Amp In Room

[titchyblackcat]

Hi

I'm recording at Home using Cubase

I'm struggling adding a guitar to an upfront mix.

Having gone through different presets I'm thinking it's the Helix sounding as if the amp is too far back.

It sounds like an amp is further back than the drums and bass.

Can anyone recommend IR's to get this Amp In Room sound ?

I've seen different ones on the internet but am not sure which would work

 

[DunedinDragon]

You can't get an amp in the room sound because that requires a physical amp in a physical room.  Once you mic an amp cabinet it becomes a recorded sound which is what is always the case in recordings.  IR's, by definition are cabinet recordings.  Generally something sounding further back in the room will be related to things like reverb or delays or an early reflections setting that's too high, but it could also simply be that you need more presence and "bigness" to the sound which suggests you may want to add some compression.

[titchyblackcat]

Thanks I'll try that.

I'm also trying to find this : Chad Boston released a free ir for the "amp in room",

Which i saw on the Gearpage web site but can't find the actual download.

 

[datacommando]

On 8/22/2023 at 11:08 AM, titchyblackcat said:

Thanks I'll try that.

I'm also trying to find this : Chad Boston released a free ir for the "amp in room",

Which i saw on the Gearpage web site but can't find the actual download.

 

You can never get the “amp in the room” sound without having a physical amp in a real room, cranked enough to flap you trousers when you stand in front of it. Stick a mic in front and record that and it will sound different on playback.

 

You’re dealing with a fully produced audio signal in Cubase, or any other DAW. It’s more to do with how you balance and mix the various audio tracks in your composition.

 

As for Mr. Boston - he has his own Helix group on Facebook - find it here:

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/428105950706417/search/?q=chad boston

The only freebie I could find from him on there was a preset and IR claiming no mic or speaker colouration, as per Tom Sholtz Boston tone. In another post Chad says, why waste your life trawling through thousands of IRs, when It is a lot easier and quicker to learn how to use the cabinets in your Helix. 
 

You would be better off learning recording and mixing techniques, rather that seeking the Holy Grail IR, that doesn’t exist (the unicorns stole it!).

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

[DunedinDragon]

Not to dissuade you from finding that IR, but you're likely to lose a TON of flexibility using an IR unless that person created a bunch of different IRs with different mic's in different positions.  What you're trying to do isn't anything unusual and most of us can get a decent guitar recording just using the stock cabs in Helix and knowing how to set them up to get the sound we want.  It's really not that hard.

[codamedia]

On 8/22/2023 at 2:37 AM, titchyblackcat said:

Having gone through different presets I'm thinking it's the Helix sounding as if the amp is too far back.

 

I think your problem is more about recording/engineering that it is about the helix. Any instrument can be placed forward or backward in a mix... up front and immediate or distant/ambient & everything in between. 

 

The only time you cannot get something up front is if the tone captured is already far too wet... if you are only playing with stock presets, that is a possibility.  That's not a helix problem, it's a preset problem. You need to roll your own tones, just as you would with a pedal board and amp. 

[somebodyelse]

My gut reaction is 'turn the reverb down/off' on the guitar.

 

Record the guitar either without reverb or with a subtle room reverb - just enough that you can hardly hear it in the preset.

 

As far as using reverb in the track goes, that comes under 'learning to be a sound engineer'.

[titchyblackcat]

Thanks All for the comments, I'll try and take all this on board and get tweaking.

[soundog]

Study this thread from those wacky pre-COVID years for many more fun-filled tips and pieces of advice:

 

 

[craiganderton]

When I want a super in-your-face sound, I often emulate a cab using EQ. Then you essentially have a cab that's NOT in a room, and no mic placement that can sometimes sound "boxy." Then if you want to place the amp in a soundstage, you can add a time-based processor like delay or reverb, or a convolution reverb.

 

Cubase's Frequency 2 EQ is a great EQ that has more than enough stages to create cool cab sounds. Here's a link with images of four cab EQ curves I created with Studio One's EQ, but a curve is a curve - they translate to Frequency 2 well. Bear in mind that even slight EQ differences can make a big difference in the sound. That can sometimes make it more of a challenge to dial in the sound you want, but it also means you can really get into detailed customization. 

 

If you have The Big Book of Helix Tips & Tricks, Chapter 6 has a section on how to create EQ-based cabs. Also, the Free Files folder has 35 .hlx presets for EQ-based cab sounds. Some of the multiband amp presets also include EQ-based cabs. 

[titchyblackcat]

Thanks Craig

I'll have a look at those, i think boxy sums up what I'm hearing.