Kingofpain678
Returned from the dead
I own two microphones, one tube amp head, and one marshall mg412 Cab. My preamp is an M-Audio audiobuddy and my monitors are alesis M-1 Active 320 Usb monitors. and I'm recording through an E-Mu 1212m PCI Audio interface.
My guitar sound SUCKS.
First of all, I don't know whether it's my amp head or my crappy cab with crappy speakers but my low end is flubby/flabby/loose or whatever other word you can think of. It bothers the hell out of me when i palm mute and it just sounds like crap. Not to mention, the mic I was using to mic up the outer edge of the speaker was making things a million times worse. Check out the frequency response:
Great huh? (stupid me for not checking the freq. response
)
It get's better... Here's the freq. response of the mic I was using on the edge of the dust cap (I know it's small but bear with me...) :
Ok, so once I checked out the freq. responses I just switch the mics around which would make sense, yes?
Ok, it got better... A little bit. But I still have that flubby low end, and there's a piercing "twang" coming out of this cheap JC-Penny humbucker guitar... Ugh, the high end is gross
Ok, so the Shure SM57 (place your argument about why you shouldn't use an SM57 here...) has a frequency response that drops off around 15KHz, so naturally I want to fix that fizzy/twangy/piercing high end so I roll the very high end frequencies off just like everyone's favorite studio mic. It fixes the "hiss" if that's what you wanna call it. Sorta... ... the sound get's a little bit better.
Now for that low end! use a parametric EQ at around 100, 150, or 200KHz and slowly drop it until that nasty flub is gone... -1 dB - not much difference
-3dB - a little better, -6dB - getting there, so on and so forth until I end up at about -15dB
No good, means that the original sound captured is no where near what you wanted it to be, not to mention I just sucked all of the "chunk" and any other good thing the low end brings in a guitar tone out.
Great, so now I'm left with a guitar tone that's been EQ'd all to hell, sounds like shit (definitely not as bad though) and I STILL don't have the guitar track for my song down...
Where should I start over at now? First, get some 57's, It's gonna be the generally accepted mic to give you an accurate representation of the tone that you have coming out of your speakers.
Second, FIX THE LOW END!! Find out where that flub is coming from...Speakers? Cab? Amp? All of the above? Find it. Fix it.
Upgrade to a better guitar... The JC-Penny crappy-high-end-twang-meister is just making things worse, even a 200$ guitar with a pick-up upgrade is better than your first act guitar.
The lesson to be learned in this seemingly pointless/stupid rant is don't skimp out on your guitar gear unless you're okay with a tone that just won't work. It will save you from being like me over here wasting countless hours pulling my hair out trying different mic positions and eq settings, different strings, and fiddling with your pickup height and various other guitar/amp/post tracking settings.
N00bs be wise, do it right the first time and you'll be happy.
Now, who wants to send me some new gear for free
</long-winded, stupid thread>
My guitar sound SUCKS.
First of all, I don't know whether it's my amp head or my crappy cab with crappy speakers but my low end is flubby/flabby/loose or whatever other word you can think of. It bothers the hell out of me when i palm mute and it just sounds like crap. Not to mention, the mic I was using to mic up the outer edge of the speaker was making things a million times worse. Check out the frequency response:
Great huh? (stupid me for not checking the freq. response
)It get's better... Here's the freq. response of the mic I was using on the edge of the dust cap (I know it's small but bear with me...) :
Ok, so once I checked out the freq. responses I just switch the mics around which would make sense, yes?
Ok, it got better... A little bit. But I still have that flubby low end, and there's a piercing "twang" coming out of this cheap JC-Penny humbucker guitar... Ugh, the high end is gross
Ok, so the Shure SM57 (place your argument about why you shouldn't use an SM57 here...) has a frequency response that drops off around 15KHz, so naturally I want to fix that fizzy/twangy/piercing high end so I roll the very high end frequencies off just like everyone's favorite studio mic. It fixes the "hiss" if that's what you wanna call it. Sorta... ... the sound get's a little bit better.
Now for that low end! use a parametric EQ at around 100, 150, or 200KHz and slowly drop it until that nasty flub is gone... -1 dB - not much difference
-3dB - a little better, -6dB - getting there, so on and so forth until I end up at about -15dB
No good, means that the original sound captured is no where near what you wanted it to be, not to mention I just sucked all of the "chunk" and any other good thing the low end brings in a guitar tone out.
Great, so now I'm left with a guitar tone that's been EQ'd all to hell, sounds like shit (definitely not as bad though) and I STILL don't have the guitar track for my song down...
Where should I start over at now? First, get some 57's, It's gonna be the generally accepted mic to give you an accurate representation of the tone that you have coming out of your speakers.
Second, FIX THE LOW END!! Find out where that flub is coming from...Speakers? Cab? Amp? All of the above? Find it. Fix it.
Upgrade to a better guitar... The JC-Penny crappy-high-end-twang-meister is just making things worse, even a 200$ guitar with a pick-up upgrade is better than your first act guitar.
The lesson to be learned in this seemingly pointless/stupid rant is don't skimp out on your guitar gear unless you're okay with a tone that just won't work. It will save you from being like me over here wasting countless hours pulling my hair out trying different mic positions and eq settings, different strings, and fiddling with your pickup height and various other guitar/amp/post tracking settings.
N00bs be wise, do it right the first time and you'll be happy.
Now, who wants to send me some new gear for free
</long-winded, stupid thread>
