loud guitar recording in the apartment

  • Thread starter Thread starter marioantigod
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marioantigod

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(sorry for my english, im not a native speaker)

ye it's a problem for thousands of guitar maniacs.
one covers amp with pillows, or uses hotplates, or records quiet amp with radio sound etc. and all this sucks.
guys,
i need your experienced, pro opinions here ONLY. thanks for understanding.
so,
i want to record hell heavy metal guitars in my room.
i have 120w amp. i want to crank it up, so power amp runs into it's distortion and speaker starts to move more and runs into it's distortion also. i dont want to use power attenuator, hotplates etc for recording.
the problem is that i want to do it in my apartment and record with sm57 into my computer via tascam interface.

how can i avoid too much loudness without disturbing neighbours too much. other folks suggest to use shipping blankets and cover the amp avoiding covering vent grills. but it kills all room natural reverberation.

maybe u know better ways how to record hell loud amp in the apartment? at least how to avoid the most irritating volume? kinda compromise between covered loud amp and a good condition for recording.

the only thing i find could be useful is to put an amp into wardrobe facing the clothes. a lot of people record good vocals that way.
it partially absorbs unwanted reverberation while still keeping natural ambience.

big thanks. i will wait for your opinions. and after that i'll start the metal hell.
 
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no promises that this will work, but I used to wire up an old stereo speaker (one that I didnt care if it blew) to my Fender Amp. It definitely put out a very overdriven distorted sound and wasn't very loud.

I would close mic it with a SM 57 and add some space with reverb in the mix. You simply wont get a good "room" sound while keeping the neighbors and police away
 
Ephi82 said:
no promises that this will work, but I used to wire up an old stereo speaker (one that I didnt care if it blew) to my Fender Amp. It definitely put out a very overdriven distorted sound and wasn't very loud.

I would close mic it with a SM 57 and add some space with reverb in the mix. You simply wont get a good "room" sound while keeping the neighbors and police away
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dont get me wrong, but it is a bullshit. and it is absolutely non relative to what i want to do.
best wishes. thanks.
 
i need your experienced, pro opinions here ONLY.
Click to expand...

Rent a practice studio.
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That was the best one.

Look - You're trying to beat physics. Packing blankets, foam, even a truck load of bass traps isn't going to help you.

Either reconstruct the entire room from the ground up with staggered studs, extra layers of plaster, probably a cinder-brick firewall completely surrounding it over a floating floor - or wait until the rest of the building is on holiday.

This just isn't going to happen. If you're playing "loud" it's going to be loud. If you want to arrest the transmission of that energy, you're going to need reconstruction. You could even get one of those "portable booth" setups - which attenuate the human vocal range rather well - but it's going to be fairly worthless for the amount of low end energy you're talking about with a loud guitar amp.

Physics doesn't care about your particular situation. Physics does what it does. This is why people don't open glass blowing shops inside fuel stations.
 
marioantigod said:
dont get me wrong, but it is a bullshit. and it is absolutely non relative to what i want to do.
best wishes. thanks.
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As Massive Mastering said, you are trying to change the laws of physics and that is what is "bullshit".

Good Luck Einstein (Hey how about that as a name for your Metal band, shredder?)
 
ye,
im in bullshit too, boy.

anyway, i will find out something. i dont have money.

btw, einstein was one of the most advanced human beings. i dont mean necessary science. i mean as a human.
very rare example of rational non deluded thinking. richard dawkins, darwin, einstein, thomas paine... i could use their names for my band. no jokes. these people are opposite to todays society. and it is sad and hopeless.

all the best.
 
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Why don't you just talk to your neighbours ? Let them know what you want to do and see if they can tolerate it for a couple of hours. Or find out if there are particular times when they are out. This is what I've done for the last 19 years. The worst they can do is say no.
 
grimtraveller said:
Why don't you just talk to your neighbours ? Let them know what you want to do and see if they can tolerate it for a couple of hours. Or find out if there are particular times when they are out. This is what I've done for the last 19 years. The worst they can do is say no.
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ye.
also i will try to put my amp into wardrobe towards clothes and put a blanket on. and see how much i can go in volume before not breaking my windows and roof. i think that reverb reflections i will try to add as effects later in the mix.

thanks.
 
...or you can just wear some ear plugs, and then it won't be too loud. ;)
 
You need to build an iso-box for your cabinet. It's basically a box that you put the cabinet and mic in that is insulated enough to keep the sound level down enough to keep the cops from showing up.
 
Farview said:
You need to build an iso-box for your cabinet. It's basically a box that you put the cabinet and mic in that is insulated enough to keep the sound level down enough to keep the cops from showing up.
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But that will kill all his "room natural reverberation".
 
Just take the day off when everybody goes to work do your tracking then the few that do hear you can't complain cause it's during the day.
 
Another option is to sell your amp and get a really nice, small amp. We're talking
like roughly 10 watts here. Crank that bad boy. The speakers move more, and
it sounds huge, yet it won't be unbelievably loud.

Jimmy Paige used tiny amps on the zeppelin records, and they sound huge.

The way I've always heard it is that in the recording world:
Huge stacks sound small on tape.
Tiny amps sound huge on tape.
 
philbagg said:
Another option is to sell your amp and get a really nice, small amp. We're talking
like roughly 10 watts here. Crank that bad boy. The speakers move more, and
it sounds huge, yet it won't be unbelievably loud.

Jimmy Paige used tiny amps on the zeppelin records, and they sound huge.

The way I've always heard it is that in the recording world:
Huge stacks sound small on tape.
Tiny amps sound huge on tape.
Click to expand...

Search the pawn shops for them...they usually dont think they are worth very much with the low wattage rating...I bought a 5watt all tube amp for 20 bucks.
 
darrin_h2000 said:
Search the pawn shops for them...they usually dont think they are worth very much with the low wattage rating...I bought a 5watt all tube amp for 20 bucks.
Click to expand...

:eek:

I gotta start looking for pawn shops in Dublin :D
 
I think you're getting some good advice in this thread... I wouldn't hang too many hopes on packing blankets. My personal preference (in order) would be...

Ideal solution...
1) move or rent a practice space where you can be loud and treat for acoustics to make a good sounding space where you wont piss anyone off.

Compromised Solutions...
2) look into making an isolation box for your guitar cab. This cabinet will be heavy as hell, and yeah, there wont be much if any "room" ambiance to speak of, so you'll need to add verb in the mix. Assuming you have a separate amp and cab, keep the amp outside the box and make a hole to run the speaker wire in.

3) Look into lower wattage "studio" type amps. I've never really looked into this, so I don't know that you'll find anything that suits you're style. Some of those little studio amps can be EXPENSIVE too.

4) look into getting an "amp modeler" as an alternative to using a real amp.

Good luck...
 
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