The Problem with Modern Amp Sims
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 มิ.ย. 2023
- Do you procrastinate by chasing "perfect" guitar tone?
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Another thing to consider: we don’t usually listen to electric guitar in a vacuum. If you have an amp tone dialed in and it feels like it’s lacking something, try layering more tracks and recording other instruments with it. You might find the guitar doesn’t sound so bad as you start combining it with other elements. :)
Good advice Max! Thank you!
Thank you! I came to this conclusion on my own, so seeing somebody else say it is reassuring :)
Not only that but sometimes the most delicious guitar tone can sound terrible in the context of a mix. Likewise some of the best music was produced using dirt cheap gear and/or stuff that would sound highly questionable if you solo'd the tracks. We all know how many people crave the lofi goodness that comes from gear and mediums musicians used to see as flaws overcome by revolutionary digital music tech. Nowadays much of that same digital tech is often seen as sterile, artificial, inferior to their analog counterparts, while other digital tech that was at one time seen as bringing a new level of fidelity and clarity to music production is now lusted after for the opposite reason (the crunch of 8 bit EPROM based drum machines, 12 bit samplers like the S950 and SP1200, the Boss SP202, anything made by Casio but especially whatever the hell the SK-1 is ext.) For guitars look at the continued popularity and legacy of Danelectro's lipstick pickups, fiberglass bodied Airlines and whatever you could get from a Sears catalogue in the 60s. Don't even get me started on classic solid state amps or how the tube distortion that turned the musical landscape upside down was only developed as an intentional feature after guitarists discovered the beauty of pushing an amp past its limit. A common theme here is that people did more than work around their flaws, quirks or limitations. They made those limitations iconic, doing things that only they could. If they had gear that didn't sound right in the music that was around instead of upgrading their gear they made something new and used what would conventionally be flaws as strengths. Love the ingenuity musicians have in the face of limitations.
@@TayTayMakesBeatsTotally agreed! Great points man, definitely inspiring.
It's called a cab. Also IRs
As a husband, father, producer, and artist this definitely resonates with me. Workflow is so important and I simply don’t have the time to drown in an ocean of options. Sometimes simplicity is the key and less truly is more.
Fantastic video Mick!
I feel this comment. It gets a lot more challenging to balance everything in later seasons of life. As much as I wish I was 19 again with nothing but time to dedicate to passions, the game is now about finding the best tools that get the job done quickly.
@@Morroh i agree with you
True. I just want to plug in and get a good tone quickly. All the options tend to overwhelm.
I feel like Neural DSP plug ins are a great option for people who just want to plug in and play. All the default presets sound awesome from the jump.
I was recording an artist who has a JP 2C in the studio. We were short for time and wanted to track an entire song in just a few hours, we did just that. I pulled out a plugin, had him go through the rhythm track and dialed in what I thought was the perfect sound in a couple of minutes. Had we started firing up amps and mics, we wouldn't be able to just sit in front of the monitors and drop tracks. I pulled a Mesa Dual plugin for the lead, added just a chorus pedal plugin, sounds great. I took the simple approach, didn't dig too deep into speakers, mics, none of that. Where I thought this video was going, my thoughts, most of this stuff sounds about the same. It comes down to the performance. I love plugins because I have zero concern of external noise, like somebody opening a door, a cough, whatever. I have only been recording live drums and vocals. I love my Fryette amp and it sounds fantastic, but time is often hard to come by and the speed I can drop tracks with amp plugins has been huge. Of course, the times I cannot get to the studio, I sit at my desk and record track after track and when the wife yells, "dinner time" it doesn't become a song lyric.
Yep! I also move pretty fast with amplitube or what ever. I don't go down rabbit holes, I just try and find serviceable sounds and concentrate on better parts to define the differences between guitar tracks. These sims are just tools and yes micing up an amp is impossible for me living in an Apt in SF. I have my productions mixed by some talented folks and they say that sims are finally at a place where they work just fine. These Mix engineers only re amp when the sim guitar part is the only thing going in a mix. The avg listener does not drill down on tones--they listen for the song!
