Combo amp recording

[Aviel]

Hey,
Can someone give me an advice or how to record a simple transistor amp, 30W with an open box on the rear.
I have 1 dynamic and 1 condesner mic, and only one good preamp, and 2 mixer preamps.

The amps seems to give me a bad sound thats true. but the recording makes it even more "far away" and hollow.

I tried the dynamic in front, in the center, or a bit to the right side, and the condenser at the rear,i tried the contrary, and tried both in front.
i also located the amp on some books, and threw some heavy blankets over it.
I connected the condenser to the good preamp and the dynamic to the mixer,
The sound is just a shame..

Any advices?
THanks
Aviel

[amra]

Try sticing a dynamic mic an inch or so away from the cone of the speaker. It's a good place to start. If that sound doesn't have enough lows, move the mic towards the outside edge of the speaker. If it is boomy or sounding or "woofery" move the mic back a couple of inches. That should at least get you something workable, assuming your mic and recording chain are up to the task.

[Aviel]

Originally Posted by amra

Try sticing a dynamic mic an inch or so away from the cone of the speaker. It's a good place to start. If that sound doesn't have enough lows, move the mic towards the outside edge of the speaker. If it is boomy or sounding or "woofery" move the mic back a couple of inches. That should at least get you something workable, assuming your mic and recording chain are up to the task.

yes i tired this way, but even when moving around and playing with it, it justs sounds bad

[jonnyc]

How about providing more information than "just sounds bad". What type of amp, guitar, mics, mic pre's. All this info will help narrow down your problem.

[Adam P]

You said the amp sounds bad, but you're expecting it to sound good recorded? Or are you just expecting it to sound no worse recorded than it sounds live?

[Micter]

Sounds to me like you are getting some phase cancellation. Try recording just the dynamic mic and see what you get.

[soundchaser59]

If you are putting a mic in the back, that implies that you have an open back cab. This means you will lose some low end from the front of the speaker. That's why it's best to record an open back with two mics, front and back.

But you have to phase reverse the back mic to keep the low end in the playback. The opposite sides of the speaker are out of phase, and it will sound thin and hollow on playback if you dont reverse phase one of the mics.

You will also run into unwanted harmonics when mic'ing the back of the cab. (depending on the cab, of course!) But some carefully placed thick foam and movers blankets can eliminate those unwanted harmonics from bouncing around, otherwise the rear mic will sound like it's in an air raid tunnel......

[Aviel]

Yes i did notice the phase canceletion and i revresed the condenser, which was at the back (its an open cab amp).

Just a dynamic mic didnt gave me satisfying results, i am aware that the sounds that comes out of my amp isnt super, but recorded it feels more "Far" away, and feels like i used a cheap reverb effect set on "room" with really loud lows.
(i did all i can to avoid this reverb effect, putted the mics as close as i can, and covered with a blanket).

Also i feel that when monitoring throughout the mixer the guitar sounds better, then it does when monitoring from cubase (louder, but also more powerfull), i have no idea why this is happening, i have the M-audio audiophile 192 soundcard which should be good enough..

Aviel

[Micter]

Originally Posted by Aviel

Yes i did notice the phase canceletion and i revresed the condenser, which was at the back (its an open cab amp).

Just a dynamic mic didnt gave me satisfying results, i am aware that the sounds that comes out of my amp isnt super, but recorded it feels more "Far" away, and feels like i used a cheap reverb effect set on "room" with really loud lows.
(i did all i can to avoid this reverb effect, putted the mics as close as i can, and covered with a blanket).

Also i feel that when monitoring throughout the mixer the guitar sounds better, then it does when monitoring from cubase (louder, but also more powerfull), i have no idea why this is happening, i have the M-audio audiophile 192 soundcard which should be good enough..

Aviel

Put the condensor in front of the amp. You'll get a way better signal that way.

[tubesrawsom]

Originally Posted by Aviel

The amps seems to give me a bad sound thats true.

Thats your problem.

[soundchaser59]

Of course, you are not expecting the recorded sound made with a mic 2 inches from the speaker to sound exactly the same as what your ears hear standing 10 feet away from the amp.......right??

Most modern mics will pretty much record exactly what they "hear"......so, assuming you have decent mics, if you dont like what's being played back, the first place to start checking for good sound is the amp and the guitar.

And you haven't said which mics you are using.....

Originally Posted by Aviel

but recorded it feels more "Far" away, and feels like i used a cheap reverb effect set on "room" with really loud lows.
(i did all i can to avoid this reverb effect, putted the mics as close as i can, and covered with a blanket).

This statement implies that you have something set in your software to add effects to the sound. The mere act of using mics and recording the amp will not make it sound like "far away reverb" when you play it back, especially if it is close mic'd and covered with a blanket. Something in the software does that to it.

[Aviel]

i feel like the software is reducing the "power" and the level of my record thats true, but there arent any effects.

About the mics- the dynamic is Audio Technica Bite, and the condenser is AKG c400B.

I heard lot of people saying that for recording i need only a tube amp, with the distortion coming from the amp, So i guess in that case the sound will be better, but since buying a good tube amp wont be possible for a while, i need to be able to take tfhe maximum of what ive got.

[gcapel]

Another question is what type of tone is coming out of your amp? That will also decide what type mic/placement to use. Using condensers is great for clean tones but the room must sound good as well as good mic placement. Dynamics to me (senn 421) are unbeatable for a distorted/over driven tone and close speaker placement. These are just my techniques I use.

Also a huge mistake I've made in the past is to recording with the levels too high. I would never peak more than -16 db on your converter level when tracking. Your mixes will come out more usable and over all level will be handled in mastering. If your levels are too high and your tone is not so good anyway it will only magnify your bad guitar tone in bad way.