electric guitar sounds like its in a tin can

J

jdrockweller

New member
I am trying to record an electric guitar (amp) using the miking technique found here:
http://www.alexandermagazine.com/recordingeq/rw/tip7.html

My setup is one Shure AXS4 placed near the center cone and a Studio Projects C1 about 12" behind it and a couple inches out from the center. I am running the mics into two separate channels though an Aark DP 2496 and into Nuendo. I am recording in a padded closet.

1) each track by itself sounds almost comparable to other un-mastered, pro recordings such as the ones found here:
http://www.thelisteningsessions.com/session2.htm

2) the mix of the two tracks sounds like ass when I play that same mix on my monitor speakers as opposed to listening to it thru headphones, where it sounds pretty good. The sound is hollow and makes me think I am hearing it thru a tin can. I keep thinking it's a phasing problem, but reversing the phase on either track does very little to help.

I cannot seem to overcome the catch-22 of either
a) recording with one mic and getting a very small sound
b) recording with two mics for a bigger sound and getting the hollow, tin-can effect during the mixing

I posted the two tracks for you to download here:
www.survivingdisasters.com/mp3/index.html
In case you want to try some mixing yourself and/or give me feedback and tell me how I'm smoking crack and that the recording quality is nothing close to that which is found on the listening sessions site. :)

Help!! Advice? Ideas?
Thanks!
Allen
 
I can't listen to music on this computer but from what you describe you really do have a phasing problem.
You might want to try a different mic'ing system, by placing for instance one mic near the cone, and another mic at least 6 feet away. Six inches away is, to be honest, a bit of a joke.
Get someone to play and listen to the low end in particular. If this is rather thin, move the mic inches further away, until the sound sounds full again - which is when you will be in phase.
 
I downloaded those 2 files and played around a bit. There is a phase issure there but it's not consistant over the entire frequency range. I got some decent results using a tiny bit of delay on 1 track. Try recording the same thing but move one of the mics 1/2 inch closer or farther away. Keep doing that until you find the spot that doesn't sound like a tine can. You might also try moving the whole setup to a different location or pointing it in a different direction in the room. The phase problem might be coming from room resonance.
 
One of your mics is too close.

I mostly record guitar like this:

dyn.mic (sm57) close to speaker
cond.mic (c2000) 2 or 3 feet away to capture the whole darn monster.

Mix it in mono and record the track again if it needs phat and wide panning.

get great results. I use this technique 50% of my recording sessions. Other times just the dynamic on speaker. You can always use some pan-delays techniques to get fatter sounds

(e.g. 10-30 ms for fattening 70-100 ms for slapback)

good luck, ro
 
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