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• guitar to mixer to PC.. what am i doing wrong

little guy just a good guesser Member Since: Oct 04, 2004		Oct 06, 2004 03:43 pm ok.. i have my strat plugging into my behringer UB802 mixer.. then to my PC. the problem i have is that my guitar sounds really dull. not crisp at all. i really don't want to have to put a mic infront of my guitar amp, but i want it to sound like it would out of the amp. would a DI box help me with this issue? keep in mind i don't want to use my guitar amp if at all possible. what should i do?
tonyd1970 The fat one always watches us. Member Since: Nov 08, 2002		Oct 06, 2004 03:54 pm are you going thru the pre-amp chanels on the mixer with your guitar? turn the gain up a little on the mixer and increase the high end and make sure youre aux stuff is off- how are you getting from the mixer to the pc (what cables, from what outs, to what in's) i use a zoom 505 with my electric to get amp sim sounds- do you have any powerd pedals you could push through?
little guy just a good guesser Member Since: Oct 04, 2004		Oct 06, 2004 04:04 pm well on my mixer i have 2 mic pre amps and to standard ins. as of right now i was running my guitar directly into the mixer by way of the standard in (no preamp) and then out of the mixer's main outs into my sound card. all my cables are 1/4" unbalanced. i have no problem picking up a DI box if it would solve the "muffled/dull" sound i'm getting. i do have a distortion pedal if that's what you are asking.... and thanks so much for replying.. this problem has been bugging me for sometime and thanks to this site i can now get questions answered.. WOOOO HOOOOOO!!!
Jason H. Jack of trades Master of none Member Since: May 28, 2004		Oct 06, 2004 04:15 pm Well I had my ESP into my mixer but I had a digitech distortion pedal in between. I tried recording a clean sound but it was muffled...Turns out I went into my mixer with just a straight cable, the clean sound came out nice...so the clean signal was hampered by the pedal. I plugged it into one of my channels that has a pre-amp, I juiced the gain and it seemed fine...althought I did get background hissing from the signal being sent at a high rate. I was just trying to figure out why it was muffled.
Edvo Member Since: Feb 18, 2004		Oct 07, 2004 01:58 am Dibox should be used if you plug your guitar to balanced XLR input of your mixer. You will get stronger and more full signal, but anyhow it will sound not very expressive. You can try to record this way and when process track with some amp/cab simulation plugin, Steinberg Warp is simple to try, look guitarfx.info/index_1.html And watch your meters before recording.
little guy just a good guesser Member Since: Oct 04, 2004		Oct 07, 2004 02:30 pm well thanks for all the help...
Noize2u Czar of Midi Administrator Since: Apr 04, 2002		Oct 09, 2004 10:47 pm Yep, the guitar pickups are not meant to go straight into a mixer at all. You defo need a DI or something of that nature to get it in at an audible, and good sounding level.
Fender Member Since: Mar 12, 2005		May 20, 2005 02:27 am MIC UR AMP !, I have a tele and a fender delux, awesome sound, also have a berhinger802a, to audigy sc. turn ur amp on to the sound u want, for me it's around 5 to 7, mic with sm57 about 1/2 foot away and to the side with the mic head pointing straight at the speaker, set ur levels at the mixer with attention to gain and level input. use a head phone to level the guitar sound. Hope this helps
whosyourdaddy00 Hold 'Em Czar Member Since: Dec 30, 2004		May 20, 2005 11:17 am yeah mic the thing up. definately worth it....or get a POD, or VAMP ect...recording your guitar that 'dry' is always gonna sound like azz, even if it's an expensive guitar.
BeerHunter Car Czar Member Since: Feb 07, 2005		May 20, 2005 11:20 am I guessing that active pickups would be the exception??? That's not to say that I wouldn't still mic the amp but I'm just curious. I still like splitting the signal so I can have 1 DI and 1 mic'd track but I use a RP50 inline for the DI.
whosyourdaddy00 Hold 'Em Czar Member Since: Dec 30, 2004		May 20, 2005 11:22 am ummm not really...just plugin' you guitar into a mic pre and recording that signal is gonna sound, well dull and lifeless...a guitar preamp/processor in line will help trmendusly. but i dont' think he's got one...so in this situation, miking the amp is the best viable solution.
BeerHunter Car Czar Member Since: Feb 07, 2005		May 20, 2005 11:26 am Good to know. I don't know much about active pickups. I would have thought that the battery would boost the gtr to line level.
whosyourdaddy00 Hold 'Em Czar Member Since: Dec 30, 2004		May 20, 2005 11:33 am yeah it'll boos the signal just fine, but the recorded signal will still sound "dry" and unpleasant.
BeerHunter Car Czar Member Since: Feb 07, 2005		May 20, 2005 11:43 am I was actually thinking of my electro-acoustic when I referred to active pickups (should have stated that). Anyways, its all clear now and ya, an electric guitar plugged directly into a mixer without any type of pre is going to suck. I do plug my bass directly into a PA without any pre and it sounds good but you have to really crank the gain. Thanks WYD
Tadpui I am not a crook's head Member Since: Mar 14, 2003		May 20, 2005 11:52 am Hey BeerHunter, try using a SansAmp direct box for your bass when you plug it into the PA...I hear that it sounds awesome. Heck, even a tube pre from ART or Behri would help in that situation (and for recording bass direct).
