# Recording a dry signal at home for "reamping" in the studio?



## petereanima (Jan 18, 2010)

so,

in a few months (in June) we want to record our new album. to prepare accordingly, i am currently programming the click-tracks (in guitar pro) so everyone can practice at home already to play "in time". i recently ordered a Line 6 Studio POD UX1, because i got a good deal, so i can in addition record a "pilot guitar" track, for easier practising for the other band-members, and also that we can save time in the studio and already have the pilot guitar track ready.

then i started thinking about: why not record a "dry" signal of the guitars at home, and then just re-amp these tracks in the studio? this could save us a lot of time and money, and if done properly, this should work i think.

so, i have the Studio Pod on its way to me already, Ableton Live is included (as well as "POD Farm", but i guess i wont need that for the dry signal) and i just asked myself: if this is possible, what else do i need and how does this need to be recorded? (bit /khz/ aaah..what?) i am a total recording noob, so sorry if this is kinda a dumb question.


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## S-O (Jan 18, 2010)

Divinity Guitar Recording - Broke Bands.com

Enditol is pretty awesome at home recording 

But, plugging straight into the soundcard will give you a direct signal. There are plenty of DI boxes that are also splitters and can also have a dummy load. So you can record the DI and then also monitor with head/cab.


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## polloymedio (Jan 18, 2010)

nah, dont worry about it 

I have recorded a whole album this way. (upcoming shortly!) The way i did it was:

Guitar plugged into the instrument input on my interface (in my case a firepod). But i guess you can use your studio pod's input aswell, as long as it's recorded dry. A couple of things to consider:

1. Pretty obvious, but just to be safe: Record the dry track in mono, not stereo (im not talking about doubling guitars, that's a whole different issue)
2. Make sure that you record all tracks at the pre volume input(this way you always know how dynamics will work once the dry track is reamped)
3. I didnt let the input level surpass -1db... just to be safe 
4. Zoom in on the waveform, and make sure the input levels are not clipped (http://www.caraudiobook.com/images/clipped_wave.gif). Even though the volume may appear at -1, the orginal signal can be sent clipped. I had this problems at some point, and i had to lower the pickups a bit 
5. Monitor yourself with really close-to-final-recording-sound plugins.. You need to know basically how your signal is going to interact with the final signal chain. If your going to use a compressor before the amp, add a compressor to your plugin. do the same with delays, amp channel GAIN, etc.

Reamping has a lot of advantages... 

1. Taking your time on nailing your stuff. (specially solos!)
2. Editing dry signal is much easier than editing a final recording.
3. Record whenever your want. Maybe at 2am you cant sleep, so why not try to record some stuff?
4. Studio time is reduced (in most cases)


in my case there were a couple of issues because of this:

1. Firstly, the other guitarist in my band didnt practice enough since he knew we werent gonna spend much money in studio time. Since i had to record him, it was very frustating to wait until he got the parts right (really ugly fights because of this)
2. Reamp time was a specially stressful time. Since i didnt know anyone who had done this (and we almost didnt make any tests) i was as nervous as i could be imagening that all the time spent was not going to work.

Hope this helped!


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## Underworld (Jan 18, 2010)

I used an UX1 for my band EP (currently under mixing). here some tips : 

-USE GOOD CABLES!! I noticed a huge difference between a generic cable and a Monster 1000 (obviously!)

-I had used podfarm as a monitor for my sound, here's what I did : Opened Podfarm, then Cubase, then I recorded to MONO inputs in cubase. You must change the VST connexions input to inputs 3 and 4 (dry, to do this press F4 in cubase). So while I was playing I was hearing the pod farm sound, but I was recording dry. Then I loaded the same sound from podfarm as a VST pluggin so that I could re-hear my tracks with distortion. Don't forget to open podfarm to hear yourself!

-Take your time

-You can always have your tracks reamped in any studio you want, so again take you time and CHOOSE! We dealed with Glenn at www.spectresound.ca great guy, super sounding tracks and does the work quickly.



I know it sounds a bit messed up ahah! If you have any questions send me a pm!


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## CynicEidolon (Jan 18, 2010)

Sure. It'd work if you do it right. Which most cases seem here like they were done in a way that I wouldn't like to deal with in my studio. They have "Reamping" kits for a reason. There is a particular way that your guitar reacts with your heads preamp. Mainly, due to the resistance. (Ohms) If you just input just into your interface that takes a Hi-Z signal... That's great. But, you have to keep in mind, MOST interfaces will spit it out at a Lo-Z signal for your "reamping." Sooo... Get something to fix that if the studio you are going to doesn't' have one.


