Your recording chain?

[Pete Martin]

Anyone care to share their recording chains? I am especially interested for non pedal players but am interested in pedal players as well!

If possible could you state in your answer if you play pedal or non pedal? Thanks!

[Paul Seager]

I only record at home, mostly sketching ideas or arrangements for my band-mates. I use a Zoom R8 "portastudio".

For acoustic instruments (dobro, acoustic guitar, upright bass) I use an SM57, straight to the R8. I'll add any effects post recording.

For electric instruments (lap-, console- or pedal-steel) I use the SM58 in front of the amp. Most effects will between guitar and amp.

I recently acquired a Tonemaster Twin Reverb which has a DI-out with speaker emulation and I think that will be my electric solution going forward.

Electric bass gets plugged directly into the R8.

To reiterate, I'm not making an album, just ideas so my preference is to get things done with minimal fuss!

[Slim Heilpern]

In my project studio, I have a very simple input chain as I do all effects, amp sim, etc... inside my DAW. I do it this way because I prefer to shape the sound at the mixing stage to best fit it into the mix. I might take a different approach if I didn't trust the audio engineer to make it sound good, but since I'm the audio engineer...

My recording chain:

Pedal Steel (Alumitone pickup) > Telonics VP > BBE DI > MOTU 8pre-ES > Cubase Pro DAW

As for pedal vs. non pedal, when I record my lap steel, I do it the same way.

I've been super happy with this setup, produces a super clean track that I can then play around with using a wide variety of plugins.

- Slim

[Pete Martin]

Thanks so much Paul and Slim.

Anyone else???

[John Macy]

My studio rig is into a Sarno V8 and line into the interface

My travel rig is a Furlong Sesh 400 line into the interface.

[Bob Hoffnar]

I experiment a lot. I generally don't use plug ins and prefer to get a sound I want and just record it.

For direct recording I use a Sarno Spectrum into either an old Telefunken 76/80 or Neve 1073 then maybe into a compressor(I am into my Verspyck/Hersch comp lately) that I have doing almost nothing.

I usually use a mic though. Milkman JG or Standel (reissue) into JBL D120 then the mic. My go to is a Neumann fet47 into the same signal chain as direct. When I record for other people in different studios I will go with whatever they want while micing my amp. That way I learn about different ways to do things. I am fussy about using a long instrument cable to get to the amp though. I basically refuse to let that happen. There are a few ways to deal with that problem.

I play an Emmons with stock single coil pickups or a Clinesmith console.

[Adam Payne]

Pete,
I do quite a bit of recording and some side-session work for various projects and dabble in some mixing.

I tend to experiment quite often and have 2 main setups for my work on Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar, Lap Steel Guitar, Bass, and some B3/Keys work.

Chain 1: Analog - Guitar (Gibson Fender Etc)/Lap Steel (Mainly Pre/post-war Rics)/Pedal Steel (Emmons Wood Neck/Bolt/Fatback) > any pedalboard fx > amp (Two-Rocks or various Fenders) - SM57 on speaker cab, sometimes a Neumann U87 a bit further off the cab or in the room to taste > UAD Apollo > DAW.

Chain 2: Digital - Guitar/Steel/Pedal Steel/Etc > Any Pedalboard FX > AMP > Reactive Load Box (for Impulse Response Speaker/Cabs sims VSTs) > UAD Apollo > DAW

I have a few speaker choices between my various amps and cabs. Everything from Stock Jensen to JBLs, Webers, etc. My main cab is a 2x12 (Wall of Sound/Jerry/Buddy Cage Style) with jbls or similar modern remakes depending my mood.

So I have a very versatile setup. Chain 2 can be simplified further by removing the AMP and Load box, going direct into my UAD Apollo and then use Amp Sims in the box.

In terms of Preamps and compression, typically Neve 1073/1081 or API Pres into a LA2A or 176 Comp set very light just to remove any bold transients.

In terms of DAW I use Luna and Reaper. Luna has expanded to a point where I can do most projects directly in Luna. If I need serious midi editing or advanced features I will work in Reaper.

[Dale Rottacker]

Steel >
BlackBox >
Telonics Multi-Taper Out 1 >
Peavey Session 400 LTD pedal >
TC Electronics Flashback Delay >
Quilter 202 Return >
Quilter 202 Sig Out >
PreSonus 1824C Interface Mic/Line 1 >
iMac running PreSonus Studio One 6 >
Reverb/Delay/Compression added post to a slightly wet
signal and may use 1-3 different reverb plugins.

Additionally IF I decide to I'll also record a completely dry track ... I KNOW Dry is the preferred or recommended method, but when I started not knowing Nuttin I was recording wet all the time, and fear of plugins caused me to not mess with them. I'm a bit better at it now, and don't record as wet as when I started, I record wet but may mix in a dry track as well.

Telonics Multi-Taper Out 2 > PreSonus 1824C Mic/Line 2 DRY
Reverb/Delay/Compression added post

In the past I've mic'd an amps with an SM-57, and more recently with a Sennheiser MD 421ii and really liked it. However, for convenience I really like going direct and not having to worry about room noise or the neighbor mowing or blowing leaves, or if I'm hot having a fan blowing. Its just more convenient for me especially with limited room. IF, I pick up any noise like input gain hum, I use a plugin called Z-Noise and am able to then eliminate whatever is there.

[Pete Martin]

Thank you all, really appreciate it. Just got a V8, not the fun begins!