You're right man, many of us has jobs and college degrees to finish or even to give some attention to our family and the little time that we had became even shorter by the phenomena of searching the right tone instead of focus in our songwriting and etcetera. Great video dude 🤟
Yeah, it's a real problem, but I would argue that one of the chief reasons in not the option paralysis per se, but rather not having experience with the production side of things. One of the biggest lightbulb moments for me was realizing that human hearing is very adaptive and you quickly get used to a certain tonality, whether it's objectively (in some sense) good or not. Meaning, you cannot simply tweak knobs until it sounds good because the brain can compensate massively for sketchy frequency response. A good example is to try and pull down a narrow frequency band, ideally around high midrange, try 2khz-6khz, very narrow Q, and pull it down around -6db to -10db. Listen for a bit, and disable the EQ. You'll hear a very very nasty screechy resonance now that you swear wasn't there before. It's because your brain got adjusted to hearing the tone with that cut on and when you turn it off it emphasizes the difference. It's the same exact issue with tweaking - you get used to how a certain IR sounds, you get used to how you tweaked the tonestack, the amount of gain, the EQ you put after the cab, and all that. It can be a terrible fatiguing sound, but if you got used to it you will be entirely oblivious of this fact.
The only way to get out of this mess is to first have a monitoring system that you're reasonably sure is somewhat flat and then A/B your guitar tone to guitar tones found on records. There's a really big catch though - tones on records are double tracked (or even quad tracked) and it's relatively rare to catch a moment where the guitar is playing just by itself. But this exactly what you need to find - songs where there are snippets of just the guitar. Then you should grab either the left or right channels of this snippet to get rid of double tracking, and only then you can A/B this tone to yours.
Also, as you get more into production, you'll realize that tone is not that important. Or at least not in the way that guitarists absolutely obsess over it. A great example is simply tweaking the amp knobs - when you do it while playing by yourself, changes are immediate and you're able to discern very minute changes. In a mix the situation is vastly different, the mix tends to bury the small details and those minute knob adjustments you were obsessing over are totally irrelevant, you just cannot hear them. The guitar is just one part of the mix and you need to leave your guitarists' obsession with tone and all that stuff behind, that's the point.
Yea its funny, I sometimes dont know whether my tube amp sounds bad for the first ten mins because it has to warm up, or if I am just not listening to it right at first.
Blasphemy
This is the first video of yours that I watched, it was recommended by the almighty algorithm. This is really well done, good job!
Thank you! 🙏
This is exactly why when I get a new amp sim or try one out, I usually give myself a week or two to constantly work on a few custom presets to match my taste with one to three for each standard sound (high gain rhythm, high gain lead, low gain rhythm, clean, and so on), so I have a few to choose from when writing. After that tone search period, I often get tired of crafting sounds in that plugin/sim, so I naturally gravitate toward writing and just choosing the right custom preset for the moment. If something is still missing like some weird modulating flanger delay effect chain, I will still add it later but can just start with one of my custom presets and add the desired effects, without really having to craft the sound again.
This is why I use the amp knob. I don’t have the time or energy to craft my tone anymore. It’s just not worth wasting my creative energy
This is so good; I really hope your channel blows up!!
Such incredible care and intention put into this video; great work!
Thank you! I put a lot of time into this one.
I would be thrilled if things take off, but for now I’m just going to enjoy making videos 😁
That does happen to me but just as often I’ll find a tone that then inspires new song ideas and sometimes the process of just jumping around is relaxing and fun. Tying everything to productivity is just going to leave you frustrated most of the time.
The best benefit of digital amps, especially with the Fractal and to a lesser degree the Kemper is that without knowing anything about electronics, you can take a stock amp and modify it in ways that don’t already exist which for me is huge because I have some unique issues that most amp makers don’t take into account. I still love real tube amps and their limitations can actually inspire creativity but customizing my digital amps has been very inspiring to give me what I want without having to have my own amp tech willing to tweak things till I get it right.
LOL - so true! Fiddle all weekend with the sounds and then times up - and it was all just different , not necessarily better. I recently settled into one single amp config and 2 IRs (one for low gain, one for hi gain) and it was liberating to not have to worry anymore about tweaking sounds so I could focus on songwriting, arranging, and recording. Congrats on your new channel, very strong debut with this and your other videos. Keep ‘em coming!
