Cab Mic'ing

  • Thread starter Thread starter hardwire666
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hardwire666

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I have been using impulses for quite some time now, and I feel like working with mic'ing my cab. I figure it will really help with getting more of a garage band sound. The mic's I have are an EV N/D767a, a Sure PG81, and an AKG Perception 100.
I was thinking about pairing up the EV, and the Sure, but leaving the Perception out. While I have read quite a bit about mic'ing cab's over the years I don't have any real experience with doing it. I was wondering if any one had some tips. Mainly on retaining a good stereo field. It's easy to do with D.I.'ed tracks, but I have not experience with it using mic's.

Any tips are appreciated. Thanks!
 
I would try the EV first and see what you get. If that doesn't work add the AKG to the equation. The PG81 isn't something I would think would be good on guitar cabs but stranger things have yielded good guitar tones.
 
Just try em all.
Seriously.

The LCD's, I'd try maybe a couple feet out and fish it around til ya find a sweet spot. Same deal with the SCD but maybe a bit closer. Bear in mind that the room plays a much bigger role with condensers than dynamics.

I've done that with all my mics and sometimes ya come across a mic that just sounds good regardless of if it's supposed to or not.

Luck man...Kel
 
I was playing with the EV today, and it wasn't all that bad, on the grill, edge of the cap, on axis. So, I think if I mark out my garage floor for positions to work with phase I might be able to get a pretty good sound mixing them all together. What I think I'll end up doing is using the Sure as a close mic for the high's, the EV a bit further out for mid's, and the AKG for room/low's. Problem is though the right channel went out on my head phones, and I don't have anything but ear buds left.

I'm going to give it another go when I either a) try to rewire my head phones, or b) Can afford new ones. It will probably be when I decided to fix the head phones though. Unfortunately I am one of the many unemployed right now, and cant afford any thing at the moment.

The PG81 isn't something I would think would be good on guitar cabs but stranger things have yielded good guitar tones.
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If I only knew what I know now when I bought it all those many years ago I would have bought SM57. But, if I have really learned what I think I have I should be able to make it work!

Thanks for the input guys!
 
If I was fresh like you I wouldnt even bother micing up the cab, there are some amazing impulses out there. Head over to the sneap forum and download some impulses and Kefir and get some sweet cranking sounds going. Did I mention all the impulses and software is free!
 
I have always mic;ed the cab. With an overdriven tone I would only use just one dynamic mic (senn 421, I5 or Sm57). I never liked a condenser in the picture for this tone. Mic placement will vary. THe most important thing is the source in this case. Good amp and it being dialed in properly.

On a clean sound I would sometimes use a large condenser 4 or 5 feet away paired with a dynamic mic at the cone. Though for me a clean guitar tone was never hard to get through to the daw. Electric guitar that is.
 
hardwire666 said:
I was playing with the EV today, and it wasn't all that bad, on the grill, edge of the cap, on axis. So, I think if I mark out my garage floor for positions to work with phase I might be able to get a pretty good sound mixing them all together. What I think I'll end up doing is using the Sure as a close mic for the high's, the EV a bit further out for mid's, and the AKG for room/low's. Problem is though the right channel went out on my head phones, and I don't have anything but ear buds left.

!
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One thing you may want to try is track each mic and placement seperately or layering instead of using them all in one take. You need to be able record the same guitar track multiple times repeatable.
 
hardwire666 said:
I was playing with the EV today, and it wasn't all that bad, on the grill, edge of the cap, on axis. So, I think if I mark out my garage floor for positions to work with phase I might be able to get a pretty good sound mixing them all together.
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I'm curious as to why you believe it's necessary to go all Rube Goldberg with your guitar miking in order to get a decent sound? There's very little reason why you should need to go with so many mics on one source in order to get a great sound. You're just making things harder on yourself.

That's not to say that you can't use multi-mics or that you can't get a good sound doing so. Bit often times getting that complicated with guitar miking is like pissing in a urinal; shake it more than you have to and you're just playing with yourelf.

;)

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
I'm curious as to why you believe it's necessary to go all Rube Goldberg with your guitar miking in order to get a decent sound? There's very little reason why you should need to go with so many mics on one source in order to get a great sound. You're just making things harder on yourself.

