Re: [LAU] Applying effects when recording electric guitars: before or after recording?

On Sun, 10 Jul 2011, Loki Davison wrote:

> For me, I record with all the effects on as I just want what I hear to
> be on the recording. The way you play changes depending on the effect
> you have on, and you'll change your phrasing depending. The 3 knob
> reverb on my fantastically lovely supro amp totally changes how I
> play.

Since this thread has been going on for awhile, I guess I'll mention
what I've been doing for this:

I'm using a mixer with 4 subs, plus a main L/R mix. It also has direct
outs on almost all the channel strips. Basically, that means that I can
have up to two stereo submixes per overdubbing pass when recording, plus
as many direct out's from individual instrument channels as I want, all
without touching my main L/R mix.

That allows me to setup the instrument channels to all either go to one
of the two pairs of subs (which are being used as two assignable L/R
mixes), or for some individual instruments to not get routed to
anything, and get recorded off of their own channel strip's direct out.
No actual instrument ever gets routed to the board's main L/R.

What does go to the main L/R is the effects return mix. Each
overdubbing pass catches the effects that are being used with the
instruments in that pass, recorded from the main L/R. The main L/R gets
recorded on its own track in Ardour for each overdubbing pass, so you
end up with the wet mix you were listening to while you recorded, and
the dry instrument tracks, all separated by overdubbing passes. (In
other words, you'll get a separate "wet" track in Ardour for each
overdubbing pass you do, that came from the main L/R for that pass.)

The advantage of this is you have all your dry tracks, the effects
returns that you listened to while you played them, and the ability to
substitute or mix in other effects if you're not happy afterward. The
disadvantage is that the effects are shared on each overdubbing pass
between all the instruments in that pass. There's no way around that
except to do more passes, with fewer instruments in each one, if you'd
like to isolate your wet mixes more.

There's probably a more professional way to do this that they use in big
studios, but so far, that's the solution that I've worked out. And
considering that I've only got a 4-sub mixer, this may be the best I can
do with my setup anyway.

-- 
+ Brent A. Busby	 +
+ Sr. UNIX Systems Admin +	Vote for Cthulhu.
+ University of Chicago	 +
+ James Franck Institute +	Why settle for the lesser evil?
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