can you overdo acoustics?

[ollie99]

Hi,
I was just wondering if you can overdo acoustics?
Im just setting up to record guitar and I have quite tightly packed foamy things around my amp as to the point where you can only see the top and back of it, but I was just wondering if actually I have overdone it?
Also, would it be a good idea to add a condenser microphone as a room mic?

 

[Massive Master]

You can't overdo broadband trapping -- You can very easily overdo "foamy stuff" (which only really affects the "natural ambience" that's so difficult to protect).

But if it sounds good to the microphone then you're fine.

 

[Chili]

I don't regularly record through an amp so I'm curious why you would pack foam around one for recording. I have recorded once with an amp and didn't do anything to it except put a mic in front of the grill.

 

[ollie99]

I don't regularly record through an amp so I'm curious why you would pack foam around one for recording. I have recorded once with an amp and didn't do anything to it except put a mic in front of the grill.

when I first got the equipment I just put a mic in front and it sounded alright I guess, but I havent actually recorded a proper song from it yet, so this is my first time seeing what it sounds like with acoustics and I am also intrigued as to the difference

 

[mixsit]

Part of the amps tone and/or how we might normaly hear it is changed -its reflections in the room (open back sound from the rear?
It's totally possible to choke off desirable resonances, but largely you're playing with the 'lively vs dead, wet/dry pictures.

 

[mjbphotos]

Packing foam all around the amp makes no sense at all! The sound is going to come from the speaker (front), or from the rear if its open back (to reflect off of whatever is behind it.) Also, the amp cabinet itself will put sound out through any other hard things it is against (the floor, a shelf, etc.)

 

[grimtraveller]

But if it sounds good to the microphone then you're fine.

^^^^^^^^This, double plus.
Among the important things I've learned about recording is that it is one's own ears and tastes that matter. When someone makes a recording, be it a single or an album, you, the listener are buying into the tastes of the artists, engineers, producers and masterer. You either take it or leave it. You can't dredge up Barry White from the dead and say "Your voice was too deep on that one". You can't hook up Lars Ulrich and say "You're bass drums are too loud on that album !". You can't take Melanie to court and put it to the jury that her acoustic guitar was too bassy. You either dig the songs or you don't and you can't be true to yourself if you're trying to listen to your own music through other peoples' ears. No two people agree on everything {unless you pay them handsomely }.
So all the questions you've asked can only elicit our biased opinions but at the end of the day, you need to try out what you're planning with and without the foam, with and without a room mic and experiment and see what floats your boat. Whatever sounds good to you is what sounds good to you.

 

[dastrick]

^^^^^^^^This, double plus.
Among the important things I've learned about recording is that it is one's own ears and tastes that matter. When someone makes a recording, be it a single or an album, you, the listener are buying into the tastes of the artists, engineers, producers and masterer. You either take it or leave it. You can't dredge up Barry White from the dead and say "Your voice was too deep on that one". You can't hook up Lars Ulrich and say "You're bass drums are too loud on that album !". You can't take Melanie to court and put it to the jury that her acoustic guitar was too bassy. You either dig the songs or you don't and you can't be true to yourself if you're trying to listen to your own music through other peoples' ears. No two people agree on everything {unless you pay them handsomely }.
So all the questions you've asked can only elicit our biased opinions but at the end of the day, you need to try out what you're planning with and without the foam, with and without a room mic and experiment and see what floats your boat. Whatever sounds good to you is what sounds good to you.

Yep. What he said.

 

[ollie99]

^^^^^^^^This, double plus.
Among the important things I've learned about recording is that it is one's own ears and tastes that matter. When someone makes a recording, be it a single or an album, you, the listener are buying into the tastes of the artists, engineers, producers and masterer. You either take it or leave it. You can't dredge up Barry White from the dead and say "Your voice was too deep on that one". You can't hook up Lars Ulrich and say "You're bass drums are too loud on that album !". You can't take Melanie to court and put it to the jury that her acoustic guitar was too bassy. You either dig the songs or you don't and you can't be true to yourself if you're trying to listen to your own music through other peoples' ears. No two people agree on everything {unless you pay them handsomely }.
So all the questions you've asked can only elicit our biased opinions but at the end of the day, you need to try out what you're planning with and without the foam, with and without a room mic and experiment and see what floats your boat. Whatever sounds good to you is what sounds good to you.

well it sounds fine to me
And to mixsit and mjbphotos, it isnt an open back amp anyway, otherwise I would have realised that