Please listen... is this the way Kemper should sound?? Problem with sound

  • Hey Markus, I reamped your DI's with the same profiles, as well as used my own guitar through them. They all sounded the same, so I don't think it's a technical issue, just one of taste. I generally agree that those profiles have too much on the high side. I generally find I need to turn down Treble and/or Presence on many profiles for them to sit on less busy mixes.


    Multi-tracking them is also going to cancel out a lot of the high-end, especially quad-tracking. Then, in a metal, hard-rock mix, with plenty of cymbal action and some high-end to the bass as well, most of it ends up being inaudible.


    For dryness, a touch of reverb can help, but the best thing is usually turning up the Power Sagging on the amp.

  • I don't find a "KramerrrBombed!" or "KramerrrChugChug" Profile in the RIG Exchange.
    I think i doesn't make sense to compare your reamping files with different profiles...
    Or tell me where i can find "Bombed!" or "ChugChug".

  • Yes, they were LL profiles as mentioned earlier. But MeAmBobbo already obliged, so no need to further testing.


    I, on the other hand, am testing layering, power sagging, space... and just about anything.

  • Hi Mark, has your problem been rectified?

    Dual Rectified? ;)


    A good tweak is to take a cab from a profile that you like and apply it to the profiles you think sound too harsh. Another is to decrease the definition parameter in the Amp module.

  • Dual Rectified? ;)
    A good tweak is to take a cab from a profile that you like and apply it to the profiles you think sound too harsh. Another is to decrease the definition parameter in the Amp module.

    I think @MarkusUz would be satisfied with Single Rectifier of his problem ;)


    BTW by this statement "good tweak is to take a cab from a profile that you like and apply it to the profiles you think sound too harsh" proves cab makes the sound of the rig. Which is actually true. When profiling an amp, you cannot badly profile amp section, but easily can fail on cab + mike portion.

  • Sorry I haven't answered. I've been away... testing, testing, losing my mind... now I'm back. And I haven't found out the problem yet. As my Kemper was reseted and tested and people assured me it's working as it should, I ruled it out for a while and thought then there can be only one explanation: that it is my guitars fault. Today I took my guitar (once again) to a music store and I compared it's sound to others. Maybe it didn't sound quite as good as some of them, but the storekeeper said it sounds good to his ears.. not bad enough to be a problem, in his opinion. So is it the guitar, or is it the Kemper... I'm going insane.


    Local music shops won't rent one, and I don't know other musicians here, so for now I haven't been able to make a fair test at home.


    Even to me, if I'm just playing alone, my guitar sounds ok/acceptable. But put in a mix, and there's so much mud and cloudiness that it just destroys the whole mix. I've gone through literally hundreds and hundreds of profiles and just can't find one that works. They all have the same problem! But when I hear other people's recordings, it doesn't really matter what profile they have, it always sounds good to me. I have been trying to tweak the Kemper and EQ my recordings... but I just don't think it should go like that. The original thing should be good, and then you polish it better, right? Not that it's bad, and then try to fix it.


    But to keep things going... I made a comparison:

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    You will notice that mine sounds weaker and fainter, right? Like it lacks the punch, crispiness and heavy but tight low end?



    What do you think the culprit is?

  • Even to me, if I'm just playing alone, my guitar sounds ok/acceptable. But put in a mix, and there's so much mud and cloudiness that it just destroys the whole mix.

    So the second is yours? The first one seems to do some stereo trick, i.e. pan the close miced amp to the left and more ambient / roomish mic to the right or its just double tracking. Yours is more or less in the center. Very uncommon for that style to have a guitar sit there.


    A distorted guitar in a mix needs treatment. Start with left / right panning. Either a double track or the Haas trick (phase inverted copy panned opposite) or the ambient/room trick. So you get it out of the way of bass, vocals and drums by distance.


    Highpass the guitar, depending on what the bass / bass drum does. Then start cutting with EQ the frequencies which clash with drums, especially in the low mids. Eventually also low pass, in case your cymbals get masked or the guitar sound seem too harsh. So you get it out of the way by frequency. Avoid soloing your guitar to check if its still great! It *must* serve the mix and sound great with the other instruments, not all alone. This is *the* biggest difference to the bedroom solo players.


