In this segment I'm gonna show you how you can process DI guitars or actually a recorded guitar amplifier. Both are same thing in the end just you gotta know how to treat them. I'm using Positive Grid Bias FX which is pretty common among guitarists. What you gotta know is amplifier modeling getting better and better everyday. Back in 2016 or 17 this software opened new doors and it was pretty authentic sounding for beginners. What's not really nailing the real deal is the cabinets of this plugin which later got better in version 2 as they contained official Celestion speakers. But when you know the frequencies you know how to make it sounds better. After quite a few years in this business what I realized is you gotta have a best possible source-tone to get the best possible sound. When your source-tone doesn't sound good you can't get a nice outcome out of it even with all the processing. So make sure you always choose the best gear that goes well your ears. In our case Bias FX first version is not the best sounding guitar plugin in 2020 but yet we can achieve pretty good guitar tones with it (using third-party cabinet IRs will result way better sounds). Still I'm using the built-in cabinets to show you with few tweaks we can get there.
Since we are talking Metallica and heavy sounds here you gotta go with high gain amps. And since I myself like modern sounds I put an overdrive pedal in front of my amp all the time. So this is not nailing the sound of Metallica used back in the day, it's just my take on that sound and what define me as a modern guitarist. It could be more modern sounding with more edge and bite but this amp sim won't react good with anything past 3 o'clock specially with hi-mids and high frequencies. So we just try to keep everything around noon and below. I'm recording double tracks panned hard left and right and there's a little difference between settings to get that stereo field right. Have a listen: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17wLwx6JD_gUQWNTXv6RRrijZT-Lsy88e/view?usp=drivesdk
First in line is a ts9 clone. This overdrive will tighten up your low end and give more edge and bite to the mid range. Set the settings like picture.
Second is a noise gate or reducer as this is modeled after ISP Decimator.
Amp itself is a Peavey 5150 aka 5150 block letter which is my favorite amp and named here as 04 insane 5153
The cabinet is an Orange which I find best sounding cab in most amp Sims and of course in real life. Metal players always go with Mesa Boogie and its modded Vintage 30 speakers but I find Orange PPC412 to be more open and nice sounding rather than harsh and fizzy specially in high mid and high end.
I will continue mic placement and EQing the cab in the later post. Cheers! Amir Poorhafezi
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