

I don't want to quite rule out my distortion being defective in some way, any further thoughts? I'm again using a TC Electronic Dark Matter distortion pedal.

Thanks again!

ashcat_lt · 09-25-2019, 09:22 AM

No your pedal’s not defective. That’s what distortion does. Like, that’s just the answer to the question. If you’re hearing much distortion at all, it’s specifically because the waveform has been clipped pretty severely and should look a lot like a square wave. If it wasn’t doing that, you would hear clean guitar through the clean channel, and you’d have to figure the pedal was broken.

Why are you so worried about what your waveforms look like? Who the fuck cares? Does it sound good to you? Then go with it.

Are you confused that the amp sim isn’t affecting the waveforms? If it’s in a regular FX slot, and you’re recording the track input, the amp sim isn’t being recorded. The waveform is the “clean” input (whether that’s distorted by a pedal or not) and the amp sim is applied to that on playback.