Multiple mics on a single cab for a single track?

Z

zenpeace69

New member
I know a lot of people suggest doubling, tripling, quadrupling tracks for overdriven guitar tones for rhythm recording, but could you get the same effect from simply running 4 mics in front of your cab into your mixer and DAW.
 
No. Using multiple mics is for getting the sound of both mics. For example, an SM57 sounds different from an e609s. Use both and you get the combined sound of both mics. Then you can blend to taste.

The reason for doubling is because you never play it exactly the same each time. Doubling (and tripling) is meant to make guitars have that "big" sound. You can't really emulate it. You could use the Haas effect, but even that won't sound like you actually playing it twice.

Besides, it doesn't take long to double a part.
 
I've used 2 mics before, and they are so similar, it's not like playing the part twice. The slight difference in sound doesn't make it sound thicker, just louder.
 
I generally have one or two right up against the grill, one on axis and the other off axis. In addition to that I use a LDC anywhere from 6-12' away. Then you can choose whether to use one, two, or all and how blended you want them.
 
You can actually get a pretty huge sound if you put one or two mics up close on two different speakers, and a condenser (LDC or SDC) pointing at yet another speaker, or just in the middle of the cab. It won't be the same as doubling, but it will get you a bigger sound mixing them and messing with panning a bit.
 
Thanks for the tips. I guess I just need to try doubling some tracks. My style makes it a bit hard, though, because I like to play within thechords a lot.
 
Sometimes I use a 57 and a d112 at the same time to catch that low end of a guitarist that likes to palm mute chug a lot. I end up rolling off the low low end, but it adds some meat.
 
i tend to track with 2 or 3 mics on the cab depending on the guitar/amp/sound i'm looking for.

like that i can blend the mics in to taste while i'm mixing. this also means you can pan the mics differently and make a slightly wider sound.


However, this cannot be used as a substitute to double/triple tracking as it is effectively the same wave form. it is the subtle differences in timing between each take which gives double and triple tracking the effect that is has.
 
This may be a little OT but I always run a di from my guitars, as well as a few mics, and send it (just the di) through an amp sim to see if it works in the song. I usually end up using a small amount of the amp sim signal just to fill out the tracks. It thickens it out nicely because of the variation in distortion of the amp, and the distortion from the amp sim. sometimes i'll just bring it in for the chorus if it needs definition.

my 2 cents,
-surf
 
surfmaster said:
This may be a little OT but I always run a di from my guitars, as well as a few mics, and send it (just the di) through an amp sim to see if it works in the song. I usually end up using a small amount of the amp sim signal just to fill out the tracks. It thickens it out nicely because of the variation in distortion of the amp, and the distortion from the amp sim. sometimes i'll just bring it in for the chorus if it needs definition.

my 2 cents,
-surf
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Probably not recording metal, eh? :p
 
Ever hear of a comb?

Using multiple mic's on a single track will more than likely have some negative phase issues, A.K.A Comb filtering!!! Dropping and boosting frequencies all over. I usually find that the simplist way sounds the best. To get that thick, wide stereo image, guitar, I always go back to small tube amp, overdriven, simple mic setup, and track after track of good takes. The best sounds I get are with a simple 30watt combo, and a 57 about three feet away!
 
brodgind said:
Using multiple mic's on a single track will more than likely have some negative phase issues, A.K.A Comb filtering!!! Dropping and boosting frequencies all over. I usually find that the simplist way sounds the best. To get that thick, wide stereo image, guitar, I always go back to small tube amp, overdriven, simple mic setup, and track after track of good takes. The best sounds I get are with a simple 30watt combo, and a 57 about three feet away!
Click to expand...

That's why digital is so fun! You can zoom in to single-sample depth and align the signals as perfectly (or imperfectly) as you wish!
 
I would rather close-mic 2 different amps and use that as a "double" effect, and have different settings on the amps.
 
chessrock said:
Overkill .

.
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Hey, everyone's got a style. As the saying goes, "there's more than one way to skin a cat". "Sweet" guitar tone is subjective, and while there are *some* things that most of us can agree on tone-wise, there are at least a dozen ways, if not vastly more, to get a "huge" guitar sound. Using a light-ish distortion and layering 3+ times is one way, using multiple mics on one or more amps is another way, using one mic on one amp for one take, and another mic on another amp for another take, using a full-stack turned up to 11, using a pod through a speaker sim, using a power soak, etc.

It's only overkill if you're doing WAY more than you need to to get the desired sound/tone. Taking 5 minutes to set up a 2nd amp and mic isn't exactly overkill...
 
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