Best guitar recording method?

[Cazman]

This was my very first attempt at recording so please don't laugh if I did something very stupid


OK, so recently I've purchased an M-Audio NRV10 mixer and firewire interface t record my band, and we experimented with recording directly into the device today and this is what we did:

• Recorded the bass and the guitar directly with only EQ's changed, otherwise it was a clean signal.
• Then I tried to add a distortion effect to the guitar by using a VST plugin called Amplitube in Ableton.
• Then I tried to adjust the volume of each track to make sure every track was at the appropriate level of loudness.

The end result was average, probably because it was my first go at recording an entire band (I did drums and vocals to).

But later on I looked on youtube and saw a guy recording his guitar by micing the amp, and that yielded very good results, so which method is better, micing the amps up or the proccess I described in the bullet points? Because if I were to mic the amps my friend from another band could lend me some shure SM57's to do it. Thanks for your help and sorry if this is in the wrong place or answered already.

 

[Manslick]

Mic’g an amp is probably the easiest and quickest way to get the sound you want.

You dial it in and record it.

If you like the sound from the amp, you can remove the room’s effect and bleed factor by going directly into the mixer.

Once recorded you can do anything to it.

There’s no right, wrong or best way.

 

[lovetara]

crank your amplifier and put an sm57 in front of it. maybe EQ and lightly compress it after recording to help it fit in the mix more.

 

[Dogbreath]

yup

My best guitar sounds come from miking the amp. I usually put a 57 right up on the grill. The closer to the center cone, the more tinny. The farther out on the speaker, more oomph. I usually find the happy medium somewhere in between. Experiment with placement with a set of headphones while someone else plays.

Also...I get a better, fuller sound by double tracking...meaning play and record the same part twice. I tend to double track all my guitars...clean or distorted.

Peace mang

 

[Cazman]

Thanks guys! It's just that when I record directly through the mixer I don't get the same tone that you get from a genuine amp, I'll try micing up an amp once my friend stops dodging school and brings his SM 57's to school