The last three recording studios I've talked to/met with about doing some sessions for me and the band, have all been leaning towards the same direction. They all want me to use their pod system, or plug directly into the board. They say they have more control overall, and they can replicate any sound I want that way. They say hardly anyone uses a amp rig in the studio nowadays-even a small Deluxe isn't needed anymore. I myself can't see how something can replace the sound of a nice overdriven tube amp. I recall that back in the old days, we used to put a Deluxe in a vocal boothe and crank it with a mic in the room and a mic outside the door and mix the two sounds. Has technology replaced all that used to be?

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Life is like a sh*t sandwich. The more bread you have, the less sh*t you have to eat.

Having never been inside any studio masterhacker, I'd have thought that they were all going the same way ie.. digital, even all the old records " digitally remastered", makes you wonder about other things like if you were to record straight from a miked up tube amp, then to get it to CD wouldn't it have to be digitally thingumybobbed before the end product, and could you hear the difference between a digitally remastered tube recording & a purely digital recording.

Have I just confused thing's

Don't be a wet blanket. You are paying for the studio's time, and not the other way around. You tell them what you want, and if they don't listen then you ought to consider finding another studio. If you want to record your guitar through fourteen Sony Walkmans or twenty-nine Marshalls, they should accommodate your wishes. Don't forget that it's you who is paying.

perhaps you can request that the signal be split from the DI box and fed to a booth with your Amp of choice. That way, they get a completely dry DI signal so they can do their "magic" and you get the amp sound you like to tape. Its a pretty straight forward thing to do and any half decent engineer should be able to figure that out. When it comes time to mix, you have options, can blend the two if you like, and if you like their thing better or yours, no harm no foul. The more tracks the merrier i always say.

i agree with vulcan. heck, we took 2 marshall half stacks with us, put em in another room with a mike on em. sounded good to me.

Like lots of things in the music industry, things change. There are lots of people who now use sims in studio's as it saves money, time and space.
James Michael is one of many producers who now do this, and he has worked with some big artists including Motley Crue, and their album SOLA sounds amazing, and its all from sims.
So however reluctant you are you may have to except this is the way you may have to do it.

It depends on what your budget is. The new "Eleven Rack" is indeed a great tool for recording, but you need to decide what sound you're after and find the best engineers and studio that will give you that sound.

Many studios I've seen now use Melodyne or equivalent pitch correction tools and it makes sense if you need it. If you don't, then it's up to you to shop around for the best rates and usually the "A List" of local bands could point you in the right direction.

Good luck!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

the engineers that set up your gear have to get paid, would be the bottom line, if you are on a budget telling you what is best cuts their cost. even then engineers and producers that have been around for a while know that if you want a certain sound like an LP through a Marshall they will set up that half stack for you in the booth or closet or where ever and let you rip but then I haven't been up for any Grammy's lately so what do I know

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

talked to my drummer who was tracking with Johnny K (Grammy nominee) at his studio last year and Johnny had the band bring in their amps for the sound they wanted, he is a pretty new producer so I'm thinking you go direct to the board for scratch tracks if the drummer wants some sounds for his parts before the real guitar parts go on tape or if you are tracking at home, but even then, a trick Gary from Roller showed me, he took a big card board box (like big enough to cover a half stack) line the inside with something thick, padding like movers use, then cover the amp with the mic under there too and it comes out pro sounding if I had recording gear at home I would do that for sure.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

I've done some studio work for local commercial radio ads from time to time and that's how the engineer prefers it. I generally bring my Spankmaster Reverb or my '65 Princeton Reverb and use it as monitor in the booth. Very little of the amp signal is audible after the track's final mix down.

Arjay

That's exactly what I was thinking. For the one and only semi-serious recording I've ever done (in my singer's living room with a Tascam recorder) I just took an SM-57 and stuck it in front of my Deluxe VM. There was some reverb added to all the tracks after they were recorded, but that was it. It sounds like a decent live recording, which is what I was after.

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It all comes down to trusting the engineer with your music. You can't go in to this project with any doubts hanging over your head or it may affect your performance. Not sure of your budget but I'm guessing you aren't hiring a dedicated producer. That leaves either you or the engineer or both, and the producers role is to be in charge of the session for better or worse and the engineer is certainly going want and need to keep the session moving for your best interest and his.

I don't claim to be an expert as many folks here have more experience with recording from one side of the glass or the other, I just love to discuss this topic and I've been around it enough to be at least delusional enough to offer what I know. I've assisted on bigger budget stuff in class A studios, as well as recorded some demos for indy bands on my own where I had to assume the role of producer. In every instance, the most common denominator was that when everyone was happy and comfortable, it made for a more enjoyable and productive experience. I was not a fan of Seven Mary Three but I have to tell you, those guys were top notch nice guys, fun to work with, and I had such a fun time with those sessions that I felt blessed to be a part of those sessions, made me like and respect their music and learned a great deal.

Miami Mike mentioned "eleven". I haven't messed with it all that much but that its a REALLY COOL plug in. So don't be too opposed to new technology. Also, not sure of your style either, but my philosophy of recording is to eliminate timebased FX like delays and verbs to tape. You can always add those later in the mix and if you want them while you track they can be sent to the cue sends to your cans anyway. But if you find say a verb or delay you like better during the mix, and a verb or delay was baked in to the recording you're out of luck. That doesn't mean you should compromise your gtr sound only to try and recreate it later, quite the contrary. Ultimately, I think the most important thing GTR soundwise is to get as a transparent as possible that you're happy with and fits.

Sorry this was so long. I have a long commute. Hope that helped a little and I didn't appear to be on crack. Can't wait to hear about you experience. Enjoy, there's nothing more exciting than being in a recording studio.