We’ve all been there- at some point during the recording or production process you find yourself looking for ... something, but you don’t quite know what it is. To say ‘inspiration’ sounds a bit trite but there is just something missing from your song and trawling through your exhaustive list of plugins hasn’t quite worked in that instance. Using guitar pedals with your DAW is a great way to add some different textures to your mix.

There are a few reasons for this, sometimes it is a down to the sound but often it is more down to being able to physically interact with the pedal- to essentially ‘play the pedal’. Plus, it can be a lot of fun.

Getting Levels Right

In theory you can simply attach your guitar pedals any spare the inputs/outputs of your audio interface and call them up as a hardware insert in your DAW. For pedals that can operate at line level, such as the Eventide TimeFactor, this isn’t a problem. For many effects though, they simply operate at the wrong level and impedance to get a decent signal to noise ratio.

The solution to this is to use a re-amp device, such as the Radial X-Amp. This takes the line level signal from your audio interface’s output down to instrument level.

Some re-ampers are active, allowing you to vary the output level, and some are passive.

It is worth experimenting with different devices to see what works with your pedals and amplifiers. I tend to favour active re-ampers with guitar pedals and low gain amplifiers and passive re- ampers with high gain amplifiers. Once the DAW output has been plugged into the re-amp box you can connect the output of the re-amper to the input of your pedal(s).

Using A Re-Amper

The output of your pedal would generally be connected to a Hi-Z input on your interface/mic preamp. If your interface does not have a Hi-Z input then you could connect it to a DI box and then into the Mic input of your preamp or interface. You could also connect the pedal outputs to a guitar amplifier and record the signal through any guitar amplifier you have to hand. This can be great for crunchy drums and vocals.

This might sound obvious but if you want to use a stereo pedal then you will need two re-amper boxes, I would suggest two of the same model, and two inputs on your interface.

Recording back into the DAW should then be a simple matter record enabling the correct audio interface inputs and track the effected signal into your DAW on a new track. I particularly like to send multiple tracks to one output and through a pedal and back in. You don’t have to do this as a ‘one track at once’ process.

Mono/Stereo Issues

What to do you if you want to process a stereo signal through a mono pedal? The issue with using a stereo output is you will have to make sure you pan everything in the stereo channel to the center. This can be a pain if you have carefully set up panning to busses for some instruments. Instead, I’d suggest doing the following in Pro Tools.

First, route your stereo track to a mono bus (for me, bus 3) which you can use to insert the hardware insert (in my instance on output 9 of my interface). This is outputted to a mono bus (bus 4) that is assigned to mono track output. This then comes back into Pro Tools via one of my API 512v’s Hi-Z inputs. Create a new track and set the input channel to bus 4 and record enable this track.

You are then able to send multiple stereo tracks to that mono bus without losing one side or another in the stereo image.

My Favourite Five Guitar Pedals Used For Mixing

Here is a list of some of my favourite pedals that I use for mixing. Some of these pedals are rare or discontinued, where this is the case I’ve made suggestions about alternatives.

Ring Modulation - Frostwave Blue Ringer

I love ring modulators and the Frostwave Blue Ringer is my all-time favorite. This relatively short-lived Australian effects company made some wonderful products including the Frostwave Resonator and the ‘Funk-a-duck’ resonant envelope filter.

The Blue Ringer can take two inputs and output the sum difference of those two frequencies which can also be controlled by CV. One of the two inputs has enough gain for a microphone and you can alter the modulation mix between input B and an internally generated oscillator. The sounds are wonderfully alien and synthetic sounding. I use it on drums, on bass, on drums, on vocals, on drums. And on drums.

Alternatives include the EHX Ring Thing, DOD Gonkulator and it is an effect that frequently features in multi-effects units.

Analogue Delay - Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Man

I prefer using analogue delay pedals such as the Deluxe Memory Man or the Ibanez AD9 because changing the time value doesn’t cause audio havoc the way it sometimes does with a digital pedal (which can be an interesting effect, I guess).