    Next think about reverb, which is depth. Some instruments dry, others wet gives the third dimension. Eventually reduce the reverb on the Kemper or switch it off. The wrong reverb there for a certain song might make mixing a pain.

    Ne travaillez jamais.

  • Hi


    My clip above is just dual tracked, 100% left and right , no magic otherwise - just the standard HP/LP and made marginally louder. The guitar I used was a Jem77V with Dimarzio Breed pickups tuned in Drop C.


    D

  • So the second is yours? The first one seems to do some stereo trick, i.e. pan the close miced amp to the left and more ambient / roomish mic to the right or its just double tracking. Yours is more or less in the center. Very uncommon for that style to have a guitar sit there.
    A distorted guitar in a mix needs treatment. Start with left / right panning. Either a double track or the Haas trick (phase inverted copy panned opposite) or the ambient/room trick. So you get it out of the way of bass, vocals and drums by distance.


    Highpass the guitar, depending on what the bass / bass drum does. Then start cutting with EQ the frequencies which clash with drums, especially in the low mids. Eventually also low pass, in case your cymbals get masked or the guitar sound seem too harsh. So you get it out of the way by frequency. Avoid soloing your guitar to check if its still great! It *must* serve the mix and sound great with the other instruments, not all alone. This is *the* biggest difference to the bedroom solo players.


    Next think about reverb, which is depth. Some instruments dry, others wet gives the third dimension. Eventually reduce the reverb on the Kemper or switch it off. The wrong reverb there for a certain song might make mixing a pain.

    Thanks, I hear what you are saying and I have been trying different layerings and EQs for the last two months, EQ matching with Metallica, all sorts of stuff. But then it kind of hits me... if I and some guy X both go and spend the same money on a Kemper unit, his sounds awesome and mine sounds barely acceptable, I'm not going to do any engineering tricks to compensate, right? Same money, same quality, right?


    When that is settled, that the original sound is good and my gear are working properly... THEN it's time to start engineering the mix. I just want to make sure my Kemper is working properly... and that I am working the Kemper properly. :)

    Hi


    My clip above is just dual tracked, 100% left and right , no magic otherwise - just the standard HP/LP and made marginally louder. The guitar I used was a Jem77V with Dimarzio Breed pickups tuned in Drop C.


    D

    Even if I doubled and hardpanned L/R, mine wouldn't sound as good as that. Yours sounds awesome! Do you have any opinion what the reason is?



    I think it's either the guitar or the Kemper. If I knew it's the guitar - problem solved - I will go and buy a new one. But I would really like to hear some opinions what the reason could be before I start the whole process of acquiring a new guitar.

  • post a di track, the profile you are using, and the reamped track of your di using the profile with no effects or eq tweaks. one of can do the same reamp and we can compare the output file.


    Similarly one of us can do the same thing and you can reamp and you can see if you get the same result.


    The kemper can sound terrible if the profile is terrible, or the guitar is bad or has electronic problems.

  • post a di track, the profile you are using, and the reamped track of your di using the profile with no effects or eq tweaks. one of can do the same reamp and we can compare the output file.


    Similarly one of us can do the same thing and you can reamp and you can see if you get the same result.


    The kemper can sound terrible if the profile is terrible, or the guitar is bad or has electronic problems.

    Preferably using spdif if possible. And if so, make sure to note the clean sens setting, which will make it possible to do the correct gain staging.

  • Even if I doubled and hardpanned L/R, mine wouldn't sound as good as that. Yours sounds awesome! Do you have any opinion what the reason is?

    You are right. But you compared your sound to MentaL, somebodywho did the most common "trick", have 2 guitars panned hard left/right, preferrably double tracked. That just makes a tremendous difference - if done properly.


    You ask why your Kemper sound different, even after double tracking?


    I was not 100% sure if MentaL actually really double-tracked (or did a mix trick). Thats because he is a very accurate player. If your own timing is bad the double tracking might sound even worse than the original.


    To tell the truth: with that quite OK sound you picked on your Kemper any excellent guitar player would sound - well - excellent. Much, really much, if not more :D , is coming from the fingers.


    Suggestion: shouldnt Kemper provide some state-of-the-art DI signals for some major styles and provide those to the not so advanced yet players? Wouldnt this give them confidence that their amp is more than capable and that ultra-finetuning an amp is less productive than just playing it, practicing, having fun...?

    Ne travaillez jamais.