Re-amping audio at home
In previous articles, we’ve talked about how to use an impedance matching transformer to send vocals through your guitar pedals. An impedance matching transformer turns a dynamic microphone’s output into a guitar output, which is what a guitar pedal is expecting to see when you plug it in.
Impedance matching transformers are very flexible pieces of gear, and you can also use this same type of transformer to re-amp audio that’s already been recorded.
Re-amping is where you take previously recorded audio, and re-record it playing back through an amplifier, just as if it was a live instrument being recorded.
How to re-amp audio
Here’s how to make the connections for re-amping:
The connections to re-amp previously recorded audio.
The steps
Connect an XLR cable to an output channel of your audio interface or mixing board. You will need an interface or mixing board that contains output channels. You may need to use a male TRS to male XLR adapter to make this connection, depending on how your interface’s output channels are wired.
Connect the XLR cable to your impedance matching transformer on the opposite end. I like using the Audix T50K; it’s a durable and affordable option.
Connect the impedance matching transformer to your instrument amplifier.
Set up a microphone to record the output of that amplifier.
Send your desired audio out of your interface or mixing board using the same output channel you’ve just connected, and then record the result.
Using this setup, any previously recorded audio you have on your computer can be sent through that amplifier. This could let you experiment in a friend’s studio with different amplifier settings (or different amplifiers), using a performance that you’ve already pre-recorded yourself at home.
Other options
An impedance matching transformer is a simple and affordable way to make this connection when working inside of a home music studio, but there’s other ways to do the same thing that are often used in a professional recording studio situation.
Using a passive DI box instead of an impedance matching transformer would achieve the same result, but would require more gear, more cables, and a bit more floor space. High-quality passive DI boxes also tend to be more expensive than an impedance matching transformer of similar quality. Overall, using DI boxes is a slightly more complex and expensive setup to achieve the same result, and we like to try and keep things as simple as possible around here.
Even more tips on home music production can be found inside of our series on Home Recording Basics.