That Laundry-time alarm bell… I felt it so deeply on this Sunday evening, before another week 😂
I’m learning guitar. Bought a boss Katana in 2020. I fell into this trap and spent more time finding a sound then practicing. I can’t play but fell into the gear trap. I returned it. I fell in love with the Amped roots free plug-in. Sounds good, models an amp bands I listen to use, don’t need to fidget around to get a decent sound. I just get to practicing.
I really feel this. This is the reason I went for an old fashioned tube-head and a captor box 😊 it limits my options and let’s me focus on enjoying playing guitar. Thank you for voicing my thoughts in a video.
Thank you for watching 🙏
i agree. I did the same i just have one sound now and i feel so much better and productive
This resonates with me. I’ve been down the modeling/profiling rabbit hole a few times and, in retrospect, it’s been a huge waste of time. I take full responsibility. These are powerful tools. However, I tend to spend a lot less time tweaking when I just stick to a good tube amp with pedals.
The problem with that is privilege. Not everyone can afford or has acceptable space for a tube amp and cab. Besides, real amps aren't infallible, and time can be wasted tweaking them as well.
@@nebularain3338 very true. I do appreciate the benefits of digital gear, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered with it.
Very well put into words,
I will love to watch more of your videos.
Subscribed ✌️
🙏 thank you!
This made me a lot less insecure about my tones actually. I dont really go down the hole of fixating on my tone for a long time but Ive always been super insecure about them. Cool video
Thanks for watching!
I spent way too many years worrying about tone. The performance is the most important item on the list. Preparation is before tone. I played a live gig with a Line 6 Spider III with an SM57 in front of it. I didn't want to carry my Fryette 1/2 stack and I wouldn't get paid more for better gear at the gig. People remember the performance, not the tone. Too much attention given to tone. I say that and I am a tone junky, I just keep it in check.
Great video, you always try to reach the perfection for your sound :)
When it comes to guitar tone, I always aim for "good enough". It's about character. The mix and how it sits with the other instruments will do the rest.
Why is this so well shot lmao
That's such a good point! Clean video btw.. you are gonna blow up soon
I really needed to see this thank you
This has become a huge problem for me over the years. I've spent more time searching for tone than actually writing music. Thanks for the inspiration
thanks for watching
I played guitar for about 10 years before falling out of it from just living life.
About 15 years later and I recently got back into playing guitar, this time with the money to buy the equipment I could only dream of when I was first learning.
I fell right into this trap.
There have been so many technological advances when it comes to plug ins and digital interfaces, I forgot that I used to just plug into the amp and play.
I now use a real amp, a real cab, and a few pedals. This is ALL I need to get to it and start playing.
Great video. Good job bringing attention to a problem I’m sure many people suffer from.
While I want to have a "less is more" kind of mindset, finding the tone (especially if I'm planning on learning a song/making a cover) is half the fun for me.
Digital amps are awesome and I own quite a few of the NeuralDSP plugins. But lately I've realized that I'm getting way better results when I focus on the sound I get from my TWO physical amps a reactive loadbox and some good IRs.... and spend more time on making music. You've hit the nail on the head for my situation.
Awesome video, this is something I'm constantly struggling with as well. The better you get at production, the more gear you accumulate...the less creative time you have. Thanks for highlighting that, much needed right now!
At some point it’s good to remember why you started in the first place. For me it’s always been about the songs, and at some point along the way that got lost in the production. Thank you for watching 🙏
@@Morroh exactly, it's a fine line to walk, especially if the songwriting side of it is still the main focus (which it is here too). So it's a bit of a balancing act, I'm dialing production work way back and focusing on my bands again because it's too hard to balance this stuff otherwise. I'll definitely be following your future stuff! - Mike
I've been using Scuffham Amps for years! It sounds great and the set-up is limited to amp controls (with cabinet tweaks on some models), convolver parameters, delay and reverb controls. You can also change/add IR's. It blows away Tonex, Archetype and Amplitube, IMHO!
Yep, you're absolutely right. I got IK Multimedia Studio Max and the complete Arturia collections. I wasted so much time just trying different options. Now, I have a few presets and just work with those. Great video and music.