BeerHunter Car Czar Member Since: Feb 07, 2005		May 20, 2005 12:20 pm Tadpui, I looked up the SansAmp and it looks awesome. Bass direct into the PA is only a temp solution as our bass player is bringing his 800W head and cab over soon. This will present a new challenge no doubt. What will be the best way to capture the bass now? Should I mic it (I've never mic'd a bass cab before)or should I run it DI using something like a SansAmp? Or for that matter I guess I could do both. Does it make sense to mic it and DI into 2 separate tracks? I already do this with both the lead and rythym guitars. Does anyone have any tips on recording a bass cabinet? Will the cab have any character worth capturing? I probably should have started a new thread. Sorry for the highjack littleguy.
whosyourdaddy00 Hold 'Em Czar Member Since: Dec 30, 2004		May 20, 2005 12:32 pm i've had awsome experiance recording the bass, i went direct AND miked an amp, mixed those signals together (after fixing phase) the direct ahad more pick attack, and the amp was the warm round tone....blended quite nicely...i've heard of accually miking the electric bass itself for good slap tones.
BeerHunter Car Czar Member Since: Feb 07, 2005		May 20, 2005 12:41 pm "i've heard of accually miking the electric bass itself for good slap tones" This give me an idea. I have a couple of Shure wireless lavalier mics and I will mess around with the placement and I bet I could capture some great sounds with them. The mic itself is very small so I could place it in some very unusual spots. Thanks for the tip
Loki Cone Poker Member Since: Apr 07, 2002		May 21, 2005 03:31 am When playing guitar you have to take into consideration that the amp is part of the instrument, it adds to the sound... this is why different amps sound different. Always mic the amp is my advise.
whosyourdaddy00 Hold 'Em Czar Member Since: Dec 30, 2004		May 21, 2005 11:49 am good call loki, also the room itself can become part of the sound (crank up a bass amp in a small room and you'll experiance room resonence.
Tadpui I am not a crook's head Member Since: Mar 14, 2003		May 21, 2005 08:46 pm I don't think you have to apologize for hijacking a thread that's been dead for over 6 months, BeerHunter :-D I hear that a kick drum mic on the bass cabinet is the way to go. Mix in some direct signal and like Sugar Daddy says, it should blend into one nice tone.
whosyourdaddy00 Hold 'Em Czar Member Since: Dec 30, 2004		May 22, 2005 12:42 pm sugar?? lol ok
dB Masters HRC Czar Administrator Since: Apr 03, 2002		May 22, 2005 12:45 pm BeerHunter, I have active pickups in my ESP 5-string bass and have OFTEN recorded it completely direct, pluging it right into the mixer, from there running to the computer. It can get a very punchy, powerful sound. Passive pickups will not do that as well. Then I got the Bass POD xt...and well, haven't used anything else since.
Tadpui I am not a crook's head Member Since: Mar 14, 2003		May 22, 2005 01:04 pm hehe cmon, Sugar Daddy has a nice ring to it doesn't it? My good friend in college went by that name for a good year. Everybody on campus knew exactly who you were talking about when you said Sugar Daddy. Besides, whosyourdaddy00 is too long to type out frequently, and I never can get the letters in WYD straight. Plus it took me like a month to figure out who WYD was. :) anyways, so dB, do active bass pickups put out a line-level signal or something? It must be a much hotter signal than passives to be able to record direct w/no direct box. I had a shredder guitar years ago that had active pickups, but that was way before I knew anything about signal strengths.
dB Masters HRC Czar Administrator Since: Apr 03, 2002		May 22, 2005 01:11 pm I can't give you any technical details behind them, cuz I really don't know, but, I can tell you that the signal is hotter, and the "active" part is essentially a preamp IN the pickup...or that is how I understand it. My last two basses have had actives...I'll never have another bass without them.
Rigsby www.rigsbysmith.com Member Since: Nov 13, 2004		May 22, 2005 07:10 pm Yeah, that's my understanding too dB, and i get a pretty great sound from active bass pickups into my mixer too. Passive pick-ups though (which is the sound i actually prefer) you need a DI or preferably a DI and an amp, otherwise yeah, dull sound and a ton of noise to get a good level.
TallChap Answer:On a good day, lipstick. Member Since: Jun 24, 2004		May 23, 2005 12:18 pm If you have a choice, on recording bass, try a kick mic on the cabinet, and mix it with a signal through a DI. Amazing tone. Had a sound guy I worked with (about a million years ago, it now seems...) who would always use an old D12 (the big old silver thing, not the new bullet shaped D112) mic on my cabinets. Unreal sound. That was with an Orange Matamp, and an Ampeg 8x10, so it sounded prety cool anyway... However, DI + Kick Mic = Big Sounding Bass
whosyourdaddy00 Hold 'Em Czar Member Since: Dec 30, 2004		May 23, 2005 12:26 pm HA! di + D112 on an ampeg 8x10 cab (svt head) is exactly what you'll hear in my profile.
TallChap Answer:On a good day, lipstick. Member Since: Jun 24, 2004		May 23, 2005 06:07 pm Nice one WYD. I love bass with guts. Of course, we didn't have those new-fangled D-112's in those days.....(gah! Geezer alert). My Tech-21 SanAmp Bass Driver DI is still a favourite gizmo. The SVT emulation is top notch. Playing live in my garage isn't viable. I think the neighbours (new neighbours...I just bought the house) would be a bit upset with 8x10's hammering. Quinsiquontly, I've had to find the best quiet alternatives. Back to the guitar/mixer/daw thing... TUBEBABY Nice. I know Coco loves that JCM800 VST that's out there, but I really prefer this one. Freeware (my favourite). Clean channel is sparkling, and the gain is nasty if needed. Plus there's a little switch to send the pre-amp stage into high gain mode. Sweet. If you can't mic and amp, and don't have one of dem-dere POD/Vamp wotsits, this is the next best thing. Of course that's just my opinion, I'm probably wrong.

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