I was eager to try out some reamping for the new album, but we’re still not quite ready to finalize all the guitar tracks yet. This matters because I want to reamp all ten songs in one session — that way, there's no risk of sound drift due to a bumped mic or an interface level accidentally getting changed between sessions.

The Setup

Signal chain:

  • Ableton output set to channel 3 (raw DI track, no processing)
  • Audient iD14 interface
  • Radial passive reamp box
  • Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini (as a boost)
  • Empress Heavy (for distortion)
  • MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe (for wet lead delay sections)

Despite not being fully ready, I decided to run a test and spent some time dialing in my amp and mic'ing it up. I used a typical Shure SM57, pointed right at the seam between the dust cap and the cone. I recorded a few test samples moving the mic around in that area, but the seam position ended up being my favorite.

Initially, I tried turning down the gain on the Empress Heavy to match the slightly more restrained tone of my amp sim. But once I hit the palm-muted section of Dead Season Again, I realized I needed more gain — it just wasn’t hitting with the low-end punch I wanted.

Then it happened: I started to grin.

Hearing my tracks come alive through the real amp setup, with a bit of low-pass filtering and EQ in Ableton, I realized this was a step up. It sounded cleaner yet heavier, with a slightly darker character — which had been one of my main complaints with the amp sim.

Tracking Highlights

I retracked:

  • Scintillation
  • Dead Season
  • Something With Certainty

Each got two reamped guitar tracks (The same part hard-panned left and right), and I manually kicked in the delay pedal for the lead sections. After importing these takes back into the original project, it was clear: I had landed on something better. I already liked our tone, but this pushed it to the next level.

What's Next

There are still a few minor tweaks before I commit to reamping the full project in one sitting, but I feel confident and excited about where this is headed.

I also want to:

  • Build a parallel track tone using the Heavy Metal pedal
  • Explore a clean tone featuring the Keeley Caverns

Maybe I’ll include some audio from these experiments in a future post.

- R