Damn! That whole “just drop the recorded track down to the next one”. That’s just one of those, fuck me why didn’t I think of that, it’s so simple, moments. Thanks Scott!
WHAAAAT! Input on the interface to 0! Dude! I was getting so much noise from my Neural DSP and STL tones plugins I thought it was from my apartment electricity or my guitars. I took my Strat in to get the electronics checked. I always set the input so it was in the yellow but not clipping :P. That was the best tip I've ever gotten for recording ITB guitars. My tone changed soooo much.
I use FL and tried using one instance of amp sim then dragged the audio to the channel I wanted it on and then when I played it back it was just the DI This laying like the amp sim was on the channel and not the recording itself, is that normal
If only this tutorial were around when I started. Straight to the point and very good explained without any "flex-terms". Eveen if i already know this stuff I watched the entire video : Good job
Wow literally the best video ever! Please please do drums and routings, recommendations for plugins, and anything else to help ppl out love your content I have subbed
Scott... This is a real game-changer. Something so fundamental, explained so clearly, is a godsend. I had always been cranking the input gain on my Axe IO and had never been happy with the sound. I even wondered if the interface was faulty. Quick sound test last night and suddenly the sound has superb clarity and definition. Now all I need is to learn to actually play the guitar... 😉 Great job!!!
Thank you for assuring me that I have been recording in a proper manner. The spreadsheet is going to be useful. Hertz drums are 100% the best going on. The ease of use with the beats makes for quick inspiration in the writing process. I would like to see them offer more midi packs in the future. I would purchase every one of them.
More MIDI packs are ont he way. It takes Slawek a while because he legitimately goes in manually to make sure everything is good to go. Same with the new packs!
Dude are you kidding me? I wish i had that guide back then when i was starting to record my guitar stuff. I just had no idea and that is a solid guide for anybody who's starting out! Great video dude! Great work! Staying strong on the educational part of making music! You're the best!
Another vid from Scott, another worthy watch all the way through. Going to try these tips out tonight. Thanks yet again. And nerve damage...man I feel your pain there🤬
As always, I love your videos, especially like this where you play guitar and build a song. I would rather spend my time recording riffs and writing than editing and making a studio recording. Great video.
I hope every beginner and intermediate could see this video, before debate tone, crazy high frequencies and BS. Amazing dude. This is how to do it. NOTE: I just wonder why this information about 0+ gain on the interface just came out after one random guy did tests and videos explaining it, cause I remember, when I was learning the standard was "when see the red line in interface, go back". Is kind of new this information about the knob.
It's a chug-machine, man. One of the first plugins I made presets for. If you pick them up, let me know what you think of them when you aren't beating your meat on that Savage Bell Brass, Dex!
Dude, thanks so much! If you have some time later, would you be able to leave a review on the website about what you liked best about the pack? Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks man!!!
Hey Scott! Great tip there! About the input volume going to 0. I’ve heard more people talk about it, but I don’t know “why I should do it”? Less noise? I heard that it should be done with high-z impedance/instrument button engaged.?? I usually use a DI box from the guitar to the interface…should I also use 0 input level?. Cheers man! Love your stuff💪🏻
Maybe another tip, create a 3rd track in the group, leave it in the middle (panning wise) and leave the monitor button (in cubase) on. That way you'll only need to press record on one of the 2 tracks you want to record.
You have got to be fuckin kidding me with step #03 and gain staging.. I've had to restart projects/sessions because my kids or animals walk past my interface and screw with my knobs and settings. I'm definitely trying this later. Great video!!
We did it wrong for years, this came to light recently and it takes a lot of the guesswork out of it... so that dude who put the spreadsheet together is owed many, many beers!
Awesome explanation, the only detail , i work with quad tracking and i would not recommend on cubase to drag what you recorded to record on the same track line , because you will have the mention left or right on the wrong place , can be disturbing if instead of left you have recorded track with right written and you don’t know anymore what is what and were it belong.
In this case, I would create 4 tracks and two groups. Of course if you have a certain composition with harmonies that you want in a certain location, you'll have to keeep that in mind haha
@@ChernobylAudio666 what i do is : two time 2 tracks left/right with a group bus , all the plugins are in the group bus , with neural dsp for example you have a stereo mode , like this you spare CPU , 4 Tracks divided in 2 group bus with 2 different Amp sims or the same Amp sim with different IR , like you explain it so well in your Guitar Tone Mastery Course and the One Hour Workshop from last year! 🤘🏻
Thanks for the concise video, but Im a bit confused by the input gain step. Im setting the input gain on my SSL 2+ at 0 gain, (hi-Z on or off, some difference but not resolving the issue), and the input on neural DSP plugins at 2.8, as described by the table. The problem is, that my guitar seems to sound too wimpy, the meter on my channel averages at -22dB, and the waveform of the recorded track isn't nearly as big as the one showing on your DAW. Am I doing something wrong?
