12 String Thing

Hi all - this is a sample song using my Variax 300 to emulate a 12 string electric and 335 (solo) through Amplitube 3.

Looking for feedback on the mix. Please mention what you were listening through like earbuds, studio monitors, speakers etc.

Thanks,

aMUSEd

Home studio monitors M-Audio BX8 (not very expensive, but not a bad sound)

I thought the 335 lead sounded superb - lovely tone, lovely playing. I don’t know much about amp sims but I would not have known this was not a hot tube amp.

Variax 12 string modelling: I didn’t think this was a convincing 12 string sound - hard to say exactly why, I think I expect more of a chiming bell-like vibe. Nice sound nonetheless.

Steve.

Hi plectrumboy (awesome username!) I once had the 1st generation BX-8 and they were great speakers until I blew one up :frowning:

I’m very pleased to hear I fooled your ears with the 335. My hat is off to IK Multimedia. Amplitube is amazing but like everything must be tweaked to get right in the mix.

I don’t disagree on the 12 string sound and I doubled the parts with the acoustic to try to compensate a bit.

Thanks again for listening and commenting.

Lead guitar sound was awesome :slight_smile: general mix sounded good but unfortunately no sign of a 12 string in there to my ears on my monitors…(in sig) just a sort of ringy nice sounding guitar that didn’t sound like a 12 stringer :slight_smile: doubling the sound isn’t gonna do it because the strings on a 12 string are an octave apart (i believe) correct me if I’m wrong…I’m no guitarist :frowning:

good work though…Kevin :slight_smile:

yeh, nice piece of music again. the lead sounded great i liked the eric johnson type run at the end. i couldn`t realy tell the Variax was suppsed to sound like a twelve string though or a 335 but samples or emulators rarely do what it says on the tin .

Thanks shadowfax & polgara! I don’t disagree about the 12 string emulation and thought it sounded a little better than the other samples I have. Kevin you’re correct. In reality the 12-string guitar’s wound strings are in courses an octave apart and the remaining strings are courses tuned to the same pitch.

I’m really pleased to hear the response about the lead tone! :smiley: Amplitube has massively improved over the years but it all really comes down to arrangement and the mix to make the guitar sounds believable imo.

I know nothing will ever beat having a studio full of great musicians and equipment but I’m thoroughly enjoying the process of learning how to maximize the quality of my home recordings. I’ve been having several “aha” moments in the last few months and the mixes are getting much more consistent now that I’ve gotten a lot of the fundamentals right i.e. room treatment, ARC2, gain staging, etc.

Thanks as always for the honest feedback.

Not much to say really, mix sounds solid. 12-string adds a real nice character and the note choice of the solo sounded great. Main criticism; too short. Add some more sections lad. (y)

Listened on my crappy Behringer HPS3000 headphones, £13 tack and it sounded good. The gap between home recordings and professional elite is certainly closing (not just in music, game development etc is becoming more accessible thanks to better and less costly tools.)

Hi again Jonathan! It’s def lad not lady lol

Thanks for the positive comments. Thanks to you and polgara et al for listening to these song fragments. I’m posting them as I’m testing out specific mix techniques and plugins in Cubase. Sooner or later I’ll post a full song promise.

Rock on!

The 12-string isn’t convincing, but it’s a great sound in its own right.

The 335 lead sound sounds very good! :sunglasses:
Great playing!

Way to short though! :wink:

Cheers,
Wim

Thanks for listening and commenting Wim!