Guitar is sounding far away please help

  • Thread starter Thread starter Reach Singer
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Reach Singer

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In advance I'd like to thank anyone who gives their time to answer my question. OK here we go... I have a line 6 half-stack and a 1000 dollar schecter guitar, so I know it's not my guitar or amp. I'm trying to record distortion but everytime I do the guitar sounds far away. I have a sm57 mic and I've tried positioning it everywhere. I just can't get it to sound like it's up in your face. It sounds as if the mic is in the next room and i put it about an inch from the grill if that. Can anyone tell me the reason for this and how to fix it?

Thank you,

Steve/Reach
 
You're recording in your house, yes? The amp is not turned up enough to drown out the room noise.
 
Does the mic require more phantom power than it's getting or something?
 
It's a dynamic, it doesn't require phantom power.

I think you are using too much distortion. While lots of distortion can sound like "grit" or "roar" when standing in front of your amp, or a bit away from it, it can sound like extreme sizzle, or a block of noise when tracked right at the speaker. Miking dead-on produces a lot of treble, and in turn, less mids, which make the sound more scooped and this also can contribute to it sounding far away.

Try turning down the distortion quite a bit, to the point where you can hear the distortion become less as the decay of a note goes on. Now turn the treble know back just 1 or 2. Now turn the mid knob up 2 or 3. Leave the bass is it is. Now take the 57 and stick it right in front the the speaker (and I mean RIGHT in front). Now move it back a couple of inches and move it 2 or 3 inches to the left or right, not changing the angle of the mic. This helps me in most situations.
 
Reach Singer said:
In advance I'd like to thank anyone who gives their time to answer my question. OK here we go... I have a line 6 half-stack and a 1000 dollar schecter guitar, so I know it's not my guitar or amp. I'm trying to record distortion but everytime I do the guitar sounds far away. I have a sm57 mic and I've tried positioning it everywhere. I just can't get it to sound like it's up in your face. It sounds as if the mic is in the next room and i put it about an inch from the grill if that. Can anyone tell me the reason for this and how to fix it?

Thank you,

Steve/Reach
Click to expand...

Line 6 amps sound "far away" to me without even miking them. Don't count out your amp being the problem ... are you recording with reverb?
 
Line 6 amps DON'T sound far away to me. There just an amp. But still a good question, are you using reverb or any time based effects? And the room it's in can have a big impact on the recording. Is the room reflective, reverberant sounding?
 
Track Rat said:
Line 6 amps DON'T sound far away to me. There just an amp. But still a good question, are you using reverb or any time based effects? And the room it's in can have a big impact on the recording. Is the room reflective, reverberant sounding?
Click to expand...

My point is (and I'm not sure which Line 6 amp is in question here) but ... I never thought any of the modeling amps that I've ever heard had that "kick you in the face" midrange bite that a tube amp or even other solid state or hybrids I've heard. Part of this reason could be that a lot of these amps have tons of signal processing going on that could color the tone. Hell, I had a J-Station years ago and almost all the presets had compression, noise gate, reverb and other effects automatically turned on.
 
Most people tend to grab a 57 to mic distorded rythm guitar. I think it's a terrible mic for the app. I use the senn 421 md, mainly be cause it can handle just about anything you throw at it.

Also try a Isolation box. Search the forum for an isolation box or iso box. Room ambiants are terrible for dynamic mics too.
 
I have tube amps (Rivera, early '60's DanElectro, Hughes & Kettner, etc) and solid state (Acoustic, Peavey, etc) and a J Staion and a POD and a Line6 AX2, etc. They're all just amps. Some do things better than others. Some are one trick ponies. But ALL can sound great on a recording. We could argue or profess the subtleties of tubes vs solid state vs digital modeling all day long to no end. I have no problems getting what I want out of any of them. But if you think that a tube amp is going to be in your face as opposed to a Line6 sounding distant just because it's a modeler, I strongly disagree. There just tools and it's how you use them that makes the difference.
 
put your ear up to your speaker when you have found your "perfect tone" (make sure to not blast your ears out though!) and you will get an idea of how much different it sounds. Adjust your eq and gain untill it sounds good directly in front of the speaker, instead of tweaking it to sound good a couple of feet up, where you would regularly stand. remember, when on stage the audience is directly in front of your amps. you most importantly want your amp to sound good there, not at the off axis position where you stand.
 
As long as I'm preaching here, there's no "one correct method" of miking an amp. It depends on the context of where the track is going to be placed. Tight on the grill or back a few feet or laying on the floor in front of the amp. Experiment. There is no one size fits all.
 
move the line6 closer to your computer.

for sure.




i mean...room acoustics/gear/mic placement.

keep cracking...you'll find it.
 
An inch away from the amp? I'd put the SM57 right up to the amp, touching the grille if not VERY near to.

Not that I use them much, try an LDC, AKG C414 and C3000B both sound incredible for distorted guitar. Also, have you thought that perhaps you don't have enough guitar? Double Tracking does a lot for guitar sounds...
 
I did some guitar tracks just this week with a 57 laying on the floor about 6" away from the amp. It worked great.
 
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