How to mic an amp?

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Friends... I am curious as to how people here like to mic their guitar amps. I play with distortion and i find i get a nice brightsound if i mic the back of my amp. ( I personnally use a crate amp) do you like to go one front one back? Or what't the deal? I also position the mic right against the amp.... oh god help me out here gimme some tips
 
Well, the best sound I have heard was a Shure57 right up to the speaker (just off centre) and then a Shure 58 about a yard away. These two mixed together to taste. (apparently this is how Jimi Hendrix was recorded as well)
 
I have two mics already...I was curious as to positionint. I have always liked to mic the back of my amp...But i was curious as to how where others postitioned their mics aorund the amp!
 
Lately I've been using Two AKG C-1000's on the front of an amp in the traditional spots (about an inch off the grill cloth, just off the center of the cones). Sometimes I'll put a D-112 on the back of the cab as well ( with the polarity reversed) for a lttle more depth.
 
I've been advised to try close miking the cone and using another mic about 6ft away, pointing at the middle of the 4 speakers on a 4x12. I'll give it a try tomorrow with an SM57 and a either a Rode NT1 or a cheap crappy mic. The record he was talking about sounds fantastic. I don't know what mics were used though.

I also found that pushing the gain up on the desk so it was peaking quite a lot, and the needles were stuck at max really brings the sound out (close miked).

Anyone got any further tips on this. Personally I'm after very big and heavy sounding distorted guitars.
 
"put the guitar amp on a crate or chair or road case or something else to get it off of the floor a bit.  make the mic a 57 or 58.  get down on your knees and stick one ear in front of the amp while the musician is playing; if it's too loud, put a finger in your ear - do NOT ask the musician to turn down. remembering what kinda sound you're looking for, move your heard around the front of the amp listening for the exact spot where the sound is 'best'. "
 
george massenburg


can't argue with the man :) don't worry about where to put the mic, put it where it sounds best to you. And you can take as long as you want finding that spot, that's what home recording's all about!

-travis
 
try some of these

heres the deal:
first of all, if you plan to mic an amplifier from the front, you should have the mic placed 1 1/4 inches away from the speaker grill. secondly, when micing from the front, in the speaker you are micing, there is that little circle in the middle of the speaker, most people put the amp right in the middle of the speaker - no good. the mic should be placed half-way between the edge of the speaker, and the middle...
|-Microphone
Outside Edge___ O | __Outside
\__|__/
Middle
on a furter note, there are many ways to mic a guitar amplifier, it all depends on what you like. while micing from the front is the treditional way, other ways include:
-Micing from behind an open back amplifier (you do this by placing the mic Right behind the speaker, or if there are 2 speakers, place the mic right between the two -
O-speaker o-mic O-Speaker
-Micing from a distance (placing a mic infront of the middle of the amp, or behind the middle of the amp, but a distance away, some people like 6ft, some people like 3 ft. its up to you, but i advise that you dont do this while you are Live Recording, because you will get alot of bleeding that will make the mixing process a pain in the ass - Sounds good for lead guitars)
-Micing from the side of the amp (this uses 2 mics, one on each side, about 1 foot away from the amp, this sounds good if you dont want alot of presince in the recording, but you like alor of presance in your guitars sound - very unique)
there are many other ways of micing instruments, let me know if you want to get some more ideas for micing instruments, e-mail me at blacktop_rec@hotmail.com ill be glad to chat
 
by the way, above...you can really use any kind of mic, i have gotten professional sound out of a 10 dollar wal*mart mic using one of these, and i have also used an Audio Technica mic (which i think is the best thing ever) (i used a something blues mic)

any questions - e-mail - blacktop_rec@hotmail.com
 
Another trick to experimenting ,...use headphones to monitor the sound and move the mic around with one hand while picking the guitar with the other. It's amazing how varied
the sound can get just by moving the mic a few inches. If
you do alot of micing to one particular amp, you can mount
a 18" gooseneck to the side of the amp with a mic holder on the end. It's cool because you don't have to fiddle with
clumsy mic stands and they'll hold the same position.
 
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