Question about recording - wet or dry?

[astueger]

Hi there!

I have a question for all the people who use their Helix for recording. I have a Helix Rack, bought it mainly for recording in my small bedroom studio. My DAW is Reaper and I own a ton of VST instrunemts and plugins.

But back to guitar. I have created a lot of presets on my Helix, some with many FX, like Delay, Reverb, Chorus and so on.

When you record a guitar track, do you record it with all the FX from the Helix, or do you record the dry Amp/Cab tone and add FX later in your DAW?

I know, both has its pros and cons, just want to hear your opnion about this topic:

Thank you!

[rd2rk]

Record both, to separate tracks. USB 1/2 for wet, USB 7/8 for dry. Then do whatever you like with the dry track. Duplicate it multiple times, add several of your "ton of VST instruments and plugins" and mix'n'match in your final mix. Get Native and upload your Helix presets, try several. Try them ALL!

 

You have the POWER! USE IT!

[datacommando]

On 8/29/2023 at 8:00 PM, astueger said:

Hi there!

I have a question for all the people who use their Helix for recording. I have a Helix Rack, bought it mainly for recording in my small bedroom studio. My DAW is Reaper and I own a ton of VST instrunemts and plugins.

But back to guitar. I have created a lot of presets on my Helix, some with many FX, like Delay, Reverb, Chorus and so on.

When you record a guitar track, do you record it with all the FX from the Helix, or do you record the dry Amp/Cab tone and add FX later in your DAW?

I know, both has its pros and cons, just want to hear your opnion about this topic:

Thank you!

Hi,

 

For me the best approach is to record a stereo fully processed guitar track via USB 1&2, along with a completely dry DI mono track ON USB 7. This set up allow me to change my mind about the configuration of effects in the signal chain including amps, cabs and mics. The Direct Injected audio signal can be sent back out through your Rack, and by using another preset, you can record another version of the audio (re-amping).

This is even easier for me, because I also have Helix Native installed as a plug-in inside Logic Pro. All of my Helix Floor preset can be loaded into Native and processed in the DAW. This is the most flexible option for me.

 

As an owner of a Helix Rack you should be eligible for a discount price on Helix Native.

 

Hope this helps makes sense.

 

Here’s a video of the very basics of the advantages of “re-amping” with the hardware.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[theElevators]

I record with my stage presets, they contain reverb and delay.  They are not too washy.  I know you can record things separately, re-amp dry signal, etc... I tried all of it and realized I don't need to do it, because my sounds are already good enough.  If needed, I'll add EQ in post-production, reverb/delay/panning.

[SaschaFranck]

On 8/29/2023 at 9:00 PM, astueger said:

When you record a guitar track, do you record it with all the FX from the Helix, or do you record the dry Amp/Cab tone and add FX later in your DAW?

 

The latter for me. Always (regardless whether it's with the Helix or other tools). Ok, I usually record some modulation FX as well, because most often I like them in front of the dirt stages (or at least in front of the amp).
I sometimes monitor with some spatial FX (delay/reverb) within the Helix (or rather the HX Stomp by now, sold my Floor), but usually I just monitor the dry signal and add some 100% wet bits from the delay and reverb busses in Logic, which are running there anyway.

 

As far as reamping, using a DI guitar signal then sending it to HX Native or whatever, goes, I pretty much stopped doing that. Option paralysis. In case a take can't be adjusted to suit a mix using some standard EQing and such, it usually wasn't right to begin with and as a result I very likely also didn't play in an ideal way (as we always adjust our playing to suit the used sound) - and no reamping will help with the latter.

 

Recording a bone dry amp sound usually leaves enough room for tweaking. At least for me.

 

Fwiw, I still use reamping quite a bit, but that's rather to slap new sounds together without having to play while tweaking and still hearing everything in context.

[codamedia]

I'm kind of old school.... I commit my core tones when recording. EG: If the track calls for a tremolo guitar line... I track a tremolo guitar line. 

 

The only things I don't track are reverbs and delays (with the one exception of syncopated delays), and I always track mono. I like the give the engineer and/or producers room to do what they want for position, space and depth in a mix.

[SaschaFranck]

On 8/30/2023 at 1:29 PM, codamedia said:

I'm kind of old school.... I commit my core tones when recording. EG: If the track calls for a tremolo guitar line... I track a tremolo guitar line. 

 

The only things I don't track are reverbs and delays (with the one exception of syncopated delays), and I always track mono. I like the give the engineer and/or producers room to do what they want for position, space and depth in a mix.

 

As said above, pretty much the same here. It's a good idea to leave spatial FX out until mixing (and only add them for monitoring pleasure, which isn't an issue at all), unless they're an integral part of whatever sound. But even in that case I'd possibly try to get them done non-destructively in my DAW, it's just a whole lot easier to deal with dry guitars when cutting, punching, rearranging and what not.

 

And fwiw, ever since I "stepped back" (because I was tracking DI guitars only for quite some time), I got both more productive and quicker. Interestingly enough; even more so after I sold the Helix and went back to a hybrid system (analog dirt, dynamics and what not, digital amps). As I can't save patches that way anymore, this way of recording foces me to finish at least entire takes as there's no option for "ah, will do it tomorrow". This makes me concentrate on a single track a lot more (rather than adding tons and tons of tracks vertically) as well. And I have to follow at least a certain time management, because as said, usually there's no "let's start this now and finish later" (unless I don't touch a thing, which is unlikely). At first, all these points seem to be limiting (which, technically, they obviously are), but still, these were the things re-speeding up my working progress.

[craiganderton]

Don't overlook Helix Native. If your computer is fast enough, you can record using the plug-in and monitor it in (well, almost) real time. On mixdown, I may replace some Helix blocks with other plugins. But the reverse is also true - Helix Native is a fantastic plugin for much more than guitar. Taking a vocal FX chain and substituting a Helix Native delay can be a thing of beauty.