Recabinet 2.0 Modern and VintageUser Manual

©2009 Kazrog LLCRecabinet, Recabinet Modern, and Recabinet Vintage are registered trademarks of Kazrog LLC.All other products mentioned in this manual are registered to their associated manufacturers.

User Manual

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ContentsIntroduction 3

Requirements 3

Supported Software 4

Installation 4

Hooking Things Up 5

Using Recabinet 8

Recabinet Modern Cabinets 10

Recabinet Vintage Cabinets 11

The Microphones 14

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IntroductionThank you for purchasing or trying out Recabinet. Our goal with this product is to empower musicians and producers with the ability to get full, album-quality guitar and bass tone direct. Recabinet doesn’t try to be all things to all people - it coexists in an ecosystem of great music equipment and software.

Important Safety WarningOne suggested use of Recabinet is with the line level output (also called FX Send) of tube amplifiers. You must connect the tube amp’s speaker output to a speaker cabinet or load box, or you will damage your amp and risk electric shock!

DO NOT connect a speaker output to your audio interface!DO NOT power up your tube amp without a speaker or load box connected.

What is Recabinet?Recabinet is a library of convolution impulse responses, and is compatible with a wide variety of convolution impulse response software plugins. These plugins are designed to run in a variety of recording software for PC and Mac. Some of this software is free, and in our testing, is just as good as the paid software for use with Recabinet.

If you do not currently have recording software, we recommend Reaper for the PC, and GarageBand for the Mac. Reaper is free to try out, and inexpensive for non-commercial use. GarageBand is included with any Mac made in the last few years. If you do not currently have a convolution impulse response plugin, we rec-ommend keFIR for the PC, and LAConvolver for the Mac, both of which are free.

RequirementsPC or Mac running at least Windows XP or Mac OS 10.4 (respectively)•Computer Audio Interface•Guitar and/or Bass•Supported Recording Software (see next section)•Supported Convolution Impulse Response Plugin (see next section)•

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Supported SoftwareRecording Software

Apple Logic•MOTU Digital Performer•Steinberg Cubase/Nuendo•Digidesign Pro Tools•Reaper•…and anything else that can run VST, AU, or RTAS plugins!•

Convolution Impulse Response Compatible PluginsAltiverb•keFIR (free)•LAConvolver (free)•Overloud TH1•ProVerb (included with Digital Performer 6)•Revalver Mk III•SIR II•Space Designer (included with Logic Studio)•Voxengo Boogex (free)•Voxengo Pristine Space•…and any other plugin that supports standard convolution Impulse Responses (IRs) •

InstallationAltiverbTo install in Altiverb (the current version is 6.2 as of this writing) just drag the “Recabinet Modern/Vintage 2.x Mac and PC” folder into your Altiverb impulse responses folder. Then, rescan your Altiverb impulses folder in the Altiverb plugin by clicking the + gadget at the lower right corner of the IR Browser pane, and selecting “Rescan IR Folder” from the popup menu.

If you cannot see or use the Recabinet impulses once the rescan is complete, make sure you have at least Altiverb version 6.2.0 installed, and that you are using Altiverb as a mono instance on a mono track. Recabinet’s impulses are mono, and Altiverb will hide them from you on a stereo track insert.

Although Recabinet impulses were sampled at loud volumes, Altiverb will load the impulses about -10db quieter than they should be. You can make up for this by turning up the Output Gain - there is no sonic drawback to this.

AxeFXDownload the AxeFX specific version of your Recabinet product(s). Follow the IR installation procedure in the AxeFX manual.

keFIRSimply load the impulse you want from within the “Recabinet Modern/Vintage 2.x Mac and PC” folder. Rock out!

LAConvolverSimply load the impulse you want from within the “Recabinet Modern/Vintage 2.x Mac and PC” folder. Rock out!

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Overloud TH1Download the TH1 Edition of your Recabinet product(s). Use the appropriate installer for your operating system to install the Recabinet IRs into TH1’s library. Follow the instructions in the Overloud TH1 manual for the Cabinet IR module.

ProVerb (included with Digital Performer 6)Simply load the impulse you want from within the “Recabinet Modern/Vintage 2.x Mac and PC” folder. Rock out!

