TECH TIP

What is reamping and why should I care?

Back in the 1950s, a young man named Les Paul started messing around with tape recorders. He would record his guitar and then play the recording back through another guitar amp while adding new tracks as he played along. To create ambience, he would place the amp at the end of a long tunnel-like basement to create reverb and echo. This is the first known application of reamping.

In the 1960s, the Beatles took reamping to the next level. The process was also used all the time in Motown. In the 1970s and '80s bands like Steely Dan took it to another step. They would hire on amazing musicians, record their performances and then, after the guitarist was sent home, would drive the recorded performance through a guitar amp to create new sounds to better fit the production. This also allowed producers to move the microphones around in the room and add effects to get the sound just so. Back then, only top-end studios could afford to reamp because they had access to 24-track recorders that would often be synchronized with other 24-track machines. With unlimited tracks, you could compare sounds, go back to original performances, and truly fix the mix as the recording progressed. Today even home studio rigs offer extensive multitracking This means that what was once the sole domain of the top-end studio is now available to all players at every level.

The process of reamping is easy: Connect the electric guitar to a good direct box like the Radial J48 from the balanced output to the recorder. Connect the 1/4" throughput to the guitar amp. Put a mic in front of the guitar amp as you usually do. Have the guitarist play and monitor his amp as usual, only save the 'clean' direct track for later use. You will now have two tracks: (A) the guitar-amp track and (B) the clean, direct from guitar track. Now, take the output from your recorder and send the (B) clean guitar track to the Radial X-Amp. The X-Amp is equipped with a balanced +4dB line level input and two outputs. You can connect these to two amplifiers, effects pedals, or combinations thereof. There are two ground lift switches plus output 2 is transformer-isolated to help eliminate ground loops. Adjust the X-Amp's output volume to a suitable level. You can now replay the clean track as many times as you like without the guitarist ever getting tired and fading out. You can also move the mics in the room until you get the right ambience. And of course you can change the tone of the amp and effects until you find cool sounds that you like. Best of all, you can record several experiments and save them for later playback. In the final mix, you can combine these tracks to create rich textures or your own version of the infamous wall of sound.

The difference between basic recording and professional studios often comes down to the equipment and the ability to get the most out of a performance. By reamping guitar tracks with a Radial X-Amp, the project studio can achieve sounds that until recently have been the sole domain of the high-end studio. Best of all, the X-Amp is very affordable!

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