I always felt what you said in this video but couldn't find a way to express it in words until now. Thank you. In the end, many iconic tones were crafted out of the lack of options, i mean, many artists ended up using unconventional methods/gear due to the lack of other options, creating many legendary tones now a lot of people try to emulate. A exaggerate use of these plugin can in my opinion lead to everyone sound really alike each other, other than putting a stop to creativity. I agree on the fact these plugins are awesome and really well built, i use them on a daily basis to train/study/jam/hear in the daw what i record before reamping etc. but i just stick to a preset i've created when i bought the program because i am too lazy to make new presets with so many options hahah
In fact, the issue at hand stems from the abundance of choices. Having numerous options is undoubtedly fantastic, but it can also be paralyzing.
In the past, the options for amplifiers were limited. There wasn't a wide selection available, and the control over them was fairly minimal. The same was true for effect pedals. Moreover, owning several was a costly endeavor, so people often made do with what they had. This limited selection was sufficient for most, as there was no alternative. Consequently, many musicians honed their skills with the equipment they had.
One might think that the amplifiers of yesteryears were superior, but in reality, they were not. To be honest, they were inferior since they didn't offer the range of controls that are available today. However, their limited nature was, in some ways, advantageous.
Today, my setup consists of a Positive Grid Mini and a Go, which I use daily, coupled with a JBL Party Box 310. They are exceptional in comparison to the tube amp that I used to have. Not only is the sound quality better, but it is also more minimalist, which I find to be a huge plus. However, it’s true that sometimes the sheer volume of options available today can be overwhelming.
This video is the exact depiction of my life these last months…
With two very young kids, I have very limited time to play and still spent 10% of the time playing and 90% of the time turning knobs in my DAW, blending IRs, auditioning profiles…
The perfect tone I dial on Wednesday is utter trash on Friday and is reborn again on Sunday. I am caught in a negative spiral which completely killed my guitar passion.
This video is really an eye opener. I have decided to delete 90% of my IRs collection and plugins.
I am keeping only the essential ones and essential IR mixes.
I am going to play more and fiddle less…
Hopefully…
This is bang on . I find myself spending more time tine shaping and tweaking than actually playing. Its almost a separate interest that in itself is not bad, but its very easy to get obsessed by it. Option paralysis is a very real thing
Dude, this video hit really hard. I felt this phenomenon you talked about in this video some years ago. Since then I'm sticking to one single amp sim instead of craving the next newest Neural release. Also, the cinematography in this short video was amazing. Subscribed!
Thank you for watching and subscribing! As someone who is just now starting to take my camera seriously, I really appreciate this comment. 🙏
That Orson Welles quote struck me. Good video.
I did my loop through Amplitube, Guitar Rig, Bias FX, and Amp Room - and finally ditched all the amp sims for a Yamaha THR30 amp which has about 10 great sounds in it and a wireless receiver, and since then I play way more guitar and compose much more than I did before. I still use the Amp sims for mixing songs, but at least I play the guitar and enjoy it.
Bro has the most aesthetic laundry room 😮
It's like painting with watercolors, you just have to paint that first layer quick and let it dry, without adding too many colors
Bogren amp knob plugins are awesome because they don't spoil you with plenty of options. It just works.
Also, a trick that I learned while producing electronic music is that you be great to split sound design and writing sessions.
If you want to dial the tone - just do that.
If you want to write riffs - get the preset you crafted or any other and play.
I have been strictly using the bogren amp knob stuff for practicing and writing for the exact reasons you’re describing
I actually learned something unexpected from your video. Setting a timer before I start...adds a sense of urgency (if there isn't one).
This video hits hard... Just rocking a basic amp sim for writing and ''chasing tone'' with my 100w Marshalls!
Agree on this one! I’m trying to get the tone which is kinda close to the vibe and record while I still have time or energy to do it, to get the idea done, and leave all the tweaking to the next session.
Dude... thank you. Thank you again. This video resonated with me a lot. Damn.
Thank you for watching :)
I agree with your take (also amazing video production, very captivating visuals and straight to the point). I went through phase of buying and trying each new amp sim, wasting so much time scrolling through presets and adjusting parameters. Though the past few months i started using ML Sound Lab amp sims because of their simplicity and it has changed my approach tremendously in a great way. My only issue (a recurring one for a long time) is latency, maybe a more expensive interface would help solve that.
