Recording guitar dry/wet

B

bjzdesign

New Member
Hi gang,

I just found this group, and this is my first post.

I have been reading about effect chains, and how once they are recorded, you get what you get. OK, so this is a no-brainer. The article continues to talk about recording guitar dry, but using input monitoring out, so the musician gets the effect without destroying the original.

I get the concept, and have recorded in professional studios where this same technique was used, but have no clue how to set it up correctly in Logic. All the articles I have read talk up a storm about it, but no one talks about the setup.

I am not using any amps, just my guitar through an I/O device into the computer.

If it helps, I am on a dual-core PPC running Leopard and Logic Studio Pro 8.

Your help and advice are most appreciated, and I look forward to contributing to the forums and the overall site as I gain knowledge.

Regards,
Bryan Z
 
Hi Bryan,

If you're using software monitoring, there's no need to make it complicated. Just set up your recording track to receive the input from your guitar. And then call up whatever plug ins you want on that track. You can then monitor the sound with the processing when the track is record enabled. You can record hearing the sound. But the actual signal being recorded is dry, and so then of course you can tweak or change the plug in setting slater when you are mixing.

There are other ways of doing it. For example using an aux object with the input set to your physical input receiving the guitar signal. By putting the plugins on the aux track you can still monitor the signal with the effects and record dry. Advantages are that you don't have to be record enabled to hear the processing and you can record on different audio tracks and get the same processing sound as you move from track to track to record on.
 
Thanks!

Hi Eli,

Thanks for the quick response.

I record mostly guitar, so I am familiar with setting up the track to receive input from my guitar, but your explanation has the plug-in on the same track as the guitar. I guess I am somewhat confused how that is recording a dry signal, when the plugin is being recorded as well.

Regards,
Bryan

P.S. Checked out your DVD's . . I may be picking up a couple after this.
 
If you insert a plug in on the audio track that you are recording on, you hear the processing when the track is record enabled. But it is recorded dry. When you play it back, by default you'll hear the effects because the plugins are on the track! I kinow it sounds like a leap of faith, but try this and you'll see it to be true.

* Set up an audio track with some guitar processign on it.
* Record a part and enjoy performing it with the effects.
* Hit stop, put the track in playback mode.
* Bypass the effects.
* You'll hear your dry unprocessed guitar playign back.

It's just the way Logic works :)
 
Eli,

It actually clicked about a half hour after your last post, and worked as you said it would.

Your advice is much appreciated.

Regards,
Bryan

P.S. Which one of your DVD's would you recommend for guitarists? Ironically, I purchased "Logic for Voiceovers" a couple of months ago, but never put the name to the title.

Thanks again for your help.
 
Hi Bryan,

Glad you got it sorted out. In terms of the videos, none are specifically aimed at guitar players. The EXS 24 videos are good if you really want to dig in to using it's routing parameters and creating your own instruments. (Although that just got a whole lot easier now with Logic 9!) The plug in videos are really good for covering all the general bases. And Doug covers a really nice potpourri of topics and workflows in his videos.
 
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