A new approach to recording...
 

During this lock-down I am trying new things...

I used one of my older songs to demo the Amplitube amp simulation plug-ins from Fender Collection 2, this one is the '57 Tweed Pro, and I also used the '63 Tube reverb plug-in. I think it blends nice with the acoustic mic'd up finger-picked tone of my Martin HD28. Before this I was not so into using plug-ins.

These are the guitars I used...

https://i.imgur.com/F8vvgKe.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/RvUstUQ.jpg?1

and here's a totally electric song with the same plug-in my Zemaitis guitar...




https://i.imgur.com/nYsGUt7.jpg?1

I like it. Sounds great. Nice job!

Amplitube just on the electric part?

I can't say that I ever had a "no plugins" attitude, but these days going direct with FX in the box has so many advantages, especially for recording at home. Being able to tweak and change things after the fact is great, being able to try "equipment" you don't have, and being able to get monster tones without blowing out your family and neighbors. :)

Even acoustically, being able to EQ, compress and add nice reverb without a rack of physical gear is amazing.

Yes - Amplitude on the electric guitar
Rode Classic 2 mic - on the lead vocal
Violet Globe Vintage mic - on the Martin

You hit the nail on the head when you said "Being able to tweak and change things after the fact is great, being able to try "equipment" you don't have, and being able to get monster tones without blowing out your family and neighbors" I own a lot of amps that can cop similar tones to the amps they model in this Fender amp collection 2. So I can try out a bunch of different models, but when I find the amp I like best, I can use the actual amp later when I can record loud! But to be clear, these models are so good that, sometimes, the guitar tracks I record with them are good enough!

My bedroom where I record in my house is very close to my neighbors house, so no guitar amps at night. And many times I can record acoustic guitars and vocals when my girl is out working, and when she comes home from work, or when she goes to sleep at night, I can record/overdub electric guitar parts!

Thanks you Mr X :)

Both songs sound great although my preference goes to the first one (I am not too keen on heavy distortion).
Great work on both anyway :)

Those tracks both sound great to me, Daniel! Well done!

How does that Zemaitis guitar compare with a Les Paul?

- Glenn

Sounds great! Nicely lit as well!

Nice work Daniel! Both tracks sound really good :)

Oh Glenn, I'm sorry it took me so long to respond as I didn't notice that you responded here.

I would say the Zemaitis is more like a good Gibson SG, not as thick in neck pickup tone as a Les Paul. But the mods on mine push it more in line with a single coil pickup tone, like a rounder sounding Telecaster, which to me, blends so well with my acoustic guitars even in a dense mix like this...



As you've probably noticed I have more than a few guitars as I started buying them for different tone options for recording, and then it even turned into a hobby to collect a bit. But I can say this, of all my guitars, this particular Zemaitis may be my favorite guitar of all of mine. It just feels like it's an extension of my musical personality. And besides the tone that I love, it's a reasonably light guitar, and the neck shape is sublime. A funny thing, the person selling this guitar used, confused this with a much cheaper low level Zemaitis guitar that it looks very close too. He sold it to me for peanuts, so even with the extensive modifications I did, all the electronics including pickups, tuners, knobs, it was still fairly inexpensive with the total cost being around $1100. And I favor this guitar over guitars that I've spent three times that much on. I feel that this instrumental song, which I recorded in about ten minutes, sounds most like I do if you were to see playing locally at bar near you, and it's the electric sound that I like. If I dig in, it gets thick sounding like a Gibson, but when I lay back it cleans up perfectly. It's very organic sounding. Even clean the notes have a roundness.




This is the original ad for these guitars...

https://i.imgur.com/7W0KmKV.jpg?1

Thanks for listening guys!!!