Should I put my ear next to a rockin' cabinet?

[zenabi]

Ok.........I can see this being a controversial thread. I was told on another thread that in order to find the right speaker for the mic I was to stick my ear right next to the speaker cab to "hear what the mic is hearing" while at the loud recording level. It sounds like something I would have had someone do when I was younger just to get a great laugh. However, I'm new to recording so I need EVERYONE'S opinion on this. Feel free to make fun or be sarcastic but just make sure I get the picture in all seriousness -Zen

[Ronan]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can actualy tell a bit by just listening to the hiss of the amp, with out the guitarist playing. Save your ears!!!!

Also you are not really hearing what the mic hears because you do not have proximity effect or the polar response of the mic. Save your ears.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Zen,

The answer is as simple as you think it is.

Just to be clear: no.



G.

[F_cksia]

I do it for years. Just don't crank it up as much as when you're recording!

[Dogman]

Probably shouldn't unless it's really quiet. With no ears, music wouldn't be nearly as fun......

[Han]

Should I put my ear next to a rockin' cabinet?

Doesn't sound like a bright plan mate!

[noisedude]

I've got a sort of display box with some musical memorabilia in it, and a CD player with Led Zeppelin set to 'repeat all'. That is the only rockin' cabinet I'd put my ear up to.























I don't actually have it, I just wanted to make the point.

[punkin]

I'm sorry...what did you say?! You'll have to speak up.

When I have help, I get someone to move mic's around for me and listen from the control room. When I'm by myself, I put on the isolation headphones, play -n- listen and move the mics around myself.

BTW...a while back I was having a rough time with a new cabinet. I've found that an E609 on the G12H30, an SM57 (not the SM58 because that's a vocal mic ) on the VIN30 and an MXLV69 out front about 5' away when blended to taste works wonders for me. I take most of the sound coming from the MXLV69 a touch of brittle from the VIN30 for some tasty crunch and a hint of G12H30 to keep the bottom full.

Thanks to those that helped me find my way to recorded bliss

[bleyrad]

I was the one who suggested doing this, but nowhere did I mention anything about a "rockin cabinet"
The idea is to do it at safe volume levels! This goes without saying! And the point isn't necessarily for your ear to emulate the mic's response, because it won't, but rather to hear what your source sounds like. Fact is, most people have no clue what their guitar amps actually sound like because our heads are always above them. There is a massive difference in tone. So you do this until you dial in the right sound COMING FROM THE AMP - and then do your mic positioning and such using isolated monitors or headphones.

I generally wear Musician's Earplugs while I'm dialing in an amp. Don't do anything dumb. If you pay close attention, it's always easy to tell when your ears are being assaulted too much. Any compression or distortion or physical feeling, and your ears aren't happy. The trick is just learning to recognize when your ear is doing this and not let your brain cancel out and ignore these effects, which it tries to do.

[johnny5dm]

My little trick for mic placement is to put on the input monitor on my DAW, put on the iso headphones, and then add like 5 seconds of delay to the signal. Then you play whatever it is for about 5 seconds, listen for five as it plays back. You hear what the mic hears, with no bleed through the phones. Experiment as much as you like. (works GREAT for drums...)

[modson]

You can put your ear where the mic would go! as long as its only for a short period of time!

[giraffe]

slipperman says...........

yes, but only for short peroids of time (less than a minute)
(see recording distorted guitars from hell thread)
in a 4 speaker cab, one will usually sound better than the rest.

[IronFlippy]

If you have an assistant, have him/her move the mic around while you listen. If not, then sure, put your head down there for a little bit to find the best spot.

[thajeremy]

crank the amp as loud as you can get it without distorting the sound. then move your ear around the speaker in counter clockwise circles very slowly...when you ears start to bleed...you will realize that this was stupid....

[Robert D]

Originally Posted by johnny5dm

My little trick for mic placement is to put on the input monitor on my DAW, put on the iso headphones, and then add like 5 seconds of delay to the signal. Then you play whatever it is for about 5 seconds, listen for five as it plays back. You hear what the mic hears, with no bleed through the phones. Experiment as much as you like. (works GREAT for drums...)

Hey, that's really cool!

-RD

[LRosario]

yeah, definitly not. chances are if you're 37 and you still got good ears, keep em that way.


I'm 22 goin on 23 and I always got the old farts in the studio tellin me the same thing, "save your ears, maverick".

Of course I always listen to them

No pun intented.

[reshp1]

Putting your ears wear the mic would go IS a great way to setup mic placement, but only if your ears are in no danger. Resort to other methods if there's ever even a chance that your ears can be damaged. FWIW, it's generally prolonged exposure that kills people's hearing, but short durations of REALLY loud sounds can obviously still damage your ears.

[NashBackslash]

There was one experience I had where the volume was extremely low. The amp's master volume knob was set to about 12 o'clock. I put my ears right up the cabinet to check things.

After fiddling around, it turned out that I was using a bad cable. Unfortunately for me, when I "fixed" the problem, my ear was still right up the cabinet. Guess what happened next. >_<

It felt like I was suddenly launched into the air, floating, I felt like my feet were gone for a while, then my head titled and felt like it was gonna blow. Ouch.

These days, whenever I need to set mic placements and I have no assistants, I'd just use earplugs.

[audioviking]

Why ruin the best tool you will ever have as a musician or enginner?

[Canobliss]

The purpose of putting your ear up to a speaker is decided which one sounds best or at least which one sounds worst. You should be able to do this at lower volumes.