Revalver Mk IIIAdd an instance of the RIR impulse loader inside Revalver. Then, Simply load the impulse you want from within the “Recabinet Modern/Vintage 2.x Mac and PC” folder. To get the sound of the speakers as we captured them, engage the high resolution switch, and turn down the crunch and distortion all the way on RIR. That being said, there are no rules, have fun!

SIR2Simply load the impulse you want from within the “Recabinet Modern/Vintage 2.x Mac and PC” folder. Rock out!

Space Designer (included with Logic Studio)Simply load the impulse you want from within the “Recabinet Modern/Vintage 2.x Mac and PC” folder. Rock out!

Voxengo BoogexSimply load the impulse you want from within the “Recabinet Modern/Vintage 2.x Mac and PC” folder. Turn the “Tone” and “Drive” knobs all the way down to bypass Boogex’s preamp simulation (that is, unless you want to use Boogex as the preamp as well!) Adjust EQ and filtering to taste.

Voxengo Pristine SpaceSimply load the impulse you want from within the “Recabinet Modern/Vintage 2.x Mac and PC” folder. Pristine Space is a complex, serious plugin and we won’t attempt to document it here, since Voxengo’s manual does a ne job of that. :)

Hooking Things UpThere are a variety of ways to use Recabinet, and which way is best depends largely on what you have available and what your desired result is. Generally speaking, it is best to think of Recabinet as a speaker simulator - so everything else about your guitar sound - such as distortion or effects - must happen somewhere in the signal chain before or after Recabinet.

Generally, the best signal path is:Guitar or Bass --> Wah (if any) --> Distortion and/or Preamp --> Recabinet --> Effects (if any)

The next two pages contain example setup diagrams for your convenience.

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Guitar In

Line Out / FX Send

Guitar

Tube Am

p with Speaker or Load Box connected

Computer A

udio InterfacePC or M

ac with:

• Recording Software

• Supported Plugin

Line In

Tube Am

p Setup

Guitar In

Line Out

Guitar

Tube, Solid State, or Digital Pream

pCom

puter Audio Interface

PC or Mac w

ith:• Recording Softw

are• Supported Plugin

Line In

Preamp Setup

You must connect the tube am

p to a speaker cabinet or load box, or you will dam

age your amp and risk electric shock!

DO NOT connect a speaker output to your audio interface!

Example Setups

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Instrument In

Guitar or Bass

Computer A

udio InterfaceW

ith integrated or external D.I.

PC or Mac w

ith:• Recording Softw

are• Pream

p Simulation Softw

are• Supported Convolution Plugin

Direct Setup

Example Setups

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Using RecabinetFile Naming ConventionsRecabinet Impulse Responses (IRs) are organized in a folder hierarchy with descriptive naming conventions. The file naming conventions are outlined below:

[Cabinet Folder]/[Mic Folder]/[Power Tubes] [Mic] [Position] [Distance].[extension]

For example, the filename “6L6 57 cap grill.wav” means 6L6 power tubes, 57 mic, cap position, on the grill.

File Naming Terms6L6, EL34• = Two different kinds of power tubes, used for all 4x12 cabinets in Recabinet.Cap, Edge, Edge45, Cone• = Microphone positions shown in the mic position diagram on page 16.Grill, 0_5, 1, 4, 6, 12, FF• = Microphone distances, in order of closest to the cabinet to farthest. Numbers are in inches, 0_5 is 0.5 with the decimal point changed to an underscore for filename compatibility across different host plugins. “Grill” means the microphone is as close as possible to the speaker grille without actually touching it. “FF” stands for far-field, where the mic is positioned a few feet away from the cabinet.

Achieving Tone GoalsAchieving the desired guitar or bass sound using Recabinet is largely a matter of understanding the sounds of the real-world equipment that was sampled in the Recabinet libraries. We recognize that not everyone who uses Recabinet is as gear-obsessed as we are, so we’ve made an effort in this manual to provide an overview of the cabinets and mics from a music-context perspective.

Your tone is partially defined by what type of preamp you use before your signal hits the Recabinet IRs. Preamps come in many forms these days: rack units, pedals, and of course software preamp simulators. We provide a list of recommended preamps on the Recabinet website.