I feel like most interfaces no longer have the latency issue. However if the plug-in is too taxing on your system that can definitely cause latency issues.
One of the things I love most about amp sims is chasing tone. To try and find great sounds that are different yet cool. When I want to record? I use the Bogren AmpKnob for the exact reasons you say. Sometimes I want to mess around with tone which to me drives creativity because when i am chasing tone that is when I “discover” riffs that become songs. When I want to record? I go with what I know works to stop distractions.
Had the exact same feeling before. Like to go back to my old reliable Marshall amp and give it a go.
This video hits so hard for any modern Guitarist
Smooth video. You're also smooth bro.
One and a half month ago I purchased a combo amplifier. It is my first tube amplifier (Marshall Silver Jubilee 2525). With that and a very simple looper pedal (Boss RC2) I have composed more guitar lines than in the last 18 months, aside from having enjoyed a lot. I am trying to restrict the options and enjoy the path. And to enjoy the music, as a priority. Your video is probably the reality of a lot of us.
A couple months ago I bought NDSP's Tone King plug-in. I spent a couple weeks playing around with it and setting up some presets for my different guitars. Since then, when I want to play, I load up the plug-in, pick the preset for the guitar I'm using and I'm good to go. I think playing with tone is a lot of fun, but it has to be separate from playing guitar. Give yourself some time to set up and play around with a couple tones you like, but then when it's time to play/record, don't let yourself muck up the presets you made for yourself. Commit to and trust the sounds you set up beforehand.
When I got my first modeller the ge200 I was sucked into the black hole of tone. Great vid very relatable.
That’s why I like so much ML Sound Lab amps sims (at least the one I use). They work in standalone mode, got 2 main sounds and 3 or 4 presets for each sound. I think it’s great.
I agree with you about option paralysis, which is why I set myself a time limit for working on a song. As long as the song itself works as a whole, it’s out the door.
I find it most useful to use in the box guitar amp sims to replicate the sound of my actual gear, and of my hardware amp sims, so that way it is purely just a tool. I seek out the best free and paid amp and pedal sims of physical gear I already own, or plan to purchase for usage practice. That whole "limitations force creativity" thing is true, as is "keep it simple" and that's what works for me.
I love playing with tones, its like sound design. That being said I wait to dial down the tone after the rest of the song comes together
Actual amp, load box, IR of your cab you made.
Easy peasy.
this is a very well made video. i thought my youtube was broken when i saw you had 112 subscribers. keep going.113 :)
Thank you, I really appreciate that 🙏 lots of ideas for future videos. currently working on something exciting, 🤞🏻 it works out. Thanks for the sub!
I’m kind of an analog guy by nature. “Less is more” has always been a huge part of my musical process since I was classically trained, and I have made some of the most blazing and futuristic math rock on a Fender 57 Bandmaster tube amp. Modelers are awesome and give you nearly infinite choices, but there’s something about having a “set” tone that gives me more ideas
Absolutely amazing video!!!
Few time ago I have modified my old ENGL with UK's V30 and got an amazing tone out of it. Something between Cobra and ENGL Fireball. But it is too loud to exercise with it, in the evening, when family is sleeping. I decided to find the tone close to my amp in sim amps. The longer I played with all the tools I realized more and more, that nothing sounds better for me than freq compensated out of the amp. Last week I decided to kick out all the amp sims I have and today that video!
Thank you!!!
I tend to approach my music sessions with a goal. Sometimes it's to write music while other times it's to get a good guitar tone which can effectively be considered sound design. The point of this is to keep the sound design sessions separate from the music creation sessions. That way when you want to write music, you take your presets that you created from the sound design sessions (or even other presets) and they're already made.
I should also point out that I tend to look at things from a producer standpoint, which means the song should always come first before the guitar tone. You can spend hours coming up with a perfect tone, but if it doesn't work with the mix of the song, it's all for not.
This can happen with hardware gear too, though, especially when people get sucked into G.A.S. With amp sims, option paralysis is at least free or very cheap.
that's why the default setting of omega ampworks granophyre always got me 😂
😂 granophyre is probably one of the best stock sounding Neural plugins, I’ll pick that one up eventually.
There i am….