(TLDR: 03APR24, 0952: I should get my guitar professionally setup, and spend more time working on my picking technique (An appreciable "Git Gud"), as that is likely why Scott's DI's look so good.) Incredibly helpful, Scott. Thank you. I had seen sometime back that an adjustment to the input level (reduction) might be necessary for amp-sims, and had made this adjustment. In my case, it was for Neural DSP (Gojira), and the -1.0 input level recommendation at the time did make a difference (Read: Reduced some noise and weird distortion beyond what I wanted from the sim). Never was it mentioned that the input level (gain) at the interface ought to be zeroed out. This adjustment has made a noticeable difference in how my input-signal interacts with amp-sims. Far less noise, and a much better tone out of the gate. Step #5 is breaking my brain. Not because what you've said is impossible to follow, or is wrong, rather... I think I need to do some tinkering as my waveforms are nowhere near as nice as yours. I have an Axe I/O interface, and I love it, but... I think something might be wrong with my settings, or I am just nuking (overthinking). They aren't clipping anywhere, but against yours, they're peaking hard. If I reduce the volume knob on my guitar incrementally, it will tame the wave form, but now we have a different issue. If I place a DI box in-front of the interface at input-1, it does reduce the input signal enough to have a smaller, more defined waveform, but introduces other issues. I would hate to think that the Axe I/O isn't natively appropriate for guitar DI / tracking, as that is it's primary selling point... It has, so far, been a tremendously useful interface; At least having come from a PreSonus Audiobox96, that is. I do two things with my Axe I/O for guitar (Other than utilizing the rear XLR inputs for mics / midi). Perhaps this will be food-for-thought for any other Axe I/O user. a. Jackson JS32T (SD BW pickups) > Mogami Gold TS Cable > Input-1 (monitored / recorded as mono 1). - Input-1 is a Hi-Z input with an adjustable impedance system (Z-Tone). I typically leave this at the 10 o'clock position = "slightly warmer than default". - "Passive" for the pickup type switch, and "Pure" for the transistor switch; The other option is JFET, which will add some "tube like warmth" to the input signal - Note: If I use the "Active" switch setting, it will result in a marginally better waveform, but it has a tendency to subdue / mute the tone in a way I do not appreciate. b. The Axe I/O has the ability to Re-Amp natively, and so features a jack at the far right side of the front-face for this purpose. - "Amp Out" > Ernie Ball P06076 TS Cable > Lichtlaerm Gehenna Pedal > Ernie Ball P06076 TS Cable > Input-2 (monitored / recorded as mono 2). - In either case of using input-1, or input-2 for this, the Axe I/O will transmit the input signal from input-1 to the "Amp Out", allowing me to observe the awesome abilities of the Gehenna; So long as you have the setting enabled in the Axe I/O Control Panel that allows transmission of Input-1 to other sources via "Amp Out". I use (b) to record the second guitar, or lead parts, for my project; Differentiating IR's and such as well. Incidentals. - Buffer 128 / 44100hz = sub 4ms latency = no audible issues in direct monitoring or recording. - Jackson JS32T = Seymour Duncan Black Winter bridge and neck pickups w/ Mad Hatter "Terminator" series 3-way switch + tone / volume knobs (I can get into the weeds about the pots and what not if needed) - No other pre-amping on the direct signal beyond the Z-Tone control on the interface. Otherwise, everything else is depending on what I am doing; E.G. two guitars = L/R Tracks w/o inserts > Group Track w/ inserts x2 (for each) or each track has it's own set of inserts (For the technical-minded 5800x3D CPU, 32gbs of DDR4-3200 RAM (CAS 16), and a 970 EVO M.2 Drive = no perceptible issues for processing with individual tracks having their own insert sets). I didn't have an apparent issue with clipping prior to the interface gain change, as I spent a fair amount of time dialing it in according to what was at the time "the best way". Gain is controllable, and noise-floors are tamed by Denoiser / Busfri if necessary. Everything seems to be alright, but I can't get over the difference in waveform appearance; Mind, I am using Cubase. I am viewing the track the same way Scott is in this video. If I double-click the recording to observe it in the lower-most console, it shows a nice waveform, but it does not look good in the track as we observe with Scott... Am I driving myself nuts over minutia? If I go by the "use / trust your ears" for recording, then - in my unprofessional opinion - I would say my DI's are fine, as running them with a clean signal they sound good; Much like I'm playing my acoustic guitar with appreciable clarity. If I go with what I like to do (INTJ) and nuke-the-piss out of everything, then I want to get my waveforms to appear as controlled as yours (Scott's)... Am, I just being a fool? I'll laugh hard if it's something as simple as "Sorry bud, your Mogami cable is trash", but, the same thing happens even when recording through (b) directly with a different cable as the primary. Or, "Dude, you're looking at the track / console wrong. Fix your eyes, dude". It's a uniform issue across all inputs; Typing this makes me wince, as it will suck if it's the interface that is bad. I'm sorry, everyone, that this is a potentially incoherent novel, I'm just hell-bent on figuring this out, and would appreciate anyone's input, really; Especially any fellow Axe I/O users! Happy to share files if necessary. Again, thank you, Scott!