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## polloymedio (Jan 18, 2010)

CynicEidolon said:


> Sure. It'd work if you do it right. Which most cases seem here like they were done in a way that I wouldn't like to deal with in my studio. They have "Reamping" kits for a reason. There is a particular way that your guitar reacts with your heads preamp. Mainly, due to the resistance. (Ohms) If you just input just into your interface that takes a Hi-Z signal... That's great. But, you have to keep in mind, MOST interfaces will spit it out at a Lo-Z signal for your "reamping." Sooo... Get something to fix that if the studio you are going to doesn't' have one.



Essentially, the reamping box (what cynic is talkin about) is an inverted DI Box, which converts low impedance signals to high impedance signals. And obviously you must have one for it to work. this is the one i worked with:


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## CynicEidolon (Jan 18, 2010)

Yeap! ^^ Haha. It's a good one. Of course it is. It's Radial!


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## petereanima (Jan 19, 2010)

thanks to all of you! 

yeah, of course the studio has a Reamping Box (a Radial, i guess its the one posted above)!



polloymedio said:


> Reamping has a lot of advantages...
> 
> 1. Taking your time on nailing your stuff. (specially solos!)
> 2. Editing dry signal is much easier than editing a final recording.
> ...



exactly these are the reasons i started thinking about it!

from my previous studio sessions, i remember having good days and bad days...but in the studio, you have to pay full - if you played good or if you have to re-record 50% of the day the next day.

and as it will be a full length (propably), we oculd save about EUR 1000,- or above, and thats whole lotta money.


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## Lozek (Jan 19, 2010)

Like I said in the PM to you, Radial stuff is great for active pick-ups, not quite so good for passives, where you wanna be looking at something like a Countryman 85, it's to do with the input impedance of the DI & how that will affect tone loss.


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## Alcoholocaust (Jan 19, 2010)

are you guys just using the dry signal from the toneport? because i've been trying this with my UX2 and the dry signal is just terrible!


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## B36arin (Jan 19, 2010)

You'll usually get a better DI signal if you buy a good DI box(they aren't that expensive) and plug it into the balanced XLR input of your interface than if you just go straight into the instrument input.


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## Alcoholocaust (Jan 19, 2010)

thats what i'm doing right now, but reading through this thread it looks like some dudes are using just the toneport/pod's dry signal, I'm wondering what sort of results they've had.


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## JoshuaLogan (Jan 19, 2010)

If you want the best results, you should get a good DI box. I recommend the Countryman Type 85 DI. It's active and sounds good for both active and passive pickups. I have the Countryman and it's great. 

By the way, I will be offering reamping, mixing, and mastering services to people soon. (Gear available will be: Cuniberti Reamp V2 reamp box, API A2D mic preamps, sm57 mics, Maxon OD-820 ovedrive pedal, Peavey 5150 head, Engl SE head, Fractal Audio Axe-FX Ultra, Mesa Rectifier Standard 4x12). PM me if you have any interest.

By the way, is that the Sensory Amusia from the tabit forums? if so, I love your music, dude.


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## Underworld (Jan 19, 2010)

sensoryamusia said:


> thats what i'm doing right now, but reading through this thread it looks like some dudes are using just the toneport/pod's dry signal, I'm wondering what sort of results they've had.


 


As soon as my songs are mixed and masterised, I will post a link for direct download here. Reamps do sound good even with a dry signal thru an UX. I agree this is not the best interface out there, but it gets the job done, and it was a cheaper solution to us than spending days and nights in the studio, or buying a new interface + DI box. Expect the EP to be availiable mid-february.


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## B36arin (Jan 20, 2010)

You really want a DI box if you are going to spend money on doing it properly. Here's an A/B between the dry signal from a Pod and from a good DI box: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/production-tips/484359-do-i-need-di-my-podx3-just-good.html#post8180525


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## petereanima (Jan 20, 2010)

yeah, thanks to Lozek, i've stumbled over the thrads in the ultimatemetal board...for this comparison: wow, you wouldnt think that its THAT of a difference.


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## Alcoholocaust (Jan 20, 2010)

i can just tell by the waveform of my POD DI tracks, they're really weak and sound muddy. I'm looking at getting a DI box and i'll do a comparison


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