Quick guide: record guitar

The idea: you record the guitar clean (DI) just once and build the sound later with an amp sim on the inserts. Every preset change is heard on the same take, without playing again.

Guitarvolume all the way up

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DI inputfront of the iD44

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Mono trackfader at 0 dB

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Amp simon the inserts

1. The guitar

• Volume all the way up. The level is controlled from the iD44, never from the instrument.
• Tone as you always use it. What you record stays fixed.
• Nothing in between: no pedals or inline tuners.
• In tune, and check the tuning before each take.

2. The iD44

A mono instrument cable (6.35 mm TS) to one of the DI inputs on the front. They belong to channels 1 and 2, and plugging in replaces that channel’s mic. Note which one you used.

• 48V: off.
• 100 Hz filter: off. On the DI you record the whole range; the lows get trimmed in the mix.
• −10 dB pad: off, except for the active pickup case.
• Gain: the only knob that defines what gets recorded. You set it in step 4.
• Headphone or monitor volume: to taste. To hear yourself louder you touch this, never the gain.

In the iD mixer lower or mute the guitar channel and keep the DAW return up. Otherwise you’ll hear both the clean signal and the amp sim at once.

3. Studio One

• Format: 48 kHz and 24 bits.
• Buffer: 64 or 128 samples when recording. If there are dropouts or clicks, raise it one step.
• Input: in Song Setup → Audio I/O Setup, create a mono input for each DI channel, with a clear name like “Guitar DI”.
• Track: audio and mono, with that input, armed (red button) and with monitoring (blue button).
• Fader at 0 dB: it doesn’t change what gets recorded, and this way the meter shows what’s coming in.

4. The level

1. Keep the amp sim off or not loaded.
2. Play the loudest part of the song, with a hard pick attack.
3. Raise the iD44 gain from the bottom until peaks sit between −12 and −6 dBFS.
4. Don’t touch it again for the whole song, and take a photo of the knob to repeat it another day.

A clean DI sounds low and weak. That’s normal: the amp sim lifts it later, and at 24 bits there’s plenty of margin.

5. The amp sim

Load BIAS FX or Helix Native on the track’s inserts. You hear the processed sound, but Studio One records what comes in before the inserts: the file stays clean.

• Plugin input: at its default value. For more distortion, use the amp’s gain or a pedal.
• Plugin output: the output should never reach 0, with peaks around −10 to −6 dBFS.
• To check the DI with the plugin loaded: turn off the insert, watch the meter while playing hard and turn it back on. With the plugin active, the meter shows the processed output and not what’s being recorded.

If it’s a rhythm part

Record two different takes of the riff, which then get panned 100% to each side. Copying a take and shifting it doesn’t work. It’s explained in the rhythm and double tracking section.

Checklist

Expected result