Polish Your Guitar Riffs With a Multi-Effect Processor

The guitar needs no introduction - it's an instrument used in most modern music genres. From pleasant and smooth to harsh and abrasive, and everything in the middle, guitar sound can be colored in many ways. Different distortions, modulations, and other processors became of standard use as the electric guitar sound became known and developed. In recent decades, digital multi-effect processors have become powerful and capable of delivering exciting results. With that in mind, in the following tutorial, we will show you how to use a multi-effect processor to polish your guitar riffs.

As usual, we will start by opening our SoundBridge: DAW. Let's listen to this short sequence, which contains most of the elements of a full mix. Focus on the guitar arp.

~Full Mix - Guitar Arp. Unprocessed

The guitar arp could cut through the mix better. This time, instead of using individual effects on the channel rack, we will choose a multi-effect processor. For the purpose of this tutorial, we have chosen the JJP-Guitars plugin by Waves Audio. Let's start by adding it to our guitar arp channel effect rack.

JJP Interface

JJP Guitars has a very straightforward interface. On the left side, there's a section with four knobs. The first is a Sensitivity parameter (Sens) with a small LED light that reacts to it. With green, yellow, or red light, it indicates that the level input hits the processor so that the output result will be as intended. Below it, there's a section that lets you control basic dynamics and EQ. The middle part of the interface contains a set of faders in charge of different effects and volume processing. We will list all of them below:

• Main - Functions as an input gain
• Edge - Basically a stereo widener effect 
• Warm - Used to increase the low-end
• Sustain - An additional compressor
• Doubler - A common doubler effect
• Verb - A room-type reverb effect
• Attack - Another compressor effect delivering a punchier sound
• Presence - A high-shelf EQ 
• Master - Controls the overall output level

On the right side of the interface, we can see the VU meter. Here, you can check the input and output values of the processed signal. Finally, at the bottom, there's a set of "Types" that adapt the processing to a range of source materials: Clean, Rock, R&B, and Chug. Now that we know the JJP Guitars and its parameters, let's process our guitar arp.

 

Polishing the Guitar With the Multi-Effect Processor

In this case, there wasn't a need to go too wild with the processing since the source material is an acoustic guitar. We adjusted the Sensitivity parameter to slightly hit the green light. With the central left knobs, we cut some of the lows, boosted high frequencies a bit, and introduced considerable compression. 

The Main fader value was adjusted and set to around -15 dB. 

The Edge is set to a high value for an excellent and expansive stereo sound. We have added just a bit of extra low-end with the Warm fader and used the Sustain processor to increase the body of the guitar sound. The Doubler and Verb effects were bypassed and considered unnecessary. 

We have increased the Attack parameter in order to emphasize the pick sounds. Lastly, we add to the Presence to increase the high frequencies. 

Let's hear how our guitar arp sequence sounds before and after processing with JJP Guitars.   

~Guitar Arp. - Unprocessed

~Guitar Arp. - Processed with JJP Guitars

Now, let's have another listen to our processed guitar arp in context with the other elements of the whole mix.

~Full Mix - Guitar Arp. Processed With JJP Guitars