Epic Recordings
We want to start by saying “thank you” to everyone who responded to our survey questions about amp modelers and digital guitar plugins! We were surprised by the wide range of feedback that we got from new and experienced users but one of the prevailing questions came from Neural Quad Cortex users: “How do you get a good, recorded tone quickly in Pro Tools?”
Some of the newer users seem to struggle to match I/O settings in the Quad Cortex to the corresponding paths in their DAWs (Pro Tools specifically). Another common comment pertained to building a simple “day one - let’s make some noise” type signal chains so we decided to shoot a video to walk you through the process.
Obey the Master (Volume): Setup Tips and Tricks!
You want to start by turning the master volume of the Quad Cortex up to 100% because it functions like an attenuator rather than a master volume on a tube amplifier. If you want to hear your 100-watt amp in all its snarling glory, you need to turn that volume knob all the way up and control your output volume via the Quad Cortex’ I/O settings, where you can adjust output volume to your studio monitor and headphones; or via the amp block and the volume adjustment found on the multi out setting.
It’s important to note that you should leave your input gain set to zero decibels as you’re using the Hi-Z input. You’ll also need to use a minimum impedance of 1 million ohms which corresponds to the ohm rating of a tube amp, but you can set the impedance higher to suit your tonal preferences. Please note that if you’re using a piezo pickup on an acoustic or electric guitar it’s a good practice to set the ohm rating to 10 million.
Day One Basic Signal Chain
Now that you’ve set up the Quad Cortex, you’re ready to start building your signal chain on the amp block. We’re going to build out a basic setup that’s akin to plugging your guitar directly into your amplifier for a no-nonsense hard rock tone.
Let’s start by selecting an amplifier. We’re going to use the Engl Rainbow 6 found under Neural captures which is Richie Blackmore’s signature amp model. It has a nice mid presence and versatile gain structure. I’ll add a little gain, dial back the bass and mids ever so slightly and boost the treble to the +1.8 mark. The next step is to add a cabinet block or an IR loader to use your favorite impulse responses. In our example, I’m going to use the Quantum DSP IR called “Havenknows” from our High-Octane Rock pack. To do this, I’ll place the single, stereo IR loader into the slot directly to the right of our amplifier selection.
Because I have a specific sound in mind, I’m going to place an overdrive pedal in front of the amp – functioning like a boost more than adding additional gain. For this task, I’ve chosen the Green 808, which is Neural’s version of an Ibanez Tube Screamer. We want the Green 808 to sound as transparent as possible, so we’re going to dial down the gain to zero, keep the tone at 5 and turn the level all the way up. To finish off our simple signal chain, I’m going to select a nice hall reverb set to 18%.
Play a few riffs or licks with the sound we just created and get ready to start recording!
Creating a Pro Tools Session
The first step in the recording process is to fire up Pro Tools and create a new session, using the Quad Cortex as your I/O. Pro Tools should automatically set the sample rate to 48khz and you’ll want to select a bit depth of 24 to optimize your recordings.
Once you’ve created your session, you’ll be taken to the main window of Pro Tools, also known as the edit window, where you’ll create two tracks for this recording session. Before we do that though, let’s double check that our playback engine is set to the Quad Cortex. Let’s go ahead and select the Setup menu and click on the Playback Engine heading, where you’ll see a drop-down box containing various options. Ensure that the Quad Cortex is selected and set to a hardware buffer of at least 512 samples.
Tracks and I/O’s
Now let’s go ahead and setup those tracks. You can choose to setup a click track if you’re looking to mix or seamlessly edit your session, however for today’s example, we will only be creating a live guitar sound from the Quad Cortex and a direct input (DI) track for re-amping later.
To create your two tracks:
- Select the Track menu and click on New
- Create a stereo Audio Track labelled “Live Guitar”
- Click on the + icon and create a mono Audio Track labelled “DI”
- Select “Create” to return to the Edit Window
Once you’ve returned to the edit window, you’ll be able to see the two tracks that we just created. Now we need to confirm that the I/O settings in our Pro Tools session match the I/O settings of our Quad Cortex.
To do this:
- Navigate to the Window menu and click on Mix – opening the mix window.
- In the Mix window select the input of our Live guitar track and click on USB ¾
- Set the output path of the Live track to Out 1-2 Stereo
- Now select the input path of our DI track and ensure that it set to Input 1
- Set the output path of the DI track to Out 1-2 Stereo
Armed and Ready (to Record)!
Return to the Edit Window by closing the Mix Window and arm the record (red) button on our two guitar tracks as well as the main record button in the upper right corner of the Edit Window. Ensure that each track is muted, as leaving these on will create latency issues while monitoring your recording session and have a negative impact on your performance.
Hit play and record your guitar. Once you’re finished recording, you’ll have a live (effected) guitar track that is a mirror image of the sound created in the Quad Cortex and a clean DI track that can be re-amped. Re-amping is a useful process to learn because there will be times when you are happy with your performance but need to make changes to your tone. We’ll get back to re-amping in the future!
Well, there you have it.
That wraps up today’s session on how to dial in a “day one – basic guitar sound” in the Quad Cortex and how to record that sound in Pro Tools. Thanks again for stopping by and hanging in the Quantum.
Have a rocking day!