The big box DMM is the daddy of analogue delays in my book, is a gritty, warm sounding delay pedal. You won’t get much more than 300ms of delay from one and the preamp can get noisy but the noise is all part of the ‘organic’ tone of the pedal. Guitarists such as the Edge and Radiohead’s Ed Obrien rely on the DMM for their signature delay sound. When used in the studio you can use it on anything you would ordinarily use a delay line on - guitars, vocals, synthesisers, percussion and marvel at how well it sits in your track with minimal EQ and compression. Be careful about pushing the preamp though or you’ll end up in noise-city. The great thing about a DMM is the way it can be pushed into self oscillation.

Fuzz/Distortion Pedals - Reeves 2n2Face

Pictured here is a Reeves 2n2Face, a point to point hand-wired FuzzFace clone from Reeves Electro but there are many other options for using overdrive, distortion or fuzz pedals to get some analogue colour into your tracks. I would tend to suggest only having one track in each song, especially if you go for higher gain settings, otherwise you might end up with an unmanageable mess. This fuzzface-style pedal has just two controls, level and fuzz. Some distortion pedals also give you rudimentary EQ/tone controls which can help shape your sound, otherwise you can place an EQ before or after the pedal. Distortion can sound excellent on drums, bass, vocals and synths. You will need to be careful with managing the pedal’s self-noise, sometimes I gate the incoming signal with a plugin.

Envelope Filters - Thorpy Mootron III

The Thorpy FX Mootron III is a homage to the Mu-tron III envelope-controlled filter pedal.

The Mootron III was never commercially available as a product, only a few of these pedals exist, they were a personal project for the creator. I happened to nab this one on a guitar forum and I’ve been in love with it ever since. It has 3 potentiometers and one 3-way switch and two 2-way switches- all unlabelled, so figuring out what each of the pots and switches can do can be an experiment in itself.

With the long-discontinued original Mutron III’s now fetching big bucks you may be better off looking for another brand of envelope filters such as the EHX Q-Tron or the EarthQuaker Devices Spatial Delivery. Envelope filters react to the dynamics and attack of your playing enhancing the intensity when plucking hard or decreasing it when playing softer. I love using it on electronic drums/percussion, guitar, bass, and any synth sound with a quick attack.

Sampler/Granular - Hexe Revolver DX

I’ve saved the best for last here. The Hexe Revolver DX is a micro sampler/granular texture generator pedal with a 4-second sample buffer. You can simulate a CD skip sound, fade-ins/outs, tape head manipulation effects, make audio speed up and slow down with a brilliant mix of control and randomness, depending on how you operate it. It is the one pedal I use the most with my DAW. They are fairly difficult to obtain- Hexe FXare a small company and they manufacture in limited numbers. You might like to try second-hand sites to obtain yours, although I believe you can get on a waiting list with the manufacturer too.

It is a very deep and capable pedal and controls are as follows: (quoted from their website):

SPEED: depending on the working mode, this knob controls the play speed of the sample (=pitch), self retriggering rate, or its range in the randomized model.

TIME: sample buffer maximum size, range from 20ms to 4 sec.

FADE: loop fade in, instant-on or fade out control.

TONE: filter control for the wet (sampled) signal. Range from lowpass, through flat to highpass.

EF. LEVEL: wet signal volume control. DRY: (toggle switch) adds or mutes the original (dry) signal.

CAPTURE: (footswitch) used to capture a new sample or to start the automatic retriggering.

ON-OFF/MODE: (footswitch) sets the pedal into bypass mode or plays the last recorded sample. Hold down to change the mode.

INPUT GAIN: (internal switch) allows adjusting the input gain of the pedal to match the incoming signal level, settings: Line or Instrument.

It sounds brilliant on drums, vocals, guitars, synths- basically anything that you want to turn into an audio mangle experiment.

If that has how you feeling inspired here’s a great example of using guitar pedals in a mix. PureMix recently featured Vance Powell running sounds through his custom “Beard Verb” pedal as part of his Start To Finish Series tracking “Sweet Beast” with Illiterate Light.