The reason his di looks so beautifull is his his guitar is setup corectly, ie intonation string height that sort of thing and his right hand technique is perfect
@@Durkhead The part I forgot in my novel: My guitar hasn't been professionally setup, and my technique while not bad, is likely nowhere near the quality of his. That makes perfect sense in hind-sight. It will please me if it's as simple as "Get your guitar setup right" and "Fix your skill-issue".
Hey man, I've never tried an Axe FX before, however, if you're signal is still clipping then it means you're pushing a lot of level yet into the DAW. I'd probably try to factory reset all the inputs and stuff just to make sure nothing has beeen accidentally tweaked over the years. I'm really sorry to be a useless dork about this, I've just never tried an Axe FX and have no experience with that. However, I would be curious to see screenshots of your waveforms with and without the DI box in front of your input. Would you be able to email those to me? --> scott(at)chernobylaudio(dot)com
@@ChernobylAudio666 Scott, while I appreciate the sentiment, you're far from useless. I look to your videos more than anyone else for these things; You've given me a lot of "No shit", "Duh" moments, and I appreciate that. Once I am off work, I'll spend time getting you what you've asked for, no problem. Thank you for taking interest.
@@ChernobylAudio666 Scott, I'm pleased to inform you that I am just stupid. I had the waveform zoom scroll in Cubase maxed out and didn't realize it. This was showing the waveform crazy huge, causing me to feel that I had something wrong in my setup; I can't ever recall a time recently that I'd touched that. Anyway. Setting it to where you have it in your video - as you're using Cubase - I suddenly have waveforms that look just like yours. Imagine that. I thought I was going crazy. The track was showing this blown out waveform, but the editor was showing me nice waveforms. Sorry for the massive post, and potential time-sink. I won't say it's for nothing, as someone with an Axe I/O might find something in it useful. Once more, thank you for taking an interest.
@@quentins2635 No, I am not recording on the monitor track. Its just sounding. The recording is armed on the actual tracks. Therefor I have no reaason to click around on monitoring buttons at any time.
If I have a HeadRush Core. What’s the best way to record that and set the levels right? Thank you so much for this video! You have a gift for explaining things concisely.
Hey man, yeah these things are a bit more tricky. If I understand right, checking the manual, looks like the Line input is +18dBu. This is the "Guitar In", right? I'm assuming this is going to your audio interface as well, which I'd probably set the levels based off the interface. I can't be sure as I never tried the HeadRush Core, sorry about that!
I've followed your instructions (+ the Audient customer support tutorial for setting up my Audient iD14 MkII), but I'm not getting any sound. The input's working fine, but I can't hear my track while I'm recording it or playing it. What should I do to solve it?
Hey Scott. I'm using an Audient sono interface and going into the hi-z input. On this interface it has an input and output volume for the hi-z. If I turn any of those down to zero then it doesn't record anything in my DAW. I've experimented a little with different settings but just can't figure it out on this interface. Any thoughts? Thanks.
Hey man! Checking out the specifications, looks like the DI Maximum Input Level is +4dBu when you set it to unity gain. Move the knob to unity gain, you'll have +4dBu. Then you can insert a trim plugin *before* the amp simulator to set it to +10dBu and then follow the recommendations for the iD44. (That's what I'd do)
Does anyone have an idea, if the spreadsheet is talking about setting the line level, or the instument level to 0? Like in Focusrite you have the ability to set the input "line" or "instument" and "line" has lower db.
Riff dependant. If I'm doing a lot of notey stuff like this I'll make sure my pick attack is in tune. If I'm doing a line of big open chords, I'll tune for sustain. Good question!
Hey man, glad the video was helpful! As for reamping, it doesn't apply because you are going to plug into a real amp and from there you'll want to adhere to traditional input gain convention such as between -10dB to -6dB or so (because the microphone is recording the cabinet with speakers)
@@ChernobylAudio666 so in case of reamping I need to turn up the gain on the interface until my signal will be in -10db to -6db range? Did I understood correctly?
I'm using an M-Audio Mobile Pre (older interface). If I set its input to 0, the amp sim has nothing to output. Am I missing something here? The interface's inputs are for Hi-Z instruments.