That's not to say that you can't use multi-mics or that you can't get a good sound doing so. Bit often times getting that complicated with guitar miking is like pissing in a urinal; shake it more than you have to and you're just playing with yourelf.

;)

G.
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more mics = more options.
 
On the other hand there's going through the process of trial and discovery. In other words one wouldn't want to stop :) to soon either.
 
ez_willis said:
more mics = more options.
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Get it right at the source and you don't need an abundance of options.

Besides, that's not what he's talking about doing, he wants to mix them all together.

It seems to me that someone who is first moving from direct recording to cab miking should probably walk before they run. It can be hard enough just getting a good sound from one mic. Every mic you add to the mix doubles the difficulty.

He asked for tips on getting started with cab miking. My tip is to keep it simple to start.

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Get it right at the source and you don't need an abundance of options.

Besides, that's not what he's talking about doing, he wants to mix them all together.

It seems to me that someone who is first moving from direct recording to cab miking should probably walk before they run. It can be hard enough just getting a good sound from one mic. Every mic you add to the mix doubles the difficulty.

He asked for tips on getting started with cab miking. My tip is to keep it simple to start.

G.
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calm down. :p

I know he SAID he was mixing a bunch of mics together. I was suggesting that a few mics would give you the option of selecting the one that sounds best, OR mixing a couple together:

I like to use multiple mics on the guitar amp. I may pick just one mic that I like, or three or two. Some people like close miking. Some like distance miking. Some like a combination of the two. Some people like ribbon mics and others like dynamic mics or condensers. I put all of them up. Each microphone has its own individual sound. I use different mics to give me different tone qualities from the guitar amp
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Make sure you got some good documentation in the daw on what was used for each track.
 
I seriously think download that meaty Mesa Recto 4x12 cab impulse and rock out, especially for overdriven sounds, much tighter. Im not saying dont experiment just that impulses are getting better nearly everyday, just keep an eye out! :)
 
I thought of sticking with one mic, but eh I figure I have the mic's why not experiment. That is over all the whole point of mic'ing my cab. Experimenting, and seeing what I get in difference of sound versus Impulses.

It's all about being creative with my equipment, and learning from that.
 
I can throw a SM57 on any one of our amps and get a great sound. Since I have 8 channels available I throw mics up all over the place and try them out. That way I don't waste a good take experimenting. Many times I end up only using the 57 but I learn something every single time. After doing that for several sessions I now have a pretty good routine going. I use a 57 right on the grill and a ACM-3 ribbon about 2 ft out in front. The ribbon doesn't work on it's own but makes a great compliment to the 57 helps it cut through the mix. Now I'm playing with adding room mic (ACM-1200) to the mix. Every time I track I learn a little bit more about what sounds I can get from my mics and my room. It's all about learning, experimenting, training my ears and most importantly having fun.

Although if you can't get a decent guitar tone with a 57 you probably should get that figured out before you start messing with multiple mics.
 
hardwire666 said:
I thought of sticking with one mic, but eh I figure I have the mic's why not experiment. That is over all the whole point of mic'ing my cab. Experimenting, and seeing what I get in difference of sound versus Impulses.

It's all about being creative with my equipment, and learning from that.
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GREAT idea! Don't listen to Southside Glenn. :p
 
Yonce N Mild said:
I can throw a SM57 on any one of our amps and get a great sound. Since I have 8 channels available I throw mics up all over the place and try them out. That way I don't waste a good take experimenting. Many times I end up only using the 57 but I learn something every single time. After doing that for several sessions I now have a pretty good routine going. I use a 57 right on the grill and a ACM-3 ribbon about 2 ft out in front. The ribbon doesn't work on it's own but makes a great compliment to the 57 helps it cut through the mix. Now I'm playing with adding room mic (ACM-1200) to the mix. Every time I track I learn a little bit more about what sounds I can get from my mics and my room. It's all about learning, experimenting, training my ears and most importantly having fun.

Although if you can't get a decent guitar tone with a 57 you probably should get that figured out before you start messing with multiple mics.
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again, GREAT idea. I can't remember who said it, but it was truly BRILLIANT advice. More mics = more options. That's not to say that 9 times out of 10 you won't end up using the 57 pointing at a cone, but still.
 
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