BIG Splawn Quick Rod Profiling Session Coming Up!

  • Booked some time at a studio here in Vegas:



    http://nationalsouthwestern.com



    I am looking at doing a VERY ambitious session. I have about 6 weeks to prepare and am VERY excited. My goal is to get THE most comprehensive set of Quick Rod profiles available now and, well... give them away! LOL!


    Here's the plan:
    • Spend the next few weeks dialing in sounds for both my G&L Asat (tele) and Mammoth Custom Les Paul
    • Settings for all 3 Gears and both OD1/OD2
    • Create very thorough spreadsheet of all settings BEFORE going to the Studio
    • Settings with my Boost/Dirt/Fuzz pedals
    - Black Arts Black Forest (Colorsound Overdriver Based)
    - Black Arts Witch Burner (TS9 based)
    - Black Arts Pharaoh (Muff based with SI/GE transistors)
    - Mojo Hand Sacred Cow (Klon based)
    - Dunwich Cthulu (Fuzz Face based)
    - PLX Effects Treble Booster
    - ProCo RAT ('93 w/LM308 chip)
    - Skreddy Perestroika (Russian Muff based)
    - Skreddy Lunar Module Deluxe
    - RimRock PT Drive (TS based)


    [Blocked Image: http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r205/JerEvil/My%20Equipment/0DAF9EF7-E075-4DE3-BB98-68A5A0325EE1_zpsbaolluqj.jpg]


    I have 4 hours booked now but may make it a bit longer. Sending the engineer a bunch of vids about the profiling process, manuals, etc so he can do some homework as well. They have also offered to let me profile all their amps (time permitting). They have some Dr. z stuff, old Marshalls, etc.


    Here is a gear list that they have. Some REALLY nice pics.


    Daw:
    Apple Mac Pro 6 Core 256GB flash, 32G RAM
    Thunderbay 4 – 8 TB Thunderbolt Storage Solution
    Pro Tools 10 and 11 HD Native
    Logic Pro X
    Ableton Live 9 Suite
    Universal Audio UAD-2 OCTO Ultimate 3 DSP Accelerator, all available plug-ins.
    Various Plug-ins and Applications: Soundtoys, Slate, Melodyne, NI, many others.


    Monitoring:
    Dangerous Music Monitor ST monitor control system with remoteFocal Twin
    6 Be active near/midfield monitors
    Focal CMS Sub active 11” sub
    Tannoy Reveal Active nearfields
    Avantone Mixcube active nearfield


    Mic Preamps:
    30 channels of Trident console pre/EQAPI 512c (2)
    BURL B1 (2)BAE 312 (2)Vintech 473 (4ch)
    UAD 2610 (2ch)
    Rupert Neve 517 2ch Mic Pre/ DI / Compressor Module w. variphaseChandler TG2-500 (2)


    Mics:
    Bock iFet Condenser (2)
    Manley Reference Cardioid Tube Condenser
    Telefunken AR-51 Tube Condenser (2) (Stereo Pair)
    Cloud 44-A Active Ribbon
    Coles 4030L Ribbon (2)
    Beyerdynamic M160 Ribbon (2)
    Royer R121 Ribbon (2)
    AKG C414 XLII Condenser (2) (Stereo Pair)
    AKG C451B Small Diaphragm Condenser (2) (Stereo Pair)
    Neumann KMS105 Condenser
    Sennheiser MD421 Dynamic (4)
    Shure SM7B Dynamic (3)
    ElectroVoice RE20 DynamicTelefunken M-80SH Low Profile Dynamic (2)
    Telefunken M-82 DynamicAKG D112 Dynamic
    Shure SM57LC Dynamic (4)
    Placid Audio Copperphone
    Placid Audio Copperphone Mini
    Audix i5 (3)Beyerdynamic
    M88Ear Trumpet Edwina Microphone
    Blue Baby BottleStudio Projects C-1
    Sterling Audio ST31 (2)
    Sterling Audio ST69 Tube Condenser


    I will just throw this out there but if anyone has anything they'd like to request I will see what I can grab from a mic/preamp perspective. Like I said, I am going "Mild to Wylde" on these and will get clean to rock to brutal.


    Here's my baby in all her splendor and glory!


    [Blocked Image: http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r205/JerEvil/My%20Equipment/7230CF0E-F7BB-4296-AC46-E6C9AE17715F_zps1s5y1j23.jpg]

  • Nice! Can't wait to hear the results! I actually have one of your previous quick rod profiles as one of my favorites. :thumbup:


    Cool! I really wanted to do this at home but right now I don't have a good way to isolate my cabs and I CERTAINLY don;t have access to such a nice arsenal of mic's.

  • Wow... Interesting to see what comes out of this!


    I would advise you to make a priority list of all these. If the engineer needs some time to find the ideal mic position for each of the settings, then that could take some time! :) And I think it would be better bang-for-the-buck to let him/her do that, rather than just go for ONE mic position for all profiles. It would give these profiles something fairly unique! Most of the time it seems like profiles are done in a "set and forget" manner - same mic position for all profiles in a pack. That's really a shame :)

  • Wow... Interesting to see what comes out of this!


    I would advise you to make a priority list of all these. If the engineer needs some time to find the ideal mic position for each of the settings, then that could take some time! :) And I think it would be better bang-for-the-buck to let him/her do that, rather than just go for ONE mic position for all profiles. It would give these profiles something fairly unique! Most of the time it seems like profiles are done in a "set and forget" manner - same mic position for all profiles in a pack. That's really a shame :)


    Good advice. I am really wanting to get GOOD profiles. Quality over quantity, but I want to get good enough of a sampling to make it worth the while. I talked to him for a good bit yesterday and am going to tour the Studio next week to get a feel for it and talk through some more stuff. Going to give him some examples of tones I really like as well as play him some of the profiles I find work well for me to see if he can get some inspiration for set up, eq'ing, etc.


