The good way to record

  • Hi everybody!


    I just bought my Kemper and oh boy.... I will selling a few heads and cabs that's all I am saying!! :D totally overwhelmed by the amp rigs out there in cloud!


    As you guys noticed I am a total newbie so I have a few questions and was hoping somebody could help out! I've watched a few videos online and they all touch the routing but none teach about the best settings to record.


    So at the moment this is what I am doing:


    1) I have one and only one XLR cable going from the main output Left and straight into my presonus audiobox channel 1. First question is should I use XLR or TS or is it irrelevant?
    2) In the output settings page 2 I have the main output set to -23db and then I regulate on the master volume. Is this acceptable? because for some reason I am getting amazing tone when I put the headphones directly in the kemper, but when I try to record in my DAW the sound is not so good (might also be my poor fostex monitors) but I wanted to check with you guys. I also have the mixer in the presonus audiobox set almost to max, but the tone is not all that...
    3) In the Main output there are two options, Main Mono and Main Stereo. Should I use Main Mono or Main Stereo to record? Main Stereo sounds way better when I record, but I don't know if that is the right way to do it. I am recording 2 tracks and pan them left and right.


    Thanks in advance!! :D^^

  • Best way (imo) is through spdif but main outs are fine. XLR is better, but shouldn't make much of a difference if your ts cables are short. Take some pictures of your output settings display pages, that should make thing easier to determine.

  • Welcome :D


    I'm new too and I'll share my experience with recording through Propellerhead Balance audio interface.


    I'm using cables XLR -> TRS from Main kemper out to Interface input (balanced connections).


    First I have connected to the interfaces's "audio inputs" and I was a bit disappointed because the sound was not that much clear as I have expected so I was looking through forums and people was saying that better is to use spdif for recording kemper so I was looking for audio interface with spdif input and for some very good ones prices was a bit high and some mid range interfaces wasn't without problems.
    Also i have found that kemper has really good analogue audio output signal and is worth to use audio output for recording too.
    I gave one more chance to my audio interface and I have tried all inputs and I noticed that "Guitar" input (which is balanced too) has really clear sound, better than other "analogue inputs"!

    So now I don't need to use spdif because I'm happy with Main Output and with my audio interface which has ultra low latency on usb2! :D


    Personally I always recommend balanced connections if available for analogue audio connections

  • Welcome, Tony!


    If your interface has good-sounding convertors, you might as well use the analogue outs.


    No, there's no real difference - the TS and XLR outs carry the same signal. For short cable runs the TS option is just-fine; I'll be using this myself.


    Yes, if you're recording stereo, set to stereo. If you're recording mono, using, say, only the left output, then set to mono.


    Good luck mate and congratulations on your new baby!

  • You guys are rockstars, thank you so much for the support!


    Monkey_Man, when you say if I m recording in stereo, you mean tracking 2 tracks at the time right? (Sorry man I am total newbie with this, I always used to plug the guitar into the interface and record with VST)


    I will take some pics of my settings ans post later!

  • Hey, no worries, man.


    No, I was referring to what you said in point "3" - that you're recording stereo and panning hard left and right.


    I also mentioned setting the outputs (in the Output menu) to mono because in point "1" you said you were recording mono from the left output.


    Cheers Tony.


    EDIT:
    I see. You're not sure which way to go. Here's my rule of thumb:


    1) If there's a stereo effect you feel you must use and you cannot reproduce it using plugins on a mono-recorded track, record in stereo from the KPA.


    2) In all other instances, I'd record mono. If you listen to an amp cabinet from any reasonable distance, you'll notice that the sound comes from a single-point source, no? IOW, it's not spread out like a piano, drum kit or glockenspiel. This is why it makes sense to record mono in order to reproduce this "reality", IMHO. It'll also sound more-focussed (pin-point accurate) panning-wise in the mix.

  • 1) I have one and only one XLR cable going from the main output Left and straight into my presonus audiobox channel 1. First question is should I use XLR or TS or is it irrelevant?
    2) In the output settings page 2 I have the main output set to -23db and then I regulate on the master volume. Is this acceptable? because for some reason I am getting amazing tone when I put the headphones directly in the kemper, but when I try to record in my DAW the sound is not so good (might also be my poor fostex monitors) but I wanted to check with you guys. I also have the mixer in the presonus audiobox set almost to max, but the tone is not all that...
    3) In the Main output there are two options, Main Mono and Main Stereo. Should I use Main Mono or Main Stereo to record? Main Stereo sounds way better when I record, but I don't know if that is the right way to do it. I am recording 2 tracks and pan them left and right.

    • This depends on the audio-interface used. The KPA produces a line-level signal, either balanced (XLR) or unbalanced (1/4" jack). Some audio-interfaces assume that anything on XLR is a microphone, some accept balanced input on jack etc. The following are examples of things that work ok.
      • KPA/XLR to TRS line-input on audio interface (need converter cable)
      • KPA/XLR to XLR on audio-interface works if the audio-interface takes line-level input on XLR
      • KPA/TS to audio-interface TS/TRS provided that the input autosenses the unbalanced conneciton
    • KPA/XLR to a XLR mic input may work fine with reduced output on the KPA as you mention. This also works well for live configurations. For the best results you should try to achieve a level from the KPA that works such that you can have the audio-interface or mixing console's input gain on 0db (no amplification). This eliminates any coloring of the sound that the mic-preamp in a mixing/recording console adds to the signal. You should however detach the main outputs from the master volume control. That will enable you to use master volume to adjust your stage/monitoring level with no effect on the signal going to mixing/recording.
    • You should record in stereo, either two individual mono-tracks panned hard left/right or record into a stereo-track, if you use stereo effects (reverb, delay, modulation) in the KPA. A rig that only use the amp-section can be recorded into a single mono-track with no loss of information, but I would generally always use stereo with the KPA. Stereo-tracks takes up twice the space of mono-tracks, but I don't consider that significant with modern computers/storage-systems.

    Use S/PDIF for recording if you have an audio-interface with S/PDIF I/O. That way you eliminate som D2A and A2D-conversions that really add nothing except possibly some noise.

    Edited 2 times, last by heldal ().

  • Guys again, thank you so much for taking the time elaborating those replies, I really appreciate it! I shall try later on tonight to implement your advice!!


    I can still track in Master Stereo two tracks and still pan them two to hard left/right right?

  • Of course, man.


    I'm just saying that unless you're using a stereo effect on the Kemper and need to record that, there's no point in recording stereo.


    There are several good reasons to record in mono, and I gave one of them earlier. Another might be that it takes half the disk space and will help you squeeze more project tracks out of a slow hard drive 'cause stereo tracks are in effect two tracks.

  • 1) I have one and only one XLR cable going from the main output Left and straight into my presonus audiobox channel 1. First question is should I use XLR or TS or is it irrelevant?
    2) In the output settings page 2 I have the main output set to -23db and then I regulate on the master volume. Is this acceptable? because for some reason I am getting amazing tone when I put the headphones directly in the kemper, but when I try to record in my DAW the sound is not so good (might also be my poor fostex monitors) but I wanted to check with you guys. I also have the mixer in the presonus audiobox set almost to max, but the tone is not all that...
    3) In the Main output there are two options, Main Mono and Main Stereo. Should I use Main Mono or Main Stereo to record? Main Stereo sounds way better when I record, but I don't know if that is the right way to do it. I am recording 2 tracks and pan them left and right.



    Hi tony
    I also have this problem


    Direct sound is much better
    But the recorded sound is not good


    I want to know if the problem is resolved with S/PDIF ?
    thank you guys