U u nailed it… awesome production… sub‘d 🤘🏽😎
as a 36 yr old new father, Ive been finally exploring this axe fx and making a few baller presets, after making about 3 i just plug in, and depending on the guitar switch presets and I jam away for hours. I really love dialing tone and I love exploring different genres and sounds, and conversely I also like simple tools that help me practice. Ive been playing a ton of nylon string these days, no amp sims required!
Dead on, brother! I literally purged 5 different amp sims, and way too many EQ’s, compressors, channel strips, yadda-yadda! I narrowed my sound down to one company and finally started writing again. When I’m finished I send it off to a producer friend and let him have at it. The newfound freedom is exhilarating!!
Thanks for the post
why is this in my algorithm and why is this directly aiming at me.
I had this problem a while ago. Collect tons of IRs, spending way too much time messing around with presets and tone. And one day I just realize that the tone doesn’t matters that much, normally a preset can get you 80% there. And the IRs don’t matter that much(when you’re messing around)
So now I just choose a preset and play, record. I always leave the “tone adjustment” til mixing.
I remember as a teenager, I had 1 guitar 1 amp, and 1 pedal. Was wither distortion or no distortion.
I defo have this issue, got at least 4 virtual guitar rigs. They are great production tools. But, that said, for my band, I general set the presets once then use 1 of 3 I have for rehearsal and record tones. If further adjustment needed for final release then so be it, but a lot of the times we reamp for final recording so it's just a means to an ends.
Can be fun of course if you get exactly what you after though. Have fun whatever you do
great video with great insight
Really valuable video here. Thanks for pointing out the potential downside of too many options.
I feel this on a spiritual level
This hits close to home.
I own a real amp and I’ve had tone anxiety a lot.
Im always trying to get a better tone but i dont really know how to dial it in well with real pedals and amps let alone in a DAW i can barely use lol. Great video man
Fantastic videography man! And definitely agree with the story behind this video lol
Appreciate that, thank you!
Dude you hit the nail right on the head with this video. I often will look at getting new gear and it takes me FOREVER because there’s just SO much nice gear out there today, not to mention vintage gear as well. It really does make me reconsider getting into these amp sims. I was just looking at buying a new amp and I figured instead of spending a couple grand I could spend a couple hundred on an interface and go to the races. But after watching this it makes me think that I should go with my original idea and go with a real tube amp that I know I’ll like after trying it in the store. Because I am definitely the type to look for hours and forget that I should just be playing instead. Very good video. Makes you open your eyes to the way things are now. It’s kind of sad really.
yuuup! Great video with amazing delivery and backing track! This is why templates have saved my life! got a good enough tone to start and write and record. when a new amp sim comes out i often pass on it. Though I DID buy softube's new amp room suite since the marshall and mesa clones are top notch. didn't have anything that could match them so i bought them. I try not to rebuy amp clones i already have that get the tone for a specific amp at near perfect levels. most new things are just as good as the real thing these days. neural dsp i often avoid (though their bass amp/pedal sims are top notch) mainly because when i think of a tone in my head i already have the mic position i want, speaker/cab brand, and amp brand in my mind. so i wanna be able to reach for that no compromises.
First thing i did when going over to amp sims is pick an impulse response that sounded great and was pretty neutral tone wise and stuck with it!!!!
As a father of four, I could play with this stuff all day long…but don’t. I play a Stomp with a few pedals, and use one patch 95% of the time. Every time I hear it when I play, or listen to something I recorded. I love it! It is MY sound. The ability to hear something I created recorded, never gets old to me. Andy Wallace said that every time he hears a song he mixed on the radio, he loves it. Done, is better than perfect.
Great vid! Thanks!
A while back I realized I only ever use about ten guitar tones or so. I’ve intentionally pared down my library to the best tools that let me get those sounds quickly. If I need something weird, I’ll go grab it, but having a writing template that I don’t touch until mix has helped me a ton. For me, writing and producing need to be two separate tasks. Great editing on this, btw.
Thanks for saying so! I agree with you, writing and production need to be separate processes. It’s so easy to do everything at once in the computer these days that now I’m doing 90% of my writing acoustically before I even turn on my computer.
