AndyR's "useful" Patch Settings from his retiring BR1600

[AndyR]

I'm switching to PreSonus Studio One at the moment and I was collating the settings from the patches I used on the BR1600 so that I can set them up as FX Chains in Studio One. Someone asked if I'd mind sharing them. I said I'd post them up here when I'm done.

I'm done, I've got everything I want. It's been very useful for me - the Bass Squasher and Guit Squasher settings have already been tried and tested in my DAW and have drastically improved the mix of the (already recorded) parts in my little "learning the DAW" demo - especially the bass part, whoa!

I think these settings in this format are really only of interest to users of a BR1600 or related (BR1200 for certain, not sure which other models will have the same algorithms).

But...

Now that I am done, apart from the Bass Squasher, I'm really not that convinced it's all that exciting or useful for ANYONE!

It's mostly Boss presets (I used the Boss presets for Vocal and Mastering, sometimes tweaking them, often not), and my copies of the 8 channel limiter preset, twiddled for the way I wanted to use them.

I never used any of the fancy reverbs/delays/amps/etc. I found I didn't need them. My bass amp sounds come from a Line6 POD XTLive, my guitar amp sounds came from the same beast originally, then a Vox ToneLab LE, then a Laney valve amp, then a Yamaha THR 10C, now a Yamaha THR 100 HD. My keyboards came from a Yamaha student piano, now a Korg, and a Roland organ module. That's it.

All I needed was a decent Reverb, Delay, and Chorus - and they're on the tracks in the CHANNEL EDIT / LOOP EFFECTS section of the BR.

Actually, that's how I'm approaching Studio One as well. I've tried the fancy plugins with names I recognise (eg Native Instruments) that came with it for free. But, to be honest, I prefer the PreSonus basic plugins for EQ, Reverb, Delay and wotnot.

Anyway, I've listed all the settings of each patch I used on the BR1600, added some explanation of when I used them, and then converted the doc to a pdf. It's attached to this post.


Btw, I'm fairly certain the knowledge to set up the Bass Squasher actually came from the pdf Flash Harry linked to in the Recording and Production tips topic a while back.

This is not the first time a link to this document has been posted here, I think Ferryman turned me onto this.

It's really worth a read, it's very approachable and there's some good information in it.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.gearslutz.com/board/attachments/so-much-gear-so-little-time/693506d1505887264-how-take-home-recording-next-level-pro-quality-yep_betterrecordings_09.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwirvoyZ88rrAhXJi1wKHbjqB00QFjACegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw0RoiNMm5gdC-dKXiTTzFks

This isn't the only source, some boards have the same content, this is a handy PDF

It's DEFINITELY worth a read. I first read it in the original format (still there: https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=29283) and it was pretty bluddy life-changing on the recording side of things for me. It was learning this stuff that sowed the seeds of "I need to go back to using a DAW one day" a few years ago.

Another thing that I STILL use is "The Equalisation Primer (The Complete Lesson On Getting Started With EQ)" by Robert Dennis.
I've been using it a lot in the past week and wondering why some people's plugins don't have calibration on their knobs that enables me to dial in what I want!!

I have a ten year-old, dog-eared, printed copy on a clipboard on the desk in my studio.
The places where it was originally posted have gone, I found a link to a badly formatted copy here: https://www.wsfcs.k12.nc.us/cms/lib/NC01001395/Centricity/ModuleInstance/84805/The%20EQ%20Primer.pdf

[Woodlake]

Thank you Andy!  I really appreciate you going to the effort of putting it in a format to share.
I'm going to need a bit of time to digest it all
I'll look up those other references you mentioned too - much appreciated.

It seems ironic that you are leaving the BR1600 behind just as I joined the site, as I've picked up many tips and trick in reading through your old posts.

Still, I look forward to hearing what the new DAW inspires you to create in the future.

Cheers
Paul

[Woodlake]

I need to study the EQ primer I think - looks like a handy reference for sure.

I found a copy of the original post in the Way Back Machine Archives for anyone who wants to reference it:

https://web.archive.org/web/20050215160420/http://recordingwebsite.com/articles/eqprimer.php

Cheers

[T.C. Elliott]

That EQ Primer is a great resource and a great place to start. But be careful not to take it as law. For instance, most budget priced condenser microphones have a bump in the high range. If you use these types of microphones (and even some mid range mics do the same) and follow the advice of bumping up the 10k range on the lead vocal it might actually become piercing etc., because there has already been a bump from recording. Especially if you are layering vocal takes.

Thanks for the links. Interesting reading for sure.

[Woodlake]

Good advice TC.
As always, it's a case of use as a guide only, and let your ears to be the final judge.
As the BR doesn't have a graphical waveform to use as a guide, you have to use your ears anyway!

[AndyR]

A couple of weeks on - not sure I'm going to be using these presets I copied into Studio One...
They're in, and I've used them (Bass Squasher and Guit Squasher) - but I'm not sure that's the best way for me now in a DAW.
It was perfect for me on the BR.

My plan was to use them on my inputs, same as I did with the BR.

I think I will end up with something similar at some point, but I don't think these settings are necessarily "IT".

[StephenM]

Andy, I as well learned alot reading through your old posts about various recording techniques that I now use all the time....that make a huge difference.  You and Tim Green got me thinking about panning the reverb and delay etc.... i do that in various creative ways based on what I knew from before and things you guys said in your posts...you can get some really good things that way...

