I’m sure you have heard the term ‘reamping’ before, but do you actually know what it means and how it can help you achieve better tones in your studio?
Disclaimer: This video/post is brought to you in collaboration with Palmer. They sent me, among other things, a reamp box we’re going to use for this tutorial. However, Palmer has no say in the things I mention in the video/post.
What Is Reamping?
Reamping is taking a recorded DI track, so a completely unaffected guitar or bass sound, and playing it back through an amp, modeller, or plugin. This way we are separating the performance (playing guitar) and dialling in sounds into two different processes.
Why Reamp? Can’t I just record my tracks and be done with it?
Yes you can and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that!
But If you’re like me and you record a lot at your home studio, there are many factors that affect how we perceive the sound. The most obvious one is the acoustic sound of your guitar.
For example: I use my semi-hollow guitar a lot, and while it sounds great recorded, it’s also very loud here in the studio room. And even if I use headphones, I can still hear it through them. This means that the way I perceive my guitar’s sound while recording is different from what actually gets recorded.
The Benefits Of Reamping
By recording the DI sound of your guitar you make sure that you will have maximum flexibility when mixing your tracks, because you will be able to quickly re-adjust the tones of your guitars based on what else is happening in the track.
One might even say that reamping allows you to focus the performance and worry about the tones later, which is a true timesaver for second-guessers like me. I can’t tell you how many of my recording sessions have gotten stuck because of me getting lost in tweaking the tones. With reamping, I can focus on recording the best takes and dial in the sounds later.
And no, I’m not saying you should be recording with a bad tone, just that the tone doesn’t have to be 100% there when you’re tracking.
One of my favourite things I can do with reamping is to tweak my guitar sounds WHILE the rest of my track is playing and dial in a sound that fits the rest of the production perfectly. (you can hear examples of this in the video above)
More Interesting reamping applications
Reamping also allows you to do, for example, cool collaborations: Say your friend has a killer amp that sounds amazing. You can send your DI tracks to them and have those reamped through that great sounding amp.
Recording DI tracks has also allowed me to re-use a lot of the songs I’ve written for my demos and reuse them for other videos through different pieces of gear. For example, for my Helix video, I was able to use baritone guitar DI tracks from a song I wrote several years ago and see how it sounded through the modeller.
How To Record Great DI Tracks
Now that you know what reamping is, let’s talk about recording our DI tracks first. To get started, we need to make sure that no matter what your setup is, you are also recording your guitar’s DI sound. Plug in your guitar directly into the audio interface’s instrument input, strum the guitar loudly and make sure the levels aren’t peaking.
And don’t worry, we’re not going to record with just a Di sound. I would even say it’s crucial that you get to record with a tone you like and that suits the music you’re recording. The better your sound, the more inspired you will be to record your best take.
The easiest way to get inspiring tones is to use a guitar amp plugin for example. Many plugins can be used in standalone mode, where you get to hear the amp’s sound through your speakers or headphones, but what actually gets recorded in your DAW is just your direct guitar sound. Running a plugin outside your DAW also helps to deal with potential latency issues. If you’re looking for some free options to try out, there’s a link in the description for some alternatives for you to consider:
Recording DI with a modeler
If you are recording through a modeler, use a two channel DI box, like the Palmer PAN 04 for example to split the signal after your guitar.
- Plug in your guitar into the DI box.
- Run one output straight into your audio interface to capture the DI sound of your guitar.
- Use the second output to go into your modeller’s input and record the modeller’s sounds the way you normally do.
Recording DI with real amp
If you are using a real amp, use the same setup as with modellers, so one output into your audio interface and the second into your amp. Record the amplifier the way you normally do.
Recording DI with modeler’s internal routing
I should also mention that if you’re using some sort of modeler for your guitar or bass tones, chances are you can do reamping with it ‘internally’ meaning you won’t have to use DI boxes or anything like that and just use the USB out on your device. Instructions on how to do that can usually be found in the manual of the said device.
However, the rest of this tutorial covers reamping in a more ‘traditional’ way that applies both to tube amp users and modeler users alike.
How to route the signal from audio interface into your amp/modeler
I’m assuming you have an audio interface already and that it has at least two outputs. What we’re going to do is run a signal from the back of the audio interface into the amp solution of your choice.
But because we are running a signal from an output of our audio interface, the signal is coming out as a line-level signal, which is a way ‘stronger’ signal than what our guitar amps or modelers are expecting. So, we need to convert that signal to instrument level.
Now you can use just a DI box for that. But for this demonstration, I asked Palmer to send me one of their reamping boxes. It has a useful level control for the signal that goes into your amp or a modeller to make sure you’re hitting the front end of your amp solution at an optimal level.
We go from our interface’s output into a DI/reamp box and from there we go to the amp/modeler. Once set up, you can record your amp/modeler the way you usually do.
But what if my audio interface only has two outputs?
If you’re using an audio interface with just two outputs like the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, for example, I would recommend running your DI signal out of the outputs into your reamp box/DI Box. From there you would go to your amp solution and from there back to the inputs of your audio interface. You could then use the headphone output for monitoring.
While researching for this post I found a helpful Reddit post that dives more into this. You can find that thread here: https://www.reddit.com/r/audioengineering/comments/f4zybn/reamping_using_headphone_output/
Routing the signal in DAW
Now that everything is plugged in, go to your DAW and select the audio channel where your DI track is. Set that track’s output to the channel you plugged the reamp box to. In my case, the output number 3 goes into the reamp box and from there to my ‘amp’, which is the BOSS IR-2 amp pedal.
On your audio interface, set up the channel or channels you want to record. This could be the outputs of your modeler or the microphone you’re using to mic your amp, for example.
In my case, I’m running a mono signal from the audio interface’s output number 3 to the reamp box and from it to BOSS IR-2, which is an amp simulation pedal. From IR-2, I go back to my audio interface’s input number one and arm track 1 in my DAW for recording.
If your signal routing is working, you should be hearing your DI track being run through your amp solution. You can tweak the sound further by adjusting the output gain on the ramp box. And because I’m using an amp-in-a-pedal solution, I can now adjust the sounds while the track is playing.
You can even have all the other tracks in your project playing and tweak the guitar sound to sit in the mix perfectly. This is one of my favourite things you can do with reamping!
5. reasons to learn reamping
1. Recording DI tracks and reamping allow you to focus on getting your best take and work on the tones later.
2. Reamping allows remote collaborations: people can send their DI tracks that you can then reamp through your gear. Or, for example, you can send your tracks to a friend to be reamped through a unique amp, for example.
3. Reamping allows you to adjust the sounds while the rest of the track playing -> less time spent mixing
4. Reamping allows you to tweak the sounds of your amp/pedal/effect while the track is playing -> new creative possibilities.
5. Reamping allows you to reuse the same guitar tracks in other songs / remixes.
For all your reamp box/DI box needs, you can use the affiliate link here:
►►Get Your Reamp Boxes here: https://thmn.to/thocf/ctqtvog6d5
►►Download Reamping Signal Chart here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dmtqulaplhrahpu/Reamping_Cheat_Sheet.pdf?dl=0
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