Basic Microphone Positioning PrinciplesGenerally speaking, the best place to mic up a guitar speaker cabinet is at the “edge” position of a speaker - where the dustcap meets the cone. This position offers the most accurate reproduction of the sound being produced by the speaker. Moving the microphone toward the dustcap results in more treble frequency pres-ence, and conversely moving it toward the cone results in more bass. Angling the microphone 45 degrees relative to the axis of the speaker results in “off-axis rejection,” an elusive and often desired effect in guitar recordings. All of these mic positions were used to create Recabinet IRs, painstakingly with each mic (with the exceptions where noted in The Cabinets section.)

In addition to position, the distance of the mic relative to the cabinet is also an important factor. Close in to the grill, the mic is subject to “proximity effect,” which exaggerates low end response. As the microphone is moved farther away from the cabinet, the sound becomes more spectrally balanced and accurate. At dis-tances of a few inches to a few feet, the room environment begins to play a larger role.

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Multiple IRsJust as in the physical analog world, it’s perfectly possible with Recabinet to get a great sound using a single mic on a single guitar cabinet. Recabinet IRs sound great on their own, and a good starting point is of course the venerable SM57 mic. With a 57-based IR and perhaps some good EQ and multi-tracking of guitar parts, you can get sounds that are very satisfying for just about any style of music.

You may find, however, that it is easier to get the desired guitar sound more rapidly by combining multiple IRs. The best way to do this is to create multiple tracks in your recording software, all of which either (a) are set to monitor your guitar/preamp input signal as you play your guitar in real-time or (b) contain duplicate audio of a guitar/preamp recording you’ve already made. Run an instance of your IR loader plugin with a different Recabinet IR on each of these tracks. Start with just 2 tracks to practice this technique. Mixing and matching mics, cabinets, positions, etc. will yield a wide variety of results.

If you want the sound of a particular cabinet, mixing two mics is often the best approach to getting a “full” sound that is still true to the feel of one cabinet. Here’s some mic combinations we’ve found particularly use-ful:

57 + 421•57 + 121•409 + 545•121 + 121 (at varying distances)•i5 + D6•

Feel free to experiment, and use even more simultaneous IRs. We’ve gotten cool results in our lab with as many as 8 simultaneous IRs!

Share Your Recordings and Get Free Tone Advice!Visit the Recabinet Forums at http://recabi.net/recabinet_forums/

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Recabinet Modern CabinetsPrefaceAll four cabinets in Recabinet Modern 2.0 use Celestion Vintage 30 speakers, powered at 8 ohms using the Randall RT2/50 tube power amp. Each cabinet/mic folder contains impulses captured with 6L6 and EL34 power tubes, for greater tonal variety.

Celestion Vintage 30 Speaker Frequency Response Graph

1960 4x12Sampled from a Marshall 1960AV 4×12

The 1960AV is known for a tight, aggressive, punchy, and full-bodied tone. This is a modern cabinet that traces its roots back to the classic Marshall cabinets of the 70s, and has become the modern industry standard for hard rock and heavy metal guitar sounds.

You will find a Marshall 1960AV in regular use at almost every major recording studio.

Excel 4x12Sampled from a Randall RS412XLT100 4×12

The Randall “XL” 4x12 is constructed with 3 4” 5-ply birch and is rear-loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s. This is a modern cabinet designed for some serious low end beef and high end sustain. Currently in use by many of the biggest bands in the modern metal scene, this cabinet has a voicing that is especially great for downtuned, tight, aggressive rhythm guitar.

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Ghandi 4x12Sampled from a Mesa Engineering Standard 4×12

The Mesa Engineering Standard 4x12 is an oversized, incredibly heavy (106 lbs.) Marine Grade Baltic Birch Cabinet loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s.

This cabinet is a popular choice for extreme low-tuned metal, especially with 7 and 8 string guitars. It also sounds great for other styles of music and more conventional tunings - and has a very smooth, articulate response across the entire frequency spectrum.

Tangerine 4x12Sampled from an Orange PPC412-C

The Orange PPC4x12C is built to last using extremely rugged construction and manufacturing techniques. The Power Projection Cabinet (PPC) is manufactured utilizing 13 ply high density 18mm birch plywood throughout.

