Recreating your guitar stompbox effects while tracking?

maximumpower
I have stompbox effects that I like to use(Empress SDVM, Strymon Mobius, Eventide H9). What is  the best way to recreate these sounds when tracking?
 
For the sake of argument, I want to explore micing my cabinet (as opposed to using an amp sim, such as: Guitar Rig, S-Gear, ABG etc...).
 
1) I could set up my rig how I like (with effects) and simply mic it. (cons: this would be in mono and would print the sound with the effects applied)
2) I could mic it with no effects then look at adding effects using plugins to try to get a similar sound. (cons: I don't have all the plugins to exactly mimic my stompboxes but this might be acceptable)
3) I could re-track while running through the hardware stompbox effects in stereo, which would maintain the original track (cons: additional latency???)
4) While tracking, run the mic through the stompboxes abd then into the soundcard. This would allow tracking in stereo but has the same con as option 1.
 
Are there other methods I am missing?
 
How do you normally do it?
 
Thanks

Hi max,
 
Good questions on this. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers or remedies that I'm aware of and I'll tell you why. I'll go down your list and give you my personal experience with this stuff.
 
1. Don't ever worry about stereo vs mono in recording a guitar sound. Allow me to set a few things straight for you that are important. First off, there is no such thing as a stereo guitar sound other than the effects that give you stereo imaging. Distortion is not a stereo effect. The only time you get true stereo is if you record the guitar two times in two independent passes. The parts must be played two times. Anything else is just a stereo image using effects. You're always better off recording two rhythm tracks, so don't count the mono aspect as a "con".
 
As far as your other con, yes, unfortunately your effects would print. The problem here is, it's going to be ery hard to reproduce those effects using plugins. I've tried to replicate some of my rack effects using plugs and on certain things, it's just not going to happen unless I:
 
a) print with the effect and keep doing it until I record with just the right amount
b) use Sonar's external insert ability and run the effect that way.
 
The external insert will allow you to run your effects in real time that way, BUT....this is not a good idea for some pedals. Pedals (as you probably know) sound the best when they are right in your signal path. Meaning, going right from guitar, into the pedals and then into the amp/source. Stuff like over drive, distortion, eq, wah and all non ambient effects sound great right into the amp.
 
Reverbs, delays, harmonizers (certain manufacturers) chorus, flanger, phase or special effects, all sound good going through an effects loop or, Sonar's external insert. They usually don't sound good going direct into your amp/source. So stuff like that would be ok for the external insert path in Sonar.
 
2. You can try mic'ing and then attempting to replicate your effects, but you probably won't fair too well unless you have a pretty wide array of plugs. I have quite an arsenal and nothing I have comes close to some of my effects. Nothing will replace the Eventide unless you buy the Eventide plugs. I don't even know if they are available for Windows. The last I checked, they were MAC only. Chorus, flange, phaser....stuff like that, you should have no problems copping those with the Sonitus plugs or even the old Cake FX suite. Some great stuff in there. If you don't have older versions of Sonar, you won't have the FX suite. I always liked those and still use them today from my older versions of Cakewalk/Sonar. But as you suspected, some of your effects just won't be reproduced the way you would hope. :(
 
3. I've never tried to do this so I don't know what the result would be. Again, don't sweat the stereo thing. You can literally record a mono track in Sonar, add plugins and it will automatically put the track in stereo due to the plugins. In older versions of Sonar, we had to click the stereo interleave button on the track to do this, but today with newer versions of Sonar, any effect that is built into Sonar that is put in the FX bin on a mono track, *should* be in stereo due to the plug. If it sounds mono, just click the the stereo interleave button on the track and you'll hear the difference. But remember, distortion is not a stereo effect and will never be in stereo no matter what you do to it.
 
Even if you set a track up for stereo and put two mic's on a cab, it will not print in stereo. You need two independent sound sources. If you had two cabs with a stereo chorus running with two amps, you'd be stereo imaging because the signal itself is the same. Just the chorus would be making the sound go into stereo imaging mode.
 
Now if you recorded one guitar track in mono and then recorded yourself playing that same guitar track again, panned one hard left, the other hard right, THEN you'd have true, real stereo. Try that if you never have....it obliterates stereo imaging for rhythm guitars. The human timing inconsistencies as well as playing the track two times is what brings this to life.
 
Now for lead guitars, I never double track them unless it's for effects purposes. Stereo imaging is perfect for lead guitar, vocals, and any single focal point instrument. We take the mono track, we put stereo effects on it, and the stereo imaging does the rest. This is my method.
 
4. It's something you can try, but I wouldn't even go there. I'd print the track with your effects the way you like them, and then print the track again so you have played the rhythm tracks two independent times. Pan hard left/right and see how it sounds. Then, assess if you recorded with too much effects. If so, back them down and repeat the recording process. It sucks at first to do it this way, but unless you can replicate those effects, there's no other way I can think of that will cure your problem.
 
I record with effects on my guitars all the time. I've been doing this 100 years, so I sort of have an idea as to what is too much and what is just right. See, here's the thing. Sometimes the effects we use literally help to make and create the guitar tone we have. There is nothing wrong with using effects destructively in this manner. BUT....if the effects are too dominant, it can of course go against you. This is why it's better to add them while mixing. But in your situation, you don't have that luxury nor do I with some of the stuff I use that just can't be reproduced. So just keep at it and record a few takes until you hear how the effects sound within the mix. You'll find that happy medium within 5 tries. :) Good luck man!
 
-Danny

I wrote an article for the Cakewalk blog called Basics: Five Questions about Using Stompboxes with Sonar. The advice in the thread is great, but you might find it helpful as well.