    Example, the MBritt PT100 Studio profiles sound GREAT with my Splawn cab and Fryette Power Station. A few other PT100 studio profiles sound dreadful with the setup but are great in the studio. I plan on being able to use these live and for recording.

  • @JerEvil I will also be looking forward to these!


    I'm not sure if you need this advice since you have already done profiling, but I would practise at home making profiles as much as possible so that when the clock is ticking, you wouldn't have to waste time for example finding out what kind of refining process yields the best outcome.


    One more thing that you most likely know already, making sure that the profiles sound good in the mix. I often get lost when playing by myself and think that I have the sound nailed, only to find out that with band mix and with proper volume, the sound get totally buried or is too piercing etc.

  • @JerEvil I will also be looking forward to these!


    I'm not sure if you need this advice since you have already done profiling, but I would practise at home making profiles as much as possible so that when the clock is ticking, you wouldn't have to waste time for example finding out what kind of refining process yields the best outcome.


    One more thing that you most likely know already, making sure that the profiles sound good in the mix. I often get lost when playing by myself and think that I have the sound nailed, only to find out that with band mix and with proper volume, the sound get totally buried or is too piercing etc.

    Good points. Since the studio has logic Pro, and Steven Slate Drums I will certainly bring a few projects I have recorded there o we can load them up and try in a mix.


    Thanks!

  • Good points. Since the studio has logic Pro, and Steven Slate Drums I will certainly bring a few projects I have recorded there o we can load them up and try in a mix.


    Thanks!



    Good idea! if possible, different songs for different styles (or just different sections of the same song, maybe).


    When doing your prep work (dialing in tones) don't forget to listen where the sound comes from (i.e. at speaker level; not just standing up where the speakers make your pants flap, but not your eardrums ;-))

  • Oh, and one more thing - for each setting you work out beforehand, make some good notes on what it is you like about it, what you would want to use it for and why (genre, type of song, recording, live, rhythm solo, whatever). Make sure you express subjective stuff as well as objective.


    I don't know which kind of engineer you'll be working with - but if he's the kind that gives advice/constructive criticism as you go along (rather than the type who's just there to operate the equipment), stuff like this can help you communicate. Basically, what I'm trying to say is be ready to express your vision for each tone. If you have references to music he might know, all the better (like "here I kind of go for an AC/DC type sound, but a bit more aggressive and gainy, and it's more for power chords". Bad example, but you probably get it :-)).

  • Oh, and one more thing - for each setting you work out beforehand, make some good notes on what it is you like about it, what you would want to use it for and why (genre, type of song, recording, live, rhythm solo, whatever). Make sure you express subjective stuff as well as objective.


    I don't know which kind of engineer you'll be working with - but if he's the kind that gives advice/constructive criticism as you go along (rather than the type who's just there to operate the equipment), stuff like this can help you communicate. Basically, what I'm trying to say is be ready to express your vision for each tone. If you have references to music he might know, all the better (like "here I kind of go for an AC/DC type sound, but a bit more aggressive and gainy, and it's more for power chords". Bad example, but you probably get it :-)).

    It's like you are in my head! LOL!


    I am going to feed him a BUNCH of references for tones over the next few weeks as well as links to vids on the profiling process.

  • Wow, that really sounds like a great session you have lined up.


    My only advice is to log everything that you do for each profile including what the engineer does. Log every little detail that you can think of and take lots of pictures.


    And pick the engineers brain as much as you can :)


    Good luck, I'm really looking forward to hearing how it goes.

  • Since the studio has logic Pro, and Steven Slate Drums I will certainly bring a few projects I have recorded there o we can load them up and try in a mix.


    Off topic a bit, but this is exactly what I run at home and combined with the Kemper has resulted in the best recordings I've ever done. Can't wait to hear the results of this massive profiling endeavor.

    Husband, Father, Pajama Enthusiast


  • Yeah Tim, I spent some time this afternoon getting an Excel doc built for all my dirty settings, clean settings and then 12 more tabs. One for each pedal with columns for each corresponding knob named like they are on each pedal and also knobs for each channel on the Splawn. Hope I am not forgetting anything.


    To the rest of you all, glad you are seemingly as excited as I am! Going to document it for my YouTube Demo channel! Check it out and subscribe if you have a minute!


    Dunky's N' Demos

    I have about 6 more demo vids in the works and am looking to start doing some for the Kemper and commercial profiles.

  • Do you plan on doing DI/merged or studio profiles?


    Because if you'd "just" tick off all the setting and pedal combinations (which is an epic collection by the way haha) by doing them via DI profiling, you'd be pretty fast at capturing the essence of what the amp/pedal combinations have to offer.


    A countryman type85 works great for capturing DI profiles, I'm sure they have plenty of those at the studio.


    Then after you're done you can concentrate on getting a couple of nice mic positions, by doing merged cabs.
    IMO that way you'd get the most out of your time at the studio!


    If you have a rehearsal space and a good DI box, you could also concentrate on ONLY getting good mic positions/merged cabs, and doing the rest of the DI profiles yourself to match with those merged cabs later.


    Either way you'd be able to get more out of the hours at the studio IMO :)

  • Yeah I'm definitely wanting to do Studio and Merged profiles. Like I said, I'm going to get about an hour to run down there and really talk it out with the engineer


    Glad you dig the pedal list! LOL! I went 30 years with just an amp, tuner and guitar. Then 2 years ago I joined a band that required some effects. Bought 4 pedals and it quickly turned to a few dozen!