This is a modern cabinet with a warm enough voicing for a classic “British” sound, yet a tight enough response for the most demanding high gain applications. The Orange PPC4x12C is currently enjoying a massive popular success with guitarists in every style of music.

Recabinet Vintage CabinetsPrefaceAll of the “cabinets” in Recabinet Vintage 2.0 (with the exception of the Green 4x12) are actually amplifier combos, consisting of tube-based preamps, poweramps, and speakers in a single enclosure. A popular approach to capturing convolution impulse responses of combos is to disconnect the preamp from the poweramp, and run the convolution test tones straight into the poweramp during impulse capture.

Kazrog has discovered, however, that the unique, timeless character of these amps is partially lost using this technique, so we instead ran the test tones straight into the preamp section via the regular guitar input jack, using a Cuniberti Reamp box to match impedance, and we ran any front controls on the combos to have flat EQ and no preamp distortion. For some combos, such as the Zodiac 2x12 and Blackface 4x10, we have included variations of the preamp voicing switches accessible from the front controls to provide more tonal variety.

All Recabinet Vintage IRs were sampled from the amp collection of Grammy Award-winning producer JJ Blair (with the exception of the Top Boost 2x12.) Thanks, JJ!

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Blackface 4x10Sampled from an original Fender 1965 Super Reverb 4x10 with Jensen Speakers

Already a staple of blues and rock guitarists, particularly those armed with Fender Stratocaster guitars, the Fender 1965 Super Reverb became even more legendary than ever in the hands of the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan.

In Recabinet Vintage, we’ve captured the voicing of both the Bright and Normal settings, and we’ve spent more than a few hours jamming out with the IRs with a Strat. For a very convincing SRV tone, try using a TS808 tube screamer pedal (or emulation) with these IRs.

Green 4x12Sampled from an original 1970s Marshall 4x12 with Celestion Greenback Speakers

This particular Marshall 4x12 cabinet isn’t just any Marshall cabinet from the 70s. Once owned by Warren DeMartini of legendary metal icons RATT, this cabinet is now part of Grammy-award winning producer JJ Blair’s collection of vintage amps.

The Green 4x12 is was powered at 8 ohms using the Randall RT2/50 tube power amp. Its mic subfolders contains impulses captured with 6L6 and EL34 power tubes, for greater tonal variety.

This cabinet is (somewhat surprisingly considering its considerable road-wear) incredibly smoothly voiced, perfect for nailing classic Page and Hendrix tones, as well as covering Van Halen territory and 80s metal exceedingly well.

Motown 1x15Sampled from an original 1960s Ampeg Portaflex B15N

The Ampeg Portaflex B15N is a legendary bass amp from the 60s, used by James Jamerson among other notable players. It is considered by many collectors to be the best bass amplifier of all time.

The Motown 1x15 folder contains an additional mic not used for any other cabinet in the entire Recabinet library - the legendary AKG D12 vintage kick drum mic, which gets a stunningly authentic, warm, vintage-style bass tone.

Note: Mic positioning is not as critical with a bass amp, hence there are fewer IRs of the Motown 1x15.

Mojo!

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Top Boost 2x12Sampled from a Vox AC30 reissue with Celestion Alnico Blue Speakers

The Vox AC30 is known for its bright, warm sound, and has been used on countless legendary recordings for decades.

With its straightforward “what you see is what you get” control format, the AC30 was a hit with artists from the very beginning. Popular during the ‘60s “British invasion,” to this day the AC30 is widely used by all kinds of guitarists performing in a huge range of musical styles.

In Recabinet Vintage, we sampled the AC30 in “Top Boost” mode.

Tweed 1x12Sampled from an original 1953 Fender Deluxe 1x12 with Jensen Speaker

The Fender Deluxe Tweed amps are legendary for their simplicity and warm tone. This amp is perfect for that “big small” sound made legendary by players such as Jimmy Page, Eric Johnson, Mike Campbell, and more.

This amp sounds best when miked up in the “edge” position, so in Recabinet Vintage, all of the Tweed 1x12 IRs were sampled this way.

Zodiac 2x12Sampled from a Selmer Zodiac Twin 30 with Celestion G12 T75 Speakers

The Selmer Zodiac Twin 30 in “croc skin” tolex, sold between 1963 and 1965, is the most unique amp we sampled for Recabinet Vintage, and it is our favorite. This amazing amp is the underrated reptilian mutant cousin of the Vox AC30, and offers a much wider tonal range and feature set.

