Benefits to recording guitar with an amp?

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rubycasey

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Me and a few friends have had some ideas and we want to get around to recording them and making something cool out of them soon, so I've been researching recording techniques and all that. I know a lot of bigger studios will mic guitar amps to get a nice cabinet sound, but for now we're recording in my garage so we want to have as little noise in the room as possible to make vocal recording less of a pain (plus we only have 2 good mics). I'm not too familiar with how guitar amps work, I wanted to know if there is noticeable a difference between recording the signal from the guitar or pedals straight into the computer, and recording the amp's signal into the computer. I imagine since it's analog (I think) there would be a difference, but I'm not sure if it'd be enough to go through setting it all up.
 
rubycasey said:
Me and a few friends have had some ideas and we want to get around to recording them and making something cool out of them soon, so I've been researching recording techniques and all that. I know a lot of bigger studios will mic guitar amps to get a nice cabinet sound, but for now we're recording in my garage so we want to have as little noise in the room as possible to make vocal recording less of a pain (plus we only have 2 good mics). I'm not too familiar with how guitar amps work, I wanted to know if there is noticeable a difference between recording the signal from the guitar or pedals straight into the computer, and recording the amp's signal into the computer. I imagine since it's analog (I think) there would be a difference, but I'm not sure if it'd be enough to go through setting it all up.
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There’s a huge difference. Whether that difference good or bad is up to you, your equipment, and your technique. With recording into the computer you have more control over the sound. With micing the cabs you have a more niche sound that can be pleasing from the get go.
 
CrowsofFritz said:
There’s a huge difference. Whether that difference good or bad is up to you, your equipment, and your technique. With recording into the computer you have more control over the sound. With micing the cabs you have a more niche sound that can be pleasing from the get go.
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Would there be a difference if I don't mic the cab though? We don't enough an extra microphone for it, I'm talking about taking the signal directly from the amp's line out into the computer.
 
rubycasey said:
Would there be a difference if I don't mic the cab though? We don't enough an extra microphone for it, I'm talking about taking the signal directly from the amp's line out into the computer.
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Ah, I had a video that showed the difference. I deleted it, unfortunately. Yes, there will still be a difference because the signal is still running through the amp. It won’t sound as natural as a micd cab, but the amp will still impart some of its characteristics into the sound. Try it out and see what you prefer!
 
With recording, it’s very personal, so you learn most by doing things then picking which sounds best. Plenty of people record in odd places with problems but they try things and while most don’t work some do, for you. As in put a mic in close to get rid of unwanted noise, and the noise goes, but the tone gets bassy, so you use eq and make it work. Others spend money on treatment to enable your mic to be further away. What you also learn is the tiny difference some things make and the huge different others do.
 
Guitar Amp Recording

Possibly the best article about amp recording extant. ^

If your mic locker is spares get the Behringer XM 8500. For 15 quid it is an absolute steal. MORE than good enough to stick in front of a gitcab!

Regarding excess noise? Even with a dynamic you don't need the amp very loud. With the mic touching the speaker fret you can play at almost 'tune up' levels, the idea that the speaker needs to "move a lot of air" is largely bollocks. In any case a 24 bit recording can be at -20 dB fs , even lower and be boosted post tracking.

Dave.
 
The speaker itself is like a low pass filter with a cutoff frequency somewhere in the upper midrange/lower treble region. You never get actual high frequencies out of it. On some amps, the direct output will have an electronic filter for “speaker emulation”, but many don’t, so you’d have to add something like that once it’s in the computer. You can actually get quite a ways with fairly basic EQ, but I guess most folks would use a dedicated speaker sim plugin or IR loader.

Then you have the thing where the sound coming out of the speaker vibrates the guitar and creates resonance, sustain, and/or feedback. Getting that from a direct sound is kind of tough, though how much it actually matters depends on what you’re actually doing.

Have you thought about how you’re going to monitor these direct guitars while you’re playing? Have you thought about doing some overdubs?
 
rubycasey said:
Would there be a difference if I don't mic the cab though? I'm talking about taking the signal directly from the amp's line out
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It's a matter of preference but the sounds are quite different. It takes a while to notice though.
For me, DI guitars are kind of horrible although used in conjunction with other guitar sounds can be great because it's not standing out on its own. I much prefer a miked amp, even if it's not a good quality amp.
But that's just me.
It's funny how that's not true for bass guitar. I usually mic the bass amp but the line out sound on its own is a great sound, depending, as ever, on the song and the way the bass is played.
 
ecc83 said:
Guitar Amp Recording

Possibly the best article about amp recording extant. ^

If your mic locker is spares get the Behringer XM 8500. For 15 quid it is an absolute steal. MORE than good enough to stick in front of a gitcab!

Regarding excess noise? Even with a dynamic you don't need the amp very loud. With the mic touching the speaker fret you can play at almost 'tune up' levels, the idea that the speaker needs to "move a lot of air" is largely bollocks. In any case a 24 bit recording can be at -20 dB fs , even lower and be boosted post tracking.

Dave.
Click to expand...
This dude doesn't even know what an amp is. I doubt he has a "mic locker" lol
 
To the OP - record the guitar amp track first, instead of trying to record vocals and guitar at the same time. That way you don't need an extra mic.

I will record electric guitar any of the 3 ways:
1) DI with Podfarm plug-in - I'll use this when I am not sure what amp sound is going to work for the song - the electric guitar is NOT the main instrument on these songs. I use this for 12-string often as it doesn't need a lot of amp coloration. My amp has some stereo FX, so I occasionally want to record those in stereo, so will use the stereo out from the amp, but this is rare.
2) Amp direct out - for rhythm guitar parts or 'background'/fill lead parts
3) Mic the amp (SM57) - preferred method!
I've split the signal and recorded both the DI and miked amp and rarely used the DI, so I usually don't bother any more.
 
When you record direct the sound will of course be different to what comes out the speaker - but while sometimes the speakers ad something, my experience is that more times they create extra problems. The usual buzzes and rattles, but often, just a worse sound. I've got a number of amps and I'm not actually certain any of the combos or cabs sound better than a DI - and often it's lucky the extra noises captured with the mic are obscured by the awful hiss from the processors. I know we go on about the special sound a green speaker or special harder cone produces, plus the benefits of centre or edge miking - but I'm very happy recording the output of the amp DI, or the output of the clever floor board collection.
 
Context is key. The type of music, the role of the guitar in the arrangement and they type of sound you are looking for will determine what you have to do to get a usable tone.


You can go one of two ways:
1. Decide what sound you want out of the guitar and do what it takes to get that sound.
Or
2. Use the sound you can get with what you have and the method you wish to use, then work with that and create around it.

The only time you have to follow the "rules" is when you have decided what you want the outcome to be. Once you have decided on the outcome, you have limited yourself to only doing the things that will accomplish that outcome.
 
For some guitar sounds the amp is an integral part of the sound of the instrument. If you're chugging you might be able to do that with an amp sim if you're monitoring the sound. Off a clean DI? No feel. If you have something like a Fender tweed or Marshall that's on the edge of breakup where you play nice and it's clean but you dig in and it's crunchy? Good luck pulling that off convincingly with a DI. The amp is part of the instrument at that point.
 
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