I do those things on the DAW when I am mixing... I don't mix often anymore on the Zoom or the BR...it's just to hard compared to the DAW...and I use a free one without all the bells and whistles called Bandlab....because I already know alot about it and it's easy and is good enough...

looking forward to hearing your new stuff... you were really good with the BR

thanks

[AndyR]

I'm working on one at the moment - hopefully finished this week.

We (me and Mrs R) are kinda stunned by the step up in "whoa!!" coming out of the speakers.

Hopefully I won't f**k it up too much between now and finishing

(I've already removed one set of electric guitars - they were very nice, but utterly utterly wrong for the song)

[SteveB]

Only just discovered this, AndyR, I have the BR1200, and I'm assuming these patches will be useful for that machine. Thank you for the work done and sharing. 

[StephenM]

ah yes, a very good thread, albeit a short one.  Sometimes, even lately, I drag out my BR1600 and play my guitar through it.  I really dig the sounds from it.  Some of the preset guitar patches and even bass patches I like alot and have a few that I altered. 
I have a downstream of this boss guitar multi effects processor called the ME-25.  It was not expensive when I got it but it came out way after the BR.  It was like $125 bucks.  I would say the sounds can be made similar but maybe a bit more modern? 
I don't really do what most players do... I dial up stuff until I get something that "turns me on" right now and play with that.... what I find though is I have a few songs where I used between 5 and 10 different tones/amp models/sounds (whatever you want to call it) on the guitar tracks, some even on the same track where I switched things at various points along the way of the song... I find it makes it lively and interesting. 
Having a Line 6 product though as Andy does I could see why you might not feel a need for anything else...

I actually recently recorded a song, completely using the BR to record the guitars and bass.  Then I sent them by analog out, the old school way, to my Zoom L-20 as a real time input and recorded the mixed down guitars and bass tracks to stereo tracks on the Zoom... then I added drums and vocals via my Zoom L-20.  I still ended up doing the final mix on Audacity and Bandlab though.... I like to process the vocals via those as they each have "tools" that I like to use. 
I find these days it about impossible to get digital files off the BR as it just will not be recognized by my newer computers.  I am actually thinking of taking my BR to a computer expert and seeing if they can somehow install a modern usb transfer somehow... I think a SD drive could be installed in one... but i don't know if I ever actually will...
alot of this is just constant learning and brain exercises... sure I like to hear the finished songs but the process of recording and mixing I enjoy as much as playing... I can see why people like Alan Parson's are the way they are... it must be very gratifying to achieve what a man like that has... one of his strengths seems to be also in finding newer talent that is unknown and incorporating that into his productions. 

As far as Boss recording goes I would have gone with a more modern Boss recorder over the Zoom stuff... however Boss seems to have gotten away from home recording stuff for the most part.... Zoom proved its value to me with the R24 portable unit.... while not cheap at around 500 dollars it is an amazing tool and extremely portable.  I do use it when on the road recording or for use outside or to record weather etc.  It has some great sounds for guitars and vocals and bass etc... some really unique stuff...
I have used it a number of times playing live at open mics.  Once in a while using some recorded bass and drum tracks along with playing through it.  I don't dig it as a live mixer although for a small group you could use it and I have done it before... it is not great for that though.
The Zoom L-20 is however a great live mixer/recorder and that is what it is more designed for than say home multitrack recording.  I do alot of multitrack recording with it and it works well because it has alot of channels with 16 mic or line inputs and the mic preamps are quite good... I have used it to mix a 6 person band live and it worked really great, but you can record on the fly all those channels too... and that is something great about a 1000 dollar mixer.  It is more toward new school but not quite as mixers nowadays are all using cat wire to send all the stage stuff to the mixer... the end of snakes... which were a pain on their own.  But I don't do anything that big so this works well for me.  It's also small enough that is easy and light to move. 
This thread is not about Zoom but I included it as maybe sometime some one might be contemplating changes to their set up and this might be helpful in decision making. 

I would also add that I see why every one uses DAW now... I pretty much don't (only have a very little) record live to the DAW... mostly because I have not been able to synch my Zoom to a DAW and get the output to work so it goes through.  I gave up trying to resolve it... It isn't that hard to take the tracks off the Zoom and move them to the computer so that is what I do...probably no one does it the way I do but it works for me... I am likely to never own another recorder/mixer after this one... I would never say never but....

I tried going to Cakewalk and to Reaper and a few others but after spending 30 minutes or so and could not even figure out how to import a track to work on I said "screw this" and went on back to stuff I could figure out fairly easy.  I am pretty good at reading technical literature and I have done plenty of it with the BR and Zoom devices but sometimes I am a bit saturated and don't want to go into more rabbit holes... while I love the technical end of it I also am a creator and don't want too much to impede that... but I would close this with this caveat.. everytime I spend the time to learn the newer processes or devices there are always clever things unlocked to me that I can use in the creative and spontaneous song approach...

and one last thing I considered Tascam heavily before I bought my Zoom products but in the end I went with Zoom... I don't regret it but I cannot comment on the Tascam products as I never tried anything beyond their old 4 track cassette tape multi track recorders of the 80's.