BIAS FX in Reaper or any DAW

Moonrunner

Hi all.

I have always sruggled achieving a decent metal/rock guitar sound for recording. Admittedly, I am a novice with mixing, etc.

My question would be, how do you folks here organise your guitar sounds, for example, EQ, compression, etc.

I use Reaper as my DAW and wondered if it is best to EQ the guitars in Reaper before fx or do all the eq-ing in the fx, and in this case I am using BIAS FX. Also, would it be beneficial to do some post EQ in the DAW?

I also recently used an EZ Mix package - Metal Gods III (I think is), but still can't seem to manage to get a decent tone in the DAW along with the other instruments.

I hope my post makes sense.

Cheers all!!!

PolarityMan

I dont really like Bias Fx tbh, I get much better results with helix native, STL Will Putney or even amplitube 4.

PolarityMan

You should check out the free STL emmisary amp sim and the free le pou stuff and see if you get better results with those. 

equalsql

I tend to use amp sims like Bias as the first part in my FX chain on a channel thus mimicking the rear world chain that you would use if using a real amp and pedal board. 

If I'm using virtual pedal plugins before the sim, I tend towards a dynamics -> modulation ->OD-> Echo FX chain.

After the sim I use my console 1 SSL SL4000E plugin which I put on all channels. This gives me gating,compression, eq and channel-drive options. I then add other effects, like reverb, generally after if required. Sometimes I used effects before the console 1, but usually only if I need a bit of surgical eq or need an effect not present in the amp sim.

I suppose this is quite an old fashioned approach but it works for me.

Moonrunner

Thank you folks! I am really going to have to sit down and study this stuff. I don't really understand how things work. I think I need to figure out the basics, EQ, compression and so forth.

Thank you for the useful info with VSTs, Polarity!

Thank you for the info about setting things up, Equal! Hopefully, I will understand this soon!

PolarityMan

To go back to your original question though, I like my distorted guitar to be fairly good on their own without additioanl EQ. Typically the only processing I will have on distorted guitars after the amp/cab sim is a low cut to give some space for the bass and maybe notch out anything annoying on the high end. Been playing with a little bit of multiband compression on the high mids but basically its one instance of either pro-Q2 or pro-MB after the amp sim plugin and thats it.

Moonrunner

PolarityMan said:

To go back to your original question though, I like my distorted guitar to be fairly good on their own without additioanl EQ. Typically the only processing I will have on distorted guitars after the amp/cab sim is a low cut to give some space for the bass and maybe notch out anything annoying on the high end. Been playing with a little bit of multiband compression on the high mids but basically its one instance of either pro-Q2 or pro-MB after the amp sim plugin and thats it.

Yes, I'd like to get everything right in the sim/vst at first. So, I'm guessing all EQing should be done there and just cutting out the low frequencies on the guitar to allow for bass guitar in the mix. I have never been happy with my guitar sounds and they always seem to be 'muddy' or 'tinny'. 

Thank you for that, Polarity!

digitalscream

Moonrunner said:

Thank you folks! I am really going to have to sit down and study this stuff. I don't really understand how things work. I think I need to figure out the basics, EQ, compression and so forth.

Thank you for the useful info with VSTs, Polarity!

Thank you for the info about setting things up, Equal! Hopefully, I will understand this soon!

If you're just trying to get a good tone in isolation - ie you're not jumping in to mixing multiple instruments in a whole track - then you don't need to know anything about all of that.

Just learn your amp sim's capabilities, and pick some decent IRs (the blends in the free Ownhammer pack are great), and get a good tone there.

It's only once you've got that far that you should be messing with DAW EQ/compression/etc, and even then it's only to make the various instruments sit right together.

Basically...if you can't get a good tone with your sim on its own, no amount of futzing around in the DAW is going to help you.

Moonrunner

digitalscream said:

If you're just trying to get a good tone in isolation - ie you're not jumping in to mixing multiple instruments in a whole track - then you don't need to know anything about all of that.

Just learn your amp sim's capabilities, and pick some decent IRs (the blends in the free Ownhammer pack are great), and get a good tone there.

It's only once you've got that far that you should be messing with DAW EQ/compression/etc, and even then it's only to make the various instruments sit right together.

Basically...if you can't get a good tone with your sim on its own, no amount of futzing around in the DAW is going to help you.

I am kind of happy with the guitar tones in isolation. The guitars just sound thin or muddy  in relation to the other instruments in the mix. Sometimes double-tracking makes things sound better, but still not happy.

I kind of thought it would be up to the the person who mixes/masters to bring out the guitars, but also know that I need to put in the work for the sound before it gets to that stage. Basically, I am kind of happy with the fundamental guitar sounds, but they lack that ummph. If that makes any sense.

andy_k

I'd be interested in knowing what kid of tone you are after, and I'd suggest doing a bit of eq matching to a reference track.
Pull in a track you like the sound of, and use low and high pass to isolate the tones you like, make some notes and try and boost the frequencies you like in your own track, or cut if you prefer. Once you get used to the bands you like, you'll be able to dial it in more often.
I also prefer to use the free options listed above, tried Bias but thought it was too complicated for my needs.
IRs have a massive effect on tones, so sometimes its better to stick to a few limited options and work from there.
Obvs, YMMV.
cheers
andy k

Moonrunner

andy_k said:

I'd be interested in knowing what kid of tone you are after, and I'd suggest doing a bit of eq matching to a reference track.
Pull in a track you like the sound of, and use low and high pass to isolate the tones you like, make some notes and try and boost the frequencies you like in your own track, or cut if you prefer. Once you get used to the bands you like, you'll be able to dial it in more often.
I also prefer to use the free options listed above, tried Bias but thought it was too complicated for my needs.
IRs have a massive effect on tones, so sometimes its better to stick to a few limited options and work from there.
Obvs, YMMV.
cheers
andy k

Well, there are quite a few tones I am after really, from clean to distorted tones. Clean tones, I feel relatively happy with mixing. It's those bloody frquencies in distorted tones. Like anything else, I am going to have to practice. I think mixing and mastering is quite a long learning curve.

Thank you for the advice and info there, Andy! Much appreciated!

Branshen

Post up a track so we can have a listen! Hard to pinpoint what the issue is otherwise. you might have a great tone already!

Moonrunner

Branshen said:

Post up a track so we can have a listen! Hard to pinpoint what the issue is otherwise. you might have a great tone already!

Good idea! I'll post something up shortly! Cheers Branshen!