Opinions on virtual instruments/amp sims etc vs real instruments/real amps in your recording

[Politics of Ecstasy]

An Axe 3+a DAW+ Toontrack EZdrummer/SD2+bass+ any vst you want + a successful recording = win!!!!

Do whatever works for you, and I used to be a purist until I realized all the other musicians I played with were either subpar or level and levels below my ability, so I ended up becoming a home/solo recorder

Thank god for metal foundry!!

 

[KingAenarion]

I teach students that there is 1 golden rule in audio and music.

If it sounds good, it is good.

Did you play a wrong note or chord and it sounded good? It's good.

Did you use a free VST and your hand-me-down crappy electric guitar from your dad with rusted pickups and it sounds good? It is good.

In the end, I guarantee you that 95% of the people who say they can pick a well mixed Axe, Kemper or Helix from a well mixed real amp are either spending far too much time doing this and therefore have lost perspective about what most people care about, or are lying through their teeth.

If it sounds good, it is good.

Like, a really good amp setup done correctly, with the right mics in the right room with the right preamp is going to be a fuckload easier to mix than a quick preset made with stock IRs in any modeller. But also a great patch in a modeller dialled in to perfection played well is going to beat a shitty recording of even a great amp. Like 1cm wrong and an amp can sound dog shit, if the gain structure into the preamp or converter is wrong... dogshit.

It's even more so with drums. I am able to get great sounds with a good kit, in the studio I work out of, using the right mics with the right preamps and outboard and gear and a great player... and when I have the time and money I'll do that. But like... fuck me it's expensive and a lot of effort, and Superior 3 is so fucking good at what it does that there's no reason for me to do the real recording unless I really need quality.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

EVH changed the guitar world with a $150 POS superstrat guitar.

 

[Sollipsist]

I kinda feel like out of 30 years of playing guitar, I've spent at least 5-10 years trying to get them to sound right, trying to get a good sound recorded, or trying to get sounds to sit right in a band mix. Really wish I'd had modern sims and that 5-10 years back to actually practice and create.

It's not like the process didn't teach me a lot about the production and live mixing side. But frankly I'd have rather spent the time and brain cells concentrating on just improving my playing & writing. A really talented producer/ engineer is something special, and no amount of experience is going to get me to that level, even if I wanted to, or had the time for it.

I love my tube amps, but nothing has improved the quality and quality of my output more than having stuff like EZmix2 ready to boot up and start getting good sounding ideas down immediately. At this point, if I had to give up amps completely, I wouldn't cry too much. I'm more likely to put money into a better PC and interface.

 

[DrakkarTyrannis]

I'm in an industrial band and I've been getting deeper and deeper into synth tones and sounds. These days I use little guitar and I purposely try to see how heavy I can make something without actually using any guitar.

On a few songs I completely "faked" the guitars with synth sounds run through several chains of effects and it's made for tones I wouldn't have gotten just from guitar...and I like it more. Now the problem is reverse engineering so to speak to get live guitars to match

https://soundcloud.com/helveteinc/coffin-done/s-zB1vw#t=0:02

https://soundcloud.com/helveteinc/the-devil-inside-1/s-J4M46

I feel like there's never a right or wrong as long as it sounds good to you. It doesn't make you any less of a musician to use whatever tools at your disposal to craft what's in your head...that's quite literally what a musician does.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Blindfold tests usually reveal that most listeners will not be able to tell the difference anyway.
Today's technology has come a long long way.