Help Mic Cabinet

[KingNothing]

Hey.
We're having some real trouble micin this Randall 4 12 cab. We got the amp sounding nice when its being played, but when its miced and recorded, it sounds really far away and washy.

Its being miced with an SM57 about an inch off one of the speakers. We're recording in a room thats pretty big, about 12 by 14 feet, but its filled with stuff...

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Tim Brown]

Hey.
We're having some real trouble micin this Randall 4 12 cab. We got the amp sounding nice when its being played, but when its miced and recorded, it sounds really far away and washy.

Its being miced with an SM57 about an inch off one of the speakers. We're recording in a room thats pretty big, about 12 by 14 feet, but its filled with stuff...

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Well, you could try this:

Get a cardboard box about 12" x 12".
Line the inside of the box with "Carpet foam", or any kind of foam of that type.
put the box on it's side.
Place the mic inside the box on a little mic stand.
Put this in front of the guitar amp.
This will act like a little "isolation chamber".

Or, you could face the speaker cabinet into a corner, so that it forms a triangle-then mic this from above using a boom mic stand.

How loud are you playing the amp?

There are tons of things you can try.

I personally hate the sound of an Amp mic'd really close-that's somethig that i only do in two situations:
1. Live sound for PA.
2. Recording live with the entire band in 1 room.

For the second 1-I have the box with foam placed in front of one of the speakers.


Tim

 

[Haggot]

I like to back mic cabinets. I use the corner method for one track, then I back mic the cabinet for another deeper ballsier track.

I assume the Randall is a closed back straight cabinet...

 

[KingNothing]

Thanks for the ideas.

Yes, the Randall is a closed back, but its angled, not straight. As far as loudness, we tried tons of different settings and volumes, from very loud to nearly audible.

We basically gave up trying to use it to get a good distorted sound, even though it sounds real nice coming out of the amp. We borrowed some Korg distortion multi pedal deal and plugged the guitar straight into the board via that. Not a bad sound. Better than what we had been getting.

I think I'll try that box idea though.