A recording studio means 2 things for guitar players – Amps and LOUD amps!
It’s rare to get to crank up an amp as much as you would when layering guitar parts on a studio. Bar owners would kick us out and large concerts are rare for many of us (even in non-corona) times .
The alternative of a loud amp with 2-3 mics is very tempting – but not all studio have them (especially modern ones) and home studios rarely have them or the space needed to use them at their best. Also there is a certain need to reamp some guitar tracks and add fx – a scenario where that analog pedal board doesn’t come much in handy.
As a guest on the page and many times session player on AK records studio I would want to share with my top guitar plugins for the studio – a fast easy alternative for post production and recording. All the recommendation below come from my personal remote session work for which this plugins helped out a lot!
My Top Studio Guitar Plugins
The list is not in a specific order and contains some pros and cons about them and for whom the plugin might be!
STL Will Putney – Best Drive Guitar & Diesel Amp Sim
Imagine having that chunky, warm and heavy rhythm tones that fills your heart and drops your jaw – well a diesel VH-4 does that and a good example would be the Epic Adam Jones Tones. With the STL Will Putney You can have that!
The plugin is designed by the American Producer, mixer and engineer Will Putney – responsible for releases from bands like Every Time I Die, The Amity Affliction, The Acacia Strain, Body Count. What’s more surprising about the plugin is that you can achieve a wide range of tone from crunch to hard rock to heavy/death metal – a one in all solution.
The mixer mode is also a small blessing that allows to blend 2 amps at the same time. On the downside the delay and reverb effect on it are no quite on the level of the amp sims.
Line 6 Helix – Best Effect Pedals & for Many Genres
Line 6 has a history of innovation behind plugins and digital fx. The plugin version of the best selling Helix is none the less on of the best (and more multipurpose) guitar plugins out there.
Hundreds of amp sims + a realistic simulation of a guitar rig with Many, MANY effect pedals make it a great solution for 90% of all genres.
What I like mostly about the Line 6 is the quality of the pedals and fx on the guitar rig and also the guitarist friendly display is a added bonus,
On the down side from quite a while of experimenting I would only use a few of the amps on it and would probably use IR’s in place of the existing cabs.
Universal Audio UAD Powered Plug-ins- Comes with LOT’S of other tools
This is a great one for most of uses – but it only comes if you have If you have Universal Audio UAD-2 DSP Accelerator hardware, like an Apollo audio interface or Satellite DSP accelerator.
One the plus side I would highlight the accurate modelling of some amps + Low CPU-overhead versions are provided for the most ‘greedy’ plug‑ins.
The down side is highly debatable on this one. Personally I find the the interface could be more similar to an actual guitar rig and that it would also come without the UAD hardware
Needs more tips on guitar recording or some remote guitar tracks?
Audio Service providers can be your life saver or your main cause of concert failure– it all depends on the one you choose. Luck aside it takes some knowledge and experience to pick the right one out of the many.
How to tell the difference?
Like all business related choices there are economical aspects to the choice – but considering the crucial role that audio/light services play on how your even goes, quality is a must. Nobody wants to have a show a canceled just cause of the stage suddenly collapsing under the bands feet!
A good online presence (portfolio) vs no online presence
In Albania it’s hard to find respectable online presence of business – so if the audio service company has a solid site, a good social media follows (which also acts as work portfolio) it’s a good sign that they are responsible and dependable.
Since we are on topic you can check our social media presence here and share some feedback on our latest events and also one of our finest works Arilena Ara “Sounds Of Silence”
Punctuality
It goes without saying but it’s often overlooked. An audio/light service companies work start hours (or even day) before the show and ends when you receive all the mixed tracks from you concert or when all is dismantled from the venue.
The gear can never be too early, because there is always a factor that is late. Might be the lead singer or the whole band for sound check, but something is bound to be the cause of delay – better be safe on the gear at least.
They have experienced engineers
An experienced engineer is not only one that makes the band sound amazing – but also one that can spot and fix any unexpected problem during the show. If suddenly there is a faulty cable, an electrical problem or monitoring, there should be an engineer taking control and having stage worker (or himself) fix in it minutes. Live audio engineers are kind of emergency workers – they should always find the problems and fix them up on spot.
No details are neglected
The company might have the latest mixers and stage lights – but they might have problems with properly hiding cables on stage or faulty cables (which happens a lot). The rule of thumb is to always bring 2x the gear needed to always have that extra Mic or extra power supply when all goes to hell or any one forgets their own.
They know how to work with artists
This goes without saying to, but it’s not that easy to sound check a band if you don’t even know how to talk to the band. Musicians must be made happy and comfortable during and before the show being great at offering them good monitoring is crucial to how the perform.
As a company with more than 20+ years in the audio and light service industry we want to assure all clients that we have all the above – and we do that by proving it before asking you to book anything.
Set Up Your Event in Tirana
Just give us a call and explain the details of the event – we do always counsel first, then sell. Also a little something that we did not mention above. We only bring what is needed to make your event great, no extra charge for extra things you do no need.
Hope the article helped you in any way in choosing the best company for your event!
