The Problem with Modern Amp Sims?

[kennywtelejazz]

When I'm using  amp sims and plugins I have a very simple solution that seems to work pretty good for me  . It involves 2 simple steps .

When I record my guitar I never use the comp feature  .....if you want guitar  solo paralysis and a bunch of takes all over the place by all means use it ...

Step 1 , What I do instead is I will set up 2 tracks for my guitar . On guitar track 1 I will have set up what I " HOPE"  may turn out to be  my processed sounds for my guitar . This track may be a combination of and Amp Sims and a number of VST studio effects .

Step 2 ,  I will place another audio track right bellow my processed audio track . Now both of these tracks are within easy visual range in the time line and this track will have no effects on the track itself ... at times I have used pedals into my sound card such as a little Compression , EQ , Delay or Reverb ... Yet, these tones are set to a bare minimum almost as Ghost tones so I can focus on my playing performance ....

Now we get to the meat and potato's .

When it comes time to record my guitar I have already did a quick couple of play through s over a few sections of the song ...These clips have been recorded  with the intent of listening to how things sound . Also I also want to evaluate my playing . During my listening stages I will use the opportunity to adjust and tweak my  amp sims plugs or what ever to taste in the moment

Once I have done a quick  global dialing in of my guitar tracks effects I WILL NOT TOUCH The EFFECTS BIN AGAIN until it comes time to edit the playing of my track ....

Why ? I don't want all these endless choices to keep interrupting me  . I just want to play my guitar and get the the little hairs on the back of your neck to stand up .

Having deleted my test subject audio  tracks , now it is time to record . At this stage  I may start out using my sims and plugs track . At the least sign of  Musical BS I will revert to using my dry audio track to record my performance

Since  I practice clean ,  I am totally comfortable playing a clean guitar tone most of the time especially I need  to go there to jump start and  get the ball rolling  . 

Phrasing and bending are very important to me ,  and I don't want any effects on my guitar to trip me up ...

ex bending a note and having a delay harmonize a note on a repeat or a group of repeats that obscure my phrasing ....

OK , Here's where the fun starts .....after recording my performance using the clean track for sections I will gently nudge the freshly recorded audio over to my effects track ...

Now I know somebodies gonna wonder so I'm gonna answer this now ..." Kenny how come you don't just record your performance on the audio track with the effects bin bypassed "? The simple answer is I don't work that way . When I play something that serves my song / performance I want it placed in the audio track with all my effects as soon as possible  . Why because I always commit to a tone early ( they can always be changed ) and I don't want to leave 20.000 other choices of would have,  could have, or should have lurking around in the back of my head .

The other thing is I have a concise visual time line of my processed  audio and the space to record a new take with out having to resort to comping ...Why ? because I commit early to what I'm doing and I can tailor my  newly recorded audio to maximize the space between the phrases ....

When it sounds good to me I will slide the dry track to my effects track ...When I have something playing wise I'm becoming happy with , only then will I  go and readjust my effects . I may clear the decks w the effects or do a ...one by one ....until it sounds the way I want it ...

Trying to explain this way of utilizing amp sims and plugs makes it sound so complicated when in fact this approach is so simple

all the best ,

Kenny

[jackson white]

“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.” - Orson Welles

never heard any of his guitar tracks, but ya, things often sounded better when the electricity went out.

some limitations can be a real challenge though. don't recall who said this,

“The enemy of art is the absence of talent.

but sounded familiar.

...

the original comment seems to be more about creativity than art. applied to -art-, and specifically music, hip hop might be a classic example, which is reminiscent of another relevant quote (slightly misappropriated).

"Good artists copy, great artists sample".

Edited July 4, 2023 by jackson white
elaboration (while waiting on mix feedback...)

[bats brew]

i bought my strymon iridium, during the pandemic..

i thought it'd be a great tool to quickly lay down tracks, using either the fender deluxe, vox ac 30, or marshall plexi 100 as a basis for sound.

 

it does that exactly.

and i can use it direct into my interface, or hook it up as a preamp into my mesa boogie mark 2b head.

and it works perfectly!

 

and one of the reasons i bought it, over any other hardware amp modeler, was the simplicity, and the way it responds to my playing.

 

i do not use presets.

i walk up to the unit, turn the few knobs, get what i want for the track i'm going for, and boom, done.

it just works.

i never spend more than 5 minutes dialing in a tone.

zero problems.

and it's one of the reasons i don't use software amp sims. they take forever to dial in a sound that's just right,

and there's always a feeling of latency to me.

 

i'm super happy with the iridium.