Guitar pedals vs studio fx for home recording & mixing

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So I've just started on the journey of analogue home recording using reel to reel tape (thanks @smithy :)and so far have been using my fx pedals to serve for compression, delay and reverb.  I use the pedals in line, as inserts and as sends.

It seems to be working well so far but some elements - particularly the £14 Mighty Sound compressor - could do with an upgrade.  I'm also a bit unsure of just how well my reverb (Polara) is behaving - it sounds great in the mix but has seemed a bit more trebly and hard to dial in at times when monitoring.

The Cali76 Compact Deluxe is very attractive in that it has *that* sound, but I'm not sure if I'll be better off with a proper line level studio comp.  It would be a no brainer to get a line level rack unit but they seem to be verrrrrry expensive by comparison in order to get that sexy studio tone.  The stereo ones that can go on a bus particularly so.  Up to now I've just left the bus compression until doing a quick mixdown to ableton where a VST can do the job.  I'd be better off doing everything "out of the box" but I'm not going to pay a grand to avoid 20 minutes of DAW time, so I think the stereo comps can wait for now.

Anyone have experience of the pedals vs studio fx paradigm for this kind of purpose?


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Comments

  • guitarfishbayguitarfishbay Frets: 7953
    edited March 2017
    Edit - misread original post

    My honest opinion is rather than spend thousands on outboard gear, use what you have/get plugins and spend the rest of the money on treating the room.  If your room is already as good as you can get it then sure look at hardware, but otherwise I'd personally leave hardware down the list until the room is sorted, the plugins can get a really good result.

    This is assuming getting the best mix is the priority, if you want to play with new gear then that's more fun than building/buying bass traps and measuring room acoustics
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  • mixolydmixolyd Frets: 826
    Edit - misread original post

    My honest opinion is rather than spend thousands on outboard gear, use what you have/get plugins and spend the rest of the money on treating the room.  If your room is already as good as you can get it then sure look at hardware, but otherwise I'd personally leave hardware down the list until the room is sorted, the plugins can get a really good result.

    This is assuming getting the best mix is the priority, if you want to play with new gear then that's more fun than building/buying bass traps and measuring room acoustics

    Interesting, I hadn't thought much about room treatment.  My home is in a state of disrepair so I'm recording in a borrowed space where sticking traps or panels on the walls isn't a option, but I could get myself an acoustic shield for recording vocals and hang up a duvet or suchlike.  Recording acoustic guitar has been full of troublesome bass frequencies so far, so that may be the way forward.





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  • spark240spark240 Frets: 2073
    Room treatment is top of the list, even if it's makeshift !

    maybe try a cheap behringer 4 ch rack compressor, in fact I may have something kicking around if its of interest .


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  • StuckfastStuckfast Frets: 2394
     Recording acoustic guitar has been full of troublesome bass frequencies so far, so that may be the way forward.





    That suggests to me that you are either miking too close, or in front of the soundhole. Acoustic guitars are not naturally bassy things and if you mic them from a couple of feet away you should get a balanced sound -- but in a crappy room it'll pick up a lot of crappy room too.
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  • mixolydmixolyd Frets: 826
    Stuckfast said:
     Recording acoustic guitar has been full of troublesome bass frequencies so far, so that may be the way forward.





    That suggests to me that you are either miking too close, or in front of the soundhole. Acoustic guitars are not naturally bassy things and if you mic them from a couple of feet away you should get a balanced sound -- but in a crappy room it'll pick up a lot of crappy room too.
    Yes I just mic' it randomly first time out, the next step is to try different positions.  This is a very woofy acoustic though: a huge jumbo that I need to get rid of at some point for a more balanced instrument.
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  • mixolydmixolyd Frets: 826
    spark240 said:

    maybe try a cheap behringer 4 ch rack compressor, in fact I may have something kicking around if its of interest .
    I think I'll go for something that's a bit more of a step up if it's going to take up a bunch of space.  I was pretty fussy about compressors back in the day when I played live so I still have an ear for nice compression!
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