I relate to some extent but what helps me feel better is I will pull up the isolated guitar track of a song from a band I like, and I quickly realize if I got that EXACT tone with an Amp plugin something would still feel like it wasn't good enough because I, and many people get to "Stuck in their own head"
That forever need to "Just tweak a little more"
When in reality a good song is a good song, and while you don't want a shitty tone, its not worth killing yourself over getting it "Perfect"
A great tone thats not "perfect" will often sound right with the song and grow on you over time.
This is fantastic. We'll thought out, shot, and edited. I'm definitely guilty of getting distracted by tone dialing when I'm supposed to be writing. My solution is to use a generic preset on my QC while i tab and arrange everything out in guitar pro to keep things basic and kinda bad sounding because it forces me to focus on making the riffs good. If it sound good in gp, I know it'll sound good in my DAW.
incredible video, editing and everything, you know how to surface the emotions that come with all this useless time finding the perfect tone
Thank you for watching!
I went through it with design resources. Today I simplify my work to the maximum and my results have improved a lot. The question that remains is: In the midst of this ocean of possibilities, what is the simulator that saves us time to achieve a sound that is closer to perfect from the point of view that there is not much more to create about timbres of certain musical styles? That is, simulators that deliver something more ready for recording?
2:15 “Life will find a way of reminding you that your time, is not infinite. Oh well, there’s always next weekend but didn’t you say that, last weekend?” Epic!
I haven't personally had this issue. I usually just dial in a tone and go.
I personally find restrictions really helpful and I like when there are just a couple options that are all powerful. Like on guitar pedals. I think 3-4 parameters is perfect. I hate pedals with like 7 nobs
The problem with all these amp sims is that they are all getting super close to cloning a tube amp sound, but it's the same amp. A JCM800 through a V30 - or a modded JCM800 style circuit with more gain - all with a tube screamer up front to rip out all the low end. The dream of modelling is not to have 1000 versions of the same sound, it's to have 100 different sounding amps without having to buy and store them all. Props to all the companies making their own unique tones or modelling all the weird and rare amps out there.
I'm a professional musician. I started off using Bias FX for iPhone and have used iOS apps pretty much the whole time. I started doing music full time three years ago, and officially just got my first four figure paycheck from a tour with Rollo Tomassi, the Callous Daoboys, and Pound. Now I'm researching amp modeling options for a potential tour with Cordyceps in October as a guitarist.
I'm new to this, but I have discovered a truth many professionals also realize too. Just do the damn thing. The Audience really only care about the song. I started doing open mics, and now I'm traveling the world. JUST. DO. THE. DAMN. THING.
just dew the damn thing
PS: I ended up getting a Quad Cortex
There’s another side to this coin… The search for tone is an integral part of the musicians journey. As our skills grow and we gain more experience, so do our sonic needs and taste develop. The sandboxes that are modern amp sims provide a much needed playground for us to explore and develop are taste to find what we’re looking for with our sonic pallet. Everyone has “that tone” in mind that they’re striving for, a cross of many of their favorite artists synthesized to absolute perfection. As these products become more and more commercial some company’s have afforded us great insight into our favorite artists tones and rigs, and I can say that being able to play through these rigs has lead to many moments of great inspiration. I could go on and on about the benefits of modern amp sims, but that’s a topic for another video… maybe some day I’ll make it ;)
Well said! Living in a state of gratitude with options to have rigs that only the rich and famous could afford.
Spent way too much time and money trying to acquire and setup gear that wasn’t practical in countless ways.
It’s almost hard to watch a guitarist spending over an hour setting up for a 2 hour gig and another hour taking it down. Even worse when they fumble around in the dark to make tweaks for another song.
Almost like the days when people use to say automobiles weren’t worth the hassle when you have a good horse in the barn..
I spent two days upon getting my first guitar in amp sims, trying to find a tone that I'd like to learn with. After two days, I found that just acoustic sim in default settings was the best and just locked in and went with that.
Great Video bro, it was me many years ago. Specially dealing with Impulse Responses until i really got tired of exploring unlimited effects and sounds that now days those plugin give us, and i bought a HUGHES KETTNER TUBEMEISTER 20 that can be connected direct to my audio interface and know that is my basic sound, i dont deal more with so much options and i just play the guitar now. So you really reminded me a lot of those old days moving digital knobs and the next day looking for a better sound that never came.
