Rise—my entry in the Pro Tone Pedals Winter Riff Wreckage contest

Did you know there is a Pro Tone Pedals Winter Riff Wreckage contest going on right now? Well, there is. I know because I decided to enter (plus I like to keep up to date with all-things Pro Tone Pedals on account of my awesome Skumstortion pedal). Anyhow, you’re probably wondering how terrible my entry is. Never fear! My entry (also embedded at the end of this article) is terrible in playing ability, but awesome in tone. I’m hoping that helps me win the third prize of kudos.

Regardless of the outcome, you can learn how I made my recording by continuing to read this article.

To record the awesome tone of the Skumstortion pedal I first needed an awesome clean tone. I did this by plugging my guitar—the equally awesome custom Reedsdale I had made by Moniker Guitars—into my Skumstortion pedal (bypassed for now) which was then plugged into the IK Multimedia StealthPlug. The StealthPlug plugs into my PC which allows me to then dial up the AmpliTube clean tube amp (see screenshot below) in Reaper which I’d originally purchased in the AmpliTube Custom Shop. Simple!

What followed next was layer after layer of recorded guitar parts (including a bass track) and one drum track. In regards to the guitars, I recorded two tracks of clean guitar (using the bridge pickup on my Moniker Guitars custom Reedsdale) so people would be able to initially hear how different the Skumstortion pedal sounded once it was kicked in. When it did kick in, I varied the style and approach of the guitar playing so the tonal variety could be heard (allowing for my limited guitar playing skills). I did this by recording the following parts the following ways:

  • Introductory lead guitar using the Skumstortion pedal on the bridge pickup.
  • Secondary lead guitars (dual tracked) using the Skumstortion pedal on the neck pickup.
  • Introductory rhythm guitars (dual tracked) using the Skumstortion pedal on the bridge pickup.
  • Secondary rhythm guitars (quad tracked) using the Skumstortion pedal on the bridge pickup.
  • Final lead guitars (dual tracked) using the Skumstortion pedal on the bridge pickup.

All distorted tracks were recorded using the same settings on the Skumstortion pedal. They were:

  • Volume – 1 o’clock
  • Drive – 12 o’clock
  • Tone – 1 o’clock

The tracks were all recorded in Reaper (as previously mentioned) and then fine tuned using the IK Multimedia T-RackS Deluxe suite. That is such a seriously cool collection of plugins. I only downloaded those recently and I’m amazed at the difference they make. I don’t believe I edited the tone too much, but I cleaned the overall sound up a lot more than I’ve ever been able to do. I’ll have to write more on the subject at a later date.

The only other thing I’d say I did differently this time round (compared to other times I’ve recorded guitar) was I used one of my new Record Picks. So I guess I made music with music this time! Perhaps that’s why I don’t mind this recording. Things may be looking up for me in regards to my own audio recording comfort levels thanks to all this combined gear! Feel free to listen to the track below and let me know what you think.

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