loud guitar recording in the apartment

[philbagg]

look into making an isolation box for your guitar cab. This cabinet will be heavy as hell, and yeah, there wont be much if any "room" ambiance to speak of, so you'll need to add verb in the mix.

Just thinking about it now. If this guy's in an apartment, and low on cash. The
chances are that the room itself isn't going to sound too great either. The best
option might be to do this anyway, regardless of neighbours etc.

Maybe look into a convolution reverb and artificially put your amp into an
acoustically treated room. Chances are that it'll sound better than your own
room.

 

[marioantigod]

Just thinking about it now. If this guy's in an apartment, and low on cash. The
chances are that the room itself isn't going to sound too great either. The best
option might be to do this anyway, regardless of neighbours etc.

Maybe look into a convolution reverb and artificially put your amp into an
acoustically treated room. Chances are that it'll sound better than your own
room.

i'll do it. maybe my neighbors will like it? and ask for more

cause i need that poweramp/speaker wrestling natural tone. simulators r not for me and this job.
why gear makers dont create good attenuators in such a big demand?
everyone in their houses would buy them. tdh hotplates suck the tone out, they are not for recordings.

what is that "convolution reverb"?

thanks guys.

 

[philbagg]

what is that "convolution reverb"?

Convolution reverb uses the impulse response of a room to recreate the sound
of that room, as opposed to most digital reverbs which just create artificial
reverberation.

You could take the impulse response of St. Pauls Cathedral, throw it into your
convolution reverb and apply the reverb to your guitar track, and boom! Your
guitar will sound like it's in St Pauls Cathedral.

 

[marioantigod]

You could take the impulse response of St. Pauls Cathedral, throw it into your
convolution reverb and apply the reverb to your guitar track, and boom! Your
guitar will sound like it's in St Pauls Cathedral.

how? using which tools, software?
i use garageband on my mac.
thanks

 

[philbagg]

Here's a few:

Waves IR
Voxengo Pristine Space
LiquidSonics Reverberate

There's loads out there. Take a look around google.

 

[marioantigod]

3) Look into lower wattage "studio" type amps. I've never really looked into this, so I don't know that you'll find anything that suits you're style. Some of those little studio amps can be EXPENSIVE too.

now i will sound like amateur, cause i really am.
but why then 120w amps are for?
if u can mic your small 15 or 30w amp to a PA and rehearse, or record. and even carry it in your bag.
why most of the guys carry huge stacks and record?
w do u think?
thank u.

 

[philbagg]

Usually, the pro's don't record with their huge stacks, it's usually a smaller amp.

And usually, the huge stacks you see behind them on stage are only for show,
and they really have a smaller amp in the back thats making all the noizzze.

Bigger stacks are normally used for more volume in the likes of rehearsals,
a lot of gigs, and practicing at home just because they still sound great.

 

[Ephi82]

first Led Zep album was recorded with guitar through very small amp.......

This would be one of the first generation of 'metal" sounding recordings, no?

(perhaps a source of disagreement, but first pop/rock tunes with overdriven distortion as key element is father of metal?)

It is why I suggested, and have found, small speaker pushed by an amp, close miked, sounds very freakin big..............IT'S no secret ......put it in a bathroom or stairway and get big "reverb, = bigger sound

no, i am just an old dude, it's probably bullshite!

 

[Jeff_D]

now i will sound like amateur, cause i really am.
but why then 120w amps are for?
if u can mic your small 15 or 30w amp to a PA and rehearse, or record. and even carry it in your bag.
why most of the guys carry huge stacks and record?
w do u think?
thank u.

I record and play out with a 50 watt Laney tube amp and a Avatar 4 12 cab w/ Celestion Vintage 30's. Seems with tube amps, the lower the wattage, the quicker they break into that nice tube distortion. I only ever mic 1 speaker though... so, I suppose a lower wattage amp into a single speaker could yield just as favorable results. Like I said, I haven't researched it though, so its hard to say if there is a small recording amp out there that will give you your desired sound. I really wouldn't count out the amp modelers until you've investigated. Sure, I defiantly prefer a mic'd amp, but your situation calls for some research and some trial and error IMO...

 

[philbagg]

Guitar Rig - check it out!

 

[dintymoore]

Small amps have always given me more satisfaction than big ones in recording situations. The only time you need a big amp is when you're playing live with a drummer.

Tiny tube amps, 10W and less are what I'd look for. Then you can crank it up and it's about the same volume as a tv..