Yeah, I agree, this search of perfect tone is quite addictive and it’s hard to completely avoid it even when you sit down to do something completely different (e.g. compose and record demos). I get by with a free app on the iPad and haven’t bought any add-ons to it precisely for the reason you mention. At the same time, all of it comes down to wanting something more than anything else (e.g. compose and record demos) and discipline. I mean, girls, parties, video games can all be an even stronger distraction than amp plug ins, but when you’re really fixed on getting that demo done even they can’t get in the way.
I stopped dialing in tone before I record and now I wait until I start mixing. I get it where I can use it to track, and then I start tweaking after I have my DI tracks solid. Plus, the tone I end up with in a mix usually doesn’t sound awesome by itself. Tones I have dialed in to be killer on the standalone app end up getting redone completely once I start to mix a track.
Amen Bro.. my favorite sims are the ones with the most mix ready presets ..
Great video and solid points! I like to keep things simple as well!
A couple observations from someone who uses DAWs to make loose folky rock pop, essentially functioning as, and also emulating, the fabled rooms of instruments and devices and wires.
1. Making your own presets for a project, just a few, with a sense of mission about it, is huge for me. Put something in the room and leave it there, that's what the player gets, lump it (or tweak it obviously, i am being glib to make a point). Here are your amps. This is the primary vocal mic we have. These are the two organ sounds we will be using, and over there is the wurlitzer and ONE good synthesizer that fits the project. These are the drums we will be using.
2. Drier is better, almost always. Presets sell themselves to you with their juicy wide bigness, or their super attenuated hyper specific notching, or their amazing rhythmic squiggles. Every bit of that is going to hem your arranging and playing creativity in UNLESS they are a featured choice for a section, a very specific highlighted effect. In building a groove, dry and small elements are almost always going to take you further, for overlapping reasons. They leave room for other sounds and ideas. They allow scope for juicing them up later if need be. They nudge the arranger or producer into selecting source sounds which are inherently pleasing or persuasively organic. They therefore tend to read to the casual listener as more authentic and more human. Reverb and other effects phase and compete with each other, if you are not an historic genius, you are probably better off mixing a drier thing on the end.
3. Don't quantize anything you don't have to, and notice how bands actually work. The drums are pretty much always semi-microscopically ahead of everyone else, and everyone else is not the same amount ahead. That is not "wrong," it is performance in the real world. I use a grid, usually, but i have done effective DAW based rock by recording an acoustic guitar part of the whole song with no click, no grid, then playing other parts to that, drums from pads or keys with no or limited quantization, etc etc, and it was revelatory for me, because it made me wake up all over performatively, it made absolutely everyone i played it for ask where the band was recorded, and it kinda showed me a lot of assumptions i had about DAWs and how to use them. I don't NOT use grids, and i do quantize, but I think i learned a healthy wariness of all of those tools mediating performance.
4. I have noticed over time that the projects I have done that rely least on prefab tools and presets and effects (that is to say effects as noticeable effects rather than mixing tools), and most on playing and performance and instrument sound and groove and feel... these are the ones i still like, these are the ones most listeners prefer, these are the ones that start conversations instead of end them, figuratively speaking.
All very pompous, apologies for being an old person who grew up when people wrote letters lol.
edit: "everyone else is not the same amount behind"
Great comment, I think this explains it pretty much, why old recordings most the time sound much better than most of the new stuff, it's more about the songwriting and not over producing a song.
I got your point, I've got a similar experience with the neural dsp plugins. One thing bugs me though is that I also get as distracted by using an effect processor like Line 6 Helix, because it also has these "seemingly endless" possibilities. But yeah, this could arise from plenty other tone generators as well as the amp sim, it's up to self control to get to like a tone and use it to record.
This is a very good point about too many options. I feel like a person should spend a little time dialing in exactly what they like but be ready to commit to a sound/tone. That’s why it’s important to print down your guitar tracks after you record them instead of leaving that option open to keep making changes later on.
Very good points.
I want to dive into the amp sim world, I dipped my toe in with the gojira archetype and I loved it but I’m also someone who gets so overwhelmed by the options and also I have no idea what even a quarter of the shit in there is! So that’s part of my problem too. Thank you for included the simple amp sim! Awesome video!