mic placement

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mikeeley
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Mikeeley

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hey, im recording a few bands, and i cant get the guitar to sound as "perfect" as ide like. does anyone have any good ideas on mic placement? if you do please tell me what you think i should do.

i have sm57's
C1000
C3000

im told sm57's are my best bet.. i just cant find a posision where anything sounds good.

THANKS!!
 
If you have the tracks - place the mics in various locations and listen to them all. If you are doing 1 mic 1 track - go with the SM57 up around the grill. Plug in headphones, jack up the gain, and wave the mic around the grill listening for sweet noise - thats one trick (Albini). Another is too just place, play and listen, place, play and listen...Try it an inch of two off the grill, offaxis, off the center - and go from there..
 
SM57s are great for guitar micing, I live by them. I find the best results when micing really close to the speaker, maybe 1/4 - 1/2 of an inch away and a bit off axis.

Hope I could be of service.
 
Basically just play around with it and experiment. I cant stress experimentation enough.
The other thing which MUST be stressed is: If you have a crappy amp, you will have a very difficult time getting a good sound. If you are feeding a great amp with a crappy guitar - you will have a difficult time as well.
 
Sorry for multiple posts. The board wont let me post long messages or it hangs.
 
I've had decent results with the C3000(the notoriois A ver.:eek: ) too, back a few inches. Peak up top kind of like a 57, and not a ton of low end like some condensors so you can get pretty close.
Still, the source and position are more important.
Wayne
 
cool

thank you so much. for some reason when i do it close.. it tends to give off this horrible like staticy sound... any idea what thats all about? what ive accually done is just taken the 57 and placed it about 4 foot away from the front of the amp, and put it almost paralell to it. it seems to sound fairly good.. but not full... any idea what that is all about? like when i listen to what i do and then a good recording from another band mine sounds really bad compared? any ideas on how do get that thick nice sound?

THANKS A LOT!
 
What preamp and soundcard are you using? That can make a big difference.

If you are getting static it may be the preamp distoring on the input. In that case you need a 'pad' that reduces the level of the input. You can buy small pads that plug into the mic cable and some mics and preamps have them built in.
 
okay

im using the pre amp on my mackie... and its staticy before i even put it on my computer... im using a fostex 8 track... does the type of 8 track it is determine how it comes out?

thanks
 
It would help if you explained beter what's going on. 'Staticy' could be anything from too much high end to a broken wire.
Are all the mic, mic preamp and recorder levels ok? You can distort the condensor mics, the 57 should take anything.
How about sound (tone) problems? If you close mic the cone, especially the center, you pick up much more highs than you hear listening from standing above. Get down in front where the mic is to see what the mic sees. It's easy to have way more highs than you expected.
Use less distortion than you think you need -for the same reason.
Just some possible causes.
Yeah? :D
Wayne
 
Re: cool

Mikeeley said:
thank you so much. for some reason when i do it close.. it tends to give off this horrible like staticy sound... any idea what thats all about? what ive accually done is just taken the 57 and placed it about 4 foot away from the front of the amp, and put it almost paralell to it. it seems to sound fairly good.. but not full... any idea what that is all about? like when i listen to what i do and then a good recording from another band mine sounds really bad compared? any ideas on how do get that thick nice sound?

THANKS A LOT!
Click to expand...
This was an earlier clue that didn't sink in at first.:)
Mic placement and type, as well as the tone suggestions in the other post might do it.
From that distance the 57 will be thin. The condesors can be fuller farther out like that.

A close-mic 0-4" or so (the 57 or the C3000 with the pad on if it's loud) is a good place to start for a more direct sound. But move the mic around just an inch or so around the face of the cone will change the tone hugely. If the highs are right at the amp, the center can be good, move toward the edge gets warmer.
Play with it.:D
Wayne
 
The C1000 placed close to the grill, near the speaker's edge, should sound pretty big and full. Much bigger than the 57 and the 3000
 
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