Hey there, yes. Insert two mono tracks, pan one track 100% to the left, then pan one track 100% to the right. Put both of those tracks into a group (or buss track or folder track if that is what your DAW calls it). The group track should be in stereo. Insert the amp simulator there and make sure you enable stereo processing. Should be golden from there! If not, let me know and I'll help!
@@ChernobylAudio666but if that’s on a rhythm Bus that’s stereo, won’t it go out to the master that’s also stereo? Isn’t that a no no? Stereo on rhythm to stereo on master buss?
If you're in a really old house with spotty electrical work, you won't have many options. One thing you can do is move around the room with your guitar, try facing different angles in the room to see if the noise calms down. Otherwise you're looking at things like Hummo to fix those electrical issues - or a DI box with ground lift switch.
Reamping would be totally different, since you're inputting into an amp amplifier. In this case you'll want to adhere to more traditional input level norms such as between -10dB to -6dB going into the DAW
Has anyone found any luck on finding input gain on interfaces not in the spreadsheet? Trying to find the 2nd gen 2i2 to set it up like how Scott recommends and having no luck, trying to scrub the manual to see if it is there.
Had a quick gander, looks like the Focusrite 2i2 Second generation as a maximum input volume dBu of +13 dBu with the instrument input. Looks like you'd be setting a Neural DSP plugin at +1.2. I think that 2i2 has a pad knob on it, so if you're still blowing out the signal, hit that pad knob to add more headroom. I referenced the info from this page: soundref.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Focusrite-Scarlett-2i2-2nd-Gen-specs.pdf
You'll want to engage the Instrument line in if you're using a TRS connection (in other words, not an XLR). Which Focusrite do you have? If you have the first edition, don't even try, there isn't enough headroom. You'll need a DI box to go infront of it.
@@ChernobylAudio666I have the 4i4 TRS but upon looking at some videos when recording guitar with the INST button alot of ppl on say to take it off the INST function bc it turns on a preamp which kinda makes it go into the red/clip… I’m probably just going to keep it off..
Hey man, looking at the specifications, with the knob at 0 and the pad turned off, looks like your dBu is -10, same as my Audient iD44! I found this information here where it says Input CH 2 Guitar: www.recordcase.de/media/pdf/a2/14/f7/Yamaha-AG06-Data-Sheet.pdf
Quick question. You state that all neural dsp plugins are -2.2. There is only one entry for the Id44 and neural dsp. I have the Id4 and it lists -0.2 Your use of all there is a bit confusing. Just checkingvthat Id4 should be -0.2
With the iD44 (my interface), the spreadsheet lists all Neural DSP plugins (with my interface of the iD44), the input should be -2.2. Since you hvae the iD4, you should have your input set at -0.2 for Neural DSP plugins \m/
What exactly is maximum input gain? I have a focusrite 2i2 3rd gen is setting the knob to 0 not enough? Also I’m using neural dsp plug ins and the spreadsheet says 0.3. I don’t see a minus sign on the excel sheet did you mean -0.3?
Hey man, have the input of where your guitar plugged into all the way down at 0, and for Neural DSP, yes, you want to add 0.3 with the input. So double click on the numbers there and just write 0.3. What this is doing, is setting up the signal correctly to go INTO the amp simulator so it acts as it should. For example, if your input is too high, you'll have overly saturated, undefine tones and in some case, won't even manage to get a clean signal at all into the amp. We were all told incorrect information for years, it's only recently come out that this is how we need to set our input volume.
Assuming you're going to use an actual amplifier that's running into a microphone and then into an XLR on your interface, that's different entirely as you're then inputting into the amp itself and the microphone is catching the sound and passing it into the DAW. You'd then adhere to more traditional methods of aiming for an input around -10dB or something as it goes into the DAW. This method here is speaking specifically for amp simulators. I suppose if you wanted to switch out to a different amp simulator later, you'd probably want to adjust the Input Gain of that amp simulator in order to play the DI properly.
@@ChernobylAudio666 thank you very much! so it’s the feature in studio one called (add bus to selected channels), but it’s not available to add it as a track, looks like it meant to be
Unfortunately, if you have complex arrangement, to which you need to recrod you guitar, it becomes a literal nightmare with buffer size, latency and CPU overload
Why? Record in sections. Record all of your Rhythm guitar parts, then your leads, then your harmonies, etc. If you're running low on CPU, bounce the guitar tones to WAV files or "freeze" them, which will save CPU.
@@ChernobylAudio666You would be right. I'm also half way through your drum programming course, which is all in Reaper. That's why I'm curious about the change. 🙂
@@czdot First, really hope Metal Drum Programming Mastery is helping you! Thanks for grabbing that \m/ I created MDPM in Reaper largely based on feedback from users at the time because I figured I'd be able to reach and help more people that way. I never really got any feedback after the fact if it mattered though? No idea :D