 

[kcearl]

i was going to tell you how to do it but you only want pro opinions...shame that

 

[philbagg]

i was going to tell you how to do it but you only want pro opinions...shame that

...but the pro's don't normally record in apartments

None of us should have answered this

 

[marioantigod]

oh, sorry for the tears i caused u.
for me pro is the one who knows what he does from his experience.
not a beginner like me, who does not know a sh.. about good recording.
so, wipe your tears and please help.

i feel that a kcearl clown is very wise (as all clowns are), but he kinda likes mystery.
or he just wanted to become a clown from the early childhood? and did not make it? and is shy?

guys, help!

thanks

 

[Massive Master]

for me pro is the one who knows what he does from his experience.

And I think plenty of them/us chimed in about the situation.

There isn't some "easy & cheap" way to isolate a loud guitar amp so the neighbors in an apartment building aren't going to be rather angry about it. You might as well try to start farming in there while you're at it. It just isn't going to happen.

 

[bozmillar]

just to pipe in here, if you are going for a metal sound, isn't your mic going to be about 3 mm away from the cone? If that's the case, your room acoustics mean next to nothing. I'd say make an iso cab and stick a mic inside.

 

[moresound]

Put your amp out on the fire escape then turn it up to 11 and record it!

 

[philbagg]

oh, sorry for the tears i caused u.
for me pro is the one who knows what he does from his experience.
not a beginner like me, who does not know a sh.. about good recording.
so, wipe your tears and please help.

i feel that a kcearl clown is very wise (as all clowns are), but he kinda likes mystery.
or he just wanted to become a clown from the early childhood? and did not make it? and is shy?

guys, help!

thanks

First of all, "pro" is short for "professional". And a professional is someone who
does this as a profession. Not just someone who knows about something.
And, as massive has pointed out, there have been pro's who have been
posting and helping you out, yet you're simply trying to do the impossible.

Second of all, give over with all your "tears" shit. I've been posting on two
or three of your threads, trying to help you. When, in reality, the questions
you ask don't need to be answered by anyone else other than yourself. Stop
being lazy and just try things out. What's the harm? It's digital recording,
it's not gonna cause you a friggin cent on tape if you mess up or do too much
and you have to throw some of it away. I experiment at home all the time,
it costs me nothing.

So instead of thinking that we're all crying because we can't seem to help you,
think about how lazy you gotta be to always be looking for the quick fix, when
really, the BETTER "fix" is to just DIY. In the time it's taken you to
ask all these questions, you could have solved half your problems.

I had no problem trying to help you until you started acting like a sarcastic
child.

 

[marioantigod]

u know what i mean.
and i really appreciate your help.
thank u.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

now i will sound like amateur, cause i really am.
but why then 120w amps are for?
if u can mic your small 15 or 30w amp to a PA and rehearse, or record. and even carry it in your bag.
why most of the guys carry huge stacks and record?
w do u think?
thank u.

Just to chime in, a little late here...

120 watt guitar amps exist for a very different reason than 5 watt amps. The point of a 5 watt amp, at least today, is to allow you to overdrive the power amp at a reasonable volume, and to give you poweramp distortion. This is great for bluesy and blues/rock tones - SRV, Led Zep, etc - where you're not using much preamp gain, and want the poweramp to distort and saturate into this nice, spongy, touch-sensitive, thick, round guitar sound.

The point of 120 watt guitar amps is the complete opposite - you want them NOT to overdrive the power section, at gigging volumes. Generally, high wattage amps are also either designed to stay crystal clean at any level, or are mated with high gain preamps, so you can get a good preamp distortion sound, and then send it through a poweramp without overdriving it further. This is pretty useful for metal, where aggressive, crunchy distortion is part of the sound, but you also want to preserve low end clarity. A tube poweramp typically will start to distort on the low end first, so by getting the bulk of your distortion from the preamp and then at most adding a bit of natural tube compression from the power amp, you still preserve a lot of low end punch and impact.

It's just two diffrent ways of getting a distorted sound, distorting the preamp or distorting the poweramp. They're both great sounds, but for different reasons and are best in different applications. You're not going to nail the Nevermore sound out of a Fender Champ (at least not without a couple good distortion pedals and keeping an eye on your output knob so you don't saturate the power section), but you're also not going to get the Led Zep I sound out of a Dual Rectifier (at least, not without turning it up to absolutely stupid volumes).