2 mics cab micing techniques ? ( u87 and sm57 ) Dustbro ?

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luxeomni

New member
ok i m micing a 4x12 cab with a sm57 micing the center of the cone, and read that a u87 at the edge of the cone is quiet good for taking low end as a second mic, but there is my question how far from the cab do i put the u87, in which direction, what type of capture do i choose ? ( cardio, omni...), cuz i ve put it at the same distance as the sm57 ( like 3 inchs from the grill ) and the capsule is saturating and the sound is reallllllly bad :), the sm57 is perfect but the u87 is non good placed i think.
Please give me some advices thx ;)
 
never used a U87 but generally LDCs don't sound good at all up on the amp... In general they should be backed off a couple feet or so.
 
yeah but i read that dustbro used one on the breaking benjamin cd, and i can assure you that the sound is huge, i ve got the same setup so iwanted to know how achieve this.
 
The only mic I have ever used with reults I can live with is my Behringer B1 condenser. I usually start off with putting it right between the middle of the cone and the outer edge, usually with the capsule pointed a little more towards the outside edge of the cone. Always achieves good results for me. You could try this approach in combination with a 57 in the center of the cone for the treble and mix the two. You will need the pad engaged on the condenser (be it U87 or otherwise) if its a loud amp to avoid it clipping. You can get an attenuator for pretty cheap, too.
 
thx for the answer, how far from the grill should i put it ? my sm57 is like 3 inch, yeah the -10db setting is on, could you point me to a good atenuator ?

thx.
 
Well in my instances with micing with the Behri, I usually have the screen of the mic no more than 2 or MAYBE 3 inches away from the grille of the cab to avoid the proximity effect. The 57 you can slam right on the grille if you want with just enough space between to avoid the grille material hitting the capsule on a palm mute or the like. A good in-line attenuator I could recommend would be the Shure A15AS which has selectable -15, -20, and -25db padding. It's not extremely cheap (around $40) but it's worth the money. Hope this helps.
 
The B1 is a cardioid mic by defauly and is only that position. It isn't a multi-pattern mic. So cardiod might be your best bet if you want to try it my way. Heres another trick you can use. If you have 2 cabinets, place the U87 between two guitar cabs facing eachother and set the mic to figure 8. You'll get both cabs that way and you can tilt the mic at different angles to get one position from one cab and one from the other. Talk about a good tone.....my god. lol
 
I would just rely on the SM57 in this case. With a single SM57 aimed at the cone, you should get a pretty reliable sound. Unless you absolutly need the stereo effect. SM57's are pretty flat for almost any application.


Plus you don't need to worry about phasing issues in that case.
 
luxeomni said:
thx for the answer, how far from the grill should i put it ? my sm57 is like 3 inch, yeah the -10db setting is on, could you point me to a good atenuator ?

thx.
Click to expand...


put the u87 9 inches from the sm 57 for the least phase problems and work from there.
 
Cab micing

Ive tried the 2 mics on cabs before but always ended up only using 1 in mixing. If you want a bigger guitar sound use 2 amps (make sure you use a transformer iso splitter, and NOT a standard AB splitter) and use 2 different sounding amps. for instance a Vintage Marshall for mids, and a mesa boogie for the swooped sound, or any other type of amps you like. I also like to run though an Avalon U5 DI so if I dont lke the sound of the guitar at mix down I can run the track back through the amps later

I think the 421 is the best mic for micing cabs, and greenback speakers are the best for distortion (the 25 watt ones)

Also check out the Trident S-20 Mic preamps for use micing all electric guitars
 
ok for the 9 inch from the grill, but like 2 feet away my u87 is still saturating and clipping, so i really have to use an attenuator ?
 
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