3 different sounding mics for guitar amps

A

a01

New member
Hi,

I'm new here.
So this is a short introduction:

I'm a female song writer from Belgium working on a full album (i mean a good sounding demo). Genre = indie(rock).
I want to write, play, record and mix everything myself except for the drums.
Bands that inspire me are Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Women, IceAge, War on Drugs, Tame Impala, Wu Lyf, Goat.

I have a 'home studio' (it's just a normal room, some instruments, a laptop with logic pro, an audio interface and a few affordable mics). I'm not so experienced in recording but i have some modest ambition :-).

I was in someone's studio that i rented a few weeks ago and discovered how cool it is to play through several amps at the same time, and my guitar recordings sounded better than before.

At home i have a 6 inch tweed style gretsch amp (which is awesome), a 74 Twin and i'm going to buy a Vox AC4.
I would like to combine these 3 amps and use 3 different mics for recording them (and swap till i find the best combinations).

In the rented studio i had some good results with the SM57 together with an Audio-Technica AE3000 and a cheap ribbon mic (SE X1R). That last one didn't sound so good but the AE3000 had more low and sounded a bit dirty and i think it goes well with the sm57.

I already have a sm57 (and a Rode NT1-a, haven't tried that one on electric guitars). And i have around €400 or a little bit more to spend on 2 extra mics.

What are your suggestions?
Which 2 extra mics should i buy for recording electric guitar? (And are maybe useful for other things too)
I checked the comparison of the affordable dynamic mics but they all sound the same. So that's maybe not what i'm looking for.

I will not be recording drums, only vocals, ac. and el. guitar and bass.
I don't have a preamp, only a basic but decent audio interface with phantom power and a voicelive 2 (also phantom).

But i might need a new interface because mine (UA-25 :: Products :: Roland) has only 2 inputs.
So if someone has a good suggestion for a cheap interface or preamp for this purpose, shoot!

Thanks a lot for helping me out!

A01
 
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Where to start...well, how about, Welcome! :D
Good intro. Gives us a great feel for who you are and where you want to go.
AFA the X1R, it is not a high dollar mike and has some purpose. Remember that most of the time you're going to roll off the bass on the guitar parts anyway.
Lovely set of amps. Love me some Twin Reverb.
Lots of good mikes to choose from in that range, but possibly get one SDC and one LDC (small and large diameter capacitor). One that many don't recommend, but works great for both acoustic and electric is the Shure SM137. 15dB pad lets you get it in the grill of even loud amps, and the great pattern is perfect for 12th fret on an acoustic. Also cheap enough to leave room in your budget for a nice LDC, like the AKG C214 or a Rode NT1000.
One thing I always recommend is going to your local shops and seeing who will let you try mikes. Some do, some don't. Buy a microphone, take it home, use it for a week and go trade it in on something else. Take recordings and see what sounds best at the end of a trial period (say a month & 4 mikes). Go back and get the one you want (if it's not the one you have in hand at the end.)
You shouldn't need more than two inputs on your interface if you're only recording vocal and/or guitar at the same time. You can put it together in your DAW. The Roland you have will suffice for the present.
Make sure, if you are using capacitor mikes, that your room sounds the way you want it to. Every nuance of your room will pick up (good or bad).
 
I guess you are thinking of trying to record your guitar plugged into all 3 amps at once, recording all 3 for options/blending of the sound, but I'd say go for no more than 2 amps at a time, so you can use your current interface, and just lay down more guitar tracks - record one set of tracks with the Gretsch and Twin, another set with the Twin and Vox, another set with Gretsch and Vox. That way you've got different-played tracks to layer rather than just the same guitar playing recorded with 3 different tones.
 
I have found the sennheiser 421 to be great in combination with a 57. It is good at everything that the 57 is not good at, and the 57 fills the holes that the 421 has.
You end up with a thick, smooth sound when you use them together.
 
Two things that will always bring on a lot of conversation here: "I'm a female" and "I have XMONEY to spend on 2 extra mics." :)
 
Farview, that's exactly what i'm looking for!

Maybe i'll order a sennheiser 421, a AE3000, a Shure SM137 and send back 1 or 2 mics after 3 weeks :).

So for acoustic guitar it's better to use a SDC instead of a LDC if my room is not so perfect?
 
a01 said:
So for acoustic guitar it's better to use a SDC instead of a LDC if my room is not so perfect?
Click to expand...
I never found that it mattered a great deal. SDC's are easier to place. There are differences between different mics, but I've never noticed this issue being an SDC/LDC thing.
 
mjbphotos said:
I guess you are thinking of trying to record your guitar plugged into all 3 amps at once, recording all 3 for options/blending of the sound, but I'd say go for no more than 2 amps at a time, so you can use your current interface, and just lay down more guitar tracks - record one set of tracks with the Gretsch and Twin, another set with the Twin and Vox, another set with Gretsch and Vox. That way you've got different-played tracks to layer rather than just the same guitar playing recorded with 3 different tones.
Click to expand...

Thanks, i know what you mean and i use a lot of different layers too, but the 3 amps together just sounded sooo good. Anyway, i don't have the money for a new interface so that's for later.
 
I get some great results with two amps in the same room with a client of mine. The reason it seems to work for this is the ribbon mic recording the room with close mics (57 and MD421) on a Fender Deville combo and a Blue Voodoo through a 4-12 cab. The room mic tends to smooth out the harshness of the Deville/Voodoo combination. Reverse polarity on the room mic.

It takes time to find the sweet spots and what works together. Just gotta play with what you have and move on from there.
 
Not at all, skins still pretty thick. I just like saying things I think are funny or clever, and sometimes in retro they backfire. :)
No blood, no foul. Something like that, eh?
 
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