In the mix

  • I'm still in the "getting a feel for the wheel" stage of the KPA. I've loaded up a bunch of great profile packs and am now playing around with guitars, profiles and songs to see who wants to go where.


    While this is certainly not a unique feature among modelers, I'm very much enjoying the ease of use and interplay between Rig Manager, my guitars, and a Cubase session. As most folks doubtless know, an amp can sound jaw-droppingly awesome when you're just standing there playing guitar. And yet, that very same sound can be quite lacking once dropped into the mix.


    It's a lot of fun to just lean back, dial in sounds and play guitar. However, the past day or so I've been doing the opposite, auditioning sounds and playing guitar exclusively within the context of a given song I'm working on. Even though I already knew this, it still surprises me how a sound that I was totally in love with playing guitar in isolation just doesn't do it in the mix, while another choice I never would have made with guitar alone is in fact the perfect profile.


    Too much fun. :)

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • That's exactly the reason I recommended to ALWAYS record the DI track, no exception, ever.

    If you're new to mixing, it will take you a while to figure out how a guitar sound should be massaged so it fits nicely in the mix. Best option to have a DI track for reamping so you can 100% focus on the sound instead of playing the same shits over and over again. :D

    Just send the DI track to your Profiler, loop a specific section in your DAW and then start messing with your amp, cab, fx sounds.

    There's no law that requires you to actually use the reamped signal in your mix. Feel free to play it again, maybe you want to change pickup, volume, tone anyway? Maybe you want to try another pick?


    Experimenting is fun and important, lots of stuff to be learned. ;)


    Even for professionals (engineers, musicians) I would highly recommend to ALWAYS record DI tracks!

  • That’s the reason I recommend making your choices the way you’re doing it; in context.

    And then not second guessing them later.

    Good heavens, man. If you're able to eliminate all of my second guessing, how is my therapist going to feed her kids? :)

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10