Among many other unique features, the Zodiac has preset EQ settings operated by toggle switches on the control panel. In Recabinet Vintage, we captured every voicing mode, using the “edge” microphone position for each mic. We’re especially fond of “CONTRA BASS” mode for the most full-bodied clean sound in the universe!

Selmer Image Copyright GrouseGuitars.com.au

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The MicrophonesPrefaceAll microphones were recorded with an API 3124 mic preamp into Apogee Rosetta converters, into a Digidesign Pro Tools HD rig.

D6Sampled with an Audix D6 Kick Drum Microphone

The Audix D6 is a modern kick drum microphone, great for getting the low-end “rumble” from a guitar speaker cabinet.

i5Sampled with an Audix i5 Dynamic Microphone

The Audix i5 is a modern cardioid dynamic microphone, intended primarily for snare drum and guitar speaker cabinet applications. It has a sound similar to the industry standard Shure SM57, with a more scooped mid-range and aggressive top end response, as well as beefier low end.

U87Sampled with a Neumann U87 Condenser Microphone

Arguably the best known and most widely used studio microphone in the world (for good reason), the easy-to-recognize U87 is a classic! A distinctive design and legendary Neumann sound make this mic a must-have for pro studios. The U87 is known for its unique frequency and transient response characteristics which deliver a smooth natural sound with a variety of source material.

121Sampled with a Royer R-121 Ribbon Microphone

The Royer R-121 is a radically redesigned ribbon microphone and Royer’s flagship product. Like most ribbons, the Royer R-121’s pattern is figure 8, its sensitivity is roughly equal to a good dynamic mic, and it exhibits a warm, realistic tone. On guitar cabinets, it’s surprisingly dark at close range, and exhibits a flatter response at a distance of 4 inches or more. In Recabinet, we’ve sampled the Royer 121 at distances of 0, 0.5, 1, 4, 6, and 12 inches.

RTASampled with a DBX RTA-M Condenser Reference Microphone

The DBX RTA-M is an omnidirectional condenser reference microphone with a completely flat response. In Recabinet, its IRs are provided as an objective reference point, and are primarily aimed at AxeFX users who want to use the mic modeling features of the AxeFX. The RTA IRs include special “Far Field” (FF) position files, which provide an accurate feeling of being “in the room” with the speaker cabinet.

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409Sampled with a Sennheiser MD409 Dynamic Microphone

The Sennheiser MD409 is a vintage dynamic microphone, known for its warm response. Popular for blues and rock guitar tone, it is no longer in production and is sought after in the vintage market.

421Sampled with a Sennheiser MD421 Dynamic Microphone

The Sennheiser MD421 is one of the best-known mics in the world. Walk into any drum booth in any major studio and you’ll most likely see MD 421s on the toms. It’s also great on guitar cabinets, often paired up with a brighter mic such as a Shure SM57 on guitar recordings.

545Sampled with a Shure Unidyne III 545SD Dynamic Microphone

The predecessor of the modern SM57, the 545 shares the same enclosure design with slightly different internals. The 545 is known for its pronounced, yet smooth top end, and tempered low end response.

57Sampled with a Shure SM57 Dynamic Microphone

Shure’s SM57 has become the most popular guitar cabinet mic of all time. The SM57’s outstanding performance, legendary reliability, and diversity of application make this “workhorse” the choice of performers, producers, and sound engineers worldwide.

D12 (Recabinet Vintage - Motown Cabinet Only)Sampled with an AKG D12 Dynamic Microphone

Introduced in 1953, the AKG D12 was the world’s first dynamic cardioid mic with a “unidirectional” design intended to reduce the pick up of extraneous sound and the production of feedback. Its transducer has a special “bass chamber” that boosts the lower frequencies in the 60-120 Hz range. Popular on classic bass cabinet recordings, we included an IR sampled with the D12 for the Motown cabinet of Recabinet Vintage.

The next page contains microphone position diagrams for your convenience.

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CapEdge

ConeEdge45

Microphone Positioning D

iagram

More Treble

More Bass