DI Guitar Sound > Mic'd Guitar Sound

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afrothunder89

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Hey guys. No introduction needed, I'm new when it comes to recording music.

My dilemma is that my guitar tracks (ones i plug straight into my preamp DI) sound so much better and clearer than the ones I try to record with two microphones in front of my voxac30.

Admittedly, the DI tracks miss that airy quality that we all know and love about the guitar tone. But so why is it that the MIC'd tracks sound insignificant and lacking in tone? I don't understand why I'm not getting good results here.

Also. How many of you recommend the idea of blending a DI signal guitar track with a live guitar track captured with two mics? Thanks ! :thumbs up:
 
Hey, and welcome to HR!

First, does you amp sound good in the room before recording it? If it doesn't the mics aren't going to make it better, that's for sure.

What mics are you using? Why do you need two of them?
When using 2 mics, you introduce a phase relationship. Are you getting a more hollow and thin sound recording the amp compared to the DI+sim route?

Have you moved the mics around and tried different places for them? Have you tried just one or the other?
 
We are going to need a little more info to help.
1. What mics are you using?
2. Where are you placing them?
3. Are you using any effects on the amp?
4. What type of sound are you looking for?

As was mentioned, if the amp doesn't sound as clear as you want it to, the Mic will just pick that up. Also, if the mics are not lined up properly, you will get some phase cancellation, which will make it sound bad. That id easy to check for, simply turn off one of the mics and see if it sounds better. If it does, that is your problem.
 
You should be able to get great mic'ed guitar tone from an AC30. I get decent results from a much lesser Vox - as Greg says, you're probably getting ahead of yourself. Try a single mic against the grill cloth just off-centre (kind of where the speaker dust cap meets the cone) - listen in headphones (using the direct monitoring from your interface) and move the mic around a bit if you can until you find the position that sounds best. Record that and you will probably be much happier with the results.

Before all that, to hear what the tone will sound like to the mic, get on your knees with your ear to the cab - that's what the mic hears, adjust your tone to suit at that position.

Some people get good results from having the mic a few inches back from the grill, some point it diagonally against the grill. I use a Shure SM57 in this position, as do many others. Experiment with what mics you have available.
 
1. What mics are you using?
-Josephson e22s and sennheiser e609
2. Where are you placing them?
-One in front of the grill, the other about 3 times back the distance to capture room sound.
3. Are you using any effects on the amp?
-No. Dry.
4. What type of sound are you looking for?
-Clean, and detailed.


Maybe I'm not placing the mics correctly.,

The problem is, when i crank up my amp to listen on my headphones, I can't hear what my mics are capturing because of the loudness of the amp bleeding into the headphones. And when I turn down the amp, and crank up my mic preamp, that introduces a lot of hiss from the preamp which misguides my hearing of the tone.

I have no idea why I can't get a great, detailed sound by mic'ing. :(
 
The distant Mic is going to muddle it up. if you want clear detail, use a single Mic.

If you don't have closed headphones that isolate enough, you will just have to place the mic-record a few seconds- move the Mic- record again, etc... until you find the right spot.

Pointing the Mic in the center of the speaker will give you the most high end, moving the Mic towards the edge of the cone will get a darker tone. So, just place the Mic and listen to the recording. If its too dark, move the Mic towards the center. if its too bright, move it away from center.
 
To be honest, or as Justsome guy would say "tbf", I am new to the recording thing myself.

From a somewhat defensive point of view, knowing that I'm a rookie and that I suck, I would eliminate as many unnecessary variables as possible, so that I can focus on one thing at a time. The more knobs/bells and whistles I have the higher the probability that I'll mess things up.

Take one of your mics and play with only that one mic for a month or so until you learn that mic. Then try it again for another month or so to learn how the other mic responds. After that you should have a pretty good idea of how your mics work and respond under different settings.

I opened up a session in Pro Tools simply called "Mic Test: Guitar". This session is not for recording an amazing guitar part, its a journal of sorts for me to use in discovering what mic'ing I like the best. There's about two dozen tracks in there with notes like "57 on dust" meaning the Shure SM57, on axis, aimed at the dust cover as opposed to "57 off out" being a different run using the SM57 off axis, pointing at the outer edge of the speaker. Same guitar and amp settings throughout along with playing the same thing. The only variable I want in this process is the mic placement.

Give it a shot and see what happens. Whatever you do, don't :facepalm:



I am using The Eleven Rack for most of my guitar duties, however at some point I will put in more energy in to mic'ing up my amps for actual tracking.
 
Consider a headphones upgrade. It wasn't until I bought some Sennheiser HD280s that I could hear the mic'ed sound independently enough. Headphones designed for drummers are good too, so I hear.
 
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