Micing guitar amps: the basics.

[frankieballsss]

How do you guys go about micing your guitar amps. Ive been reading up and see that some people use two mics (one centered on the speaker, another a couple of inches away), and keeping the two mikes in phase.

Is it really worth the effort to mike using this method, or can one mic create the same quality results?

 

[Halion]

It depends entirely on the kind of sound you want. BTW, the method you describe does not use phase cancellation, but rather no phase cancellation. You're trying to keep the mics in phase, so they don't cancel each other out.

I prefer 2 mics, both right in front of the speaker, pointed straight at the speaker, but just off-center. Different mics. Try something like 2 different dynamics (SM57 + MD421 for instance) or a dynamic and a condensor or a ribbon if you have on. It's all taste though.

 

[systmovadown]

2 mics would be alot more trial and errors

sticking one sm57 is the key.
That one works well too.
I use the sennheiser e609 silver which is meant for guitar. I think it works a little better than the sm57. The 57 is an all-around mic.

 

[Treeline]

It's worth doing some online research to understand what phase cancellation is about. In a nutshell if you visualize a waveform from a given sound and then imagine the exact opposite waveform - you will be looking at two representations of the identical sound. One is out of phase with the other. If you combined these two signals and ran them through an amplifier, you would hear silence - literally. If you took either one of the signals and reversed its phase, and then ran them through, you would get a reinforced signal - louder than either one by itself. So keeping multiple mics in phase with each other is important so they don't inadvertantly cancel, interrupt or minimize portions of each others' signals. The 3:1 rule of mic placement minimizes the effect of phasing issues because the mics are far enough from each other so that, relative to the signal itself, any occasional phasing weirdness will be overtaken by the signal strength.

 

[frankieballsss]

As far as amp configurations (1 x 12, 2 x 12 etc.....) is there any "better" configuration on an amp for recording, like lets say if you had a 2 x 12 amp would you throw one mic on each speaker, or is it purely preference.

 

[ibleedburgundy]

I'm going to try recording my mesa with Pro tools LE for the first time today. I was going to ask these questions. I have a Neumann KM 184 and an SM 57.

 

[Treeline]

I tend to use one mic and simply pick a speaker to drive it.

 

[systmovadown]

I tend to use one mic and simply pick a speaker to drive it.

\

yeah i usually pick the top left speaker on my 4x12

 

[Ronan]

As a beginer your best bet is one Shure SM57. start with it right on the grill in front of the speaker and move around to taste. Big changes in sound will come from moving the mic left or right or further or closer.

By the way, this will still be a great appraoch 10 years from now when you have a lot more experience.

 

[jkokura]

The approach I use is to uber-mic the cab...I use up to eight mics at one time, and I try to use as many cabs as I can...Another engineer I know taught me that it's better to have too much than not enough. I mic the crap out out of the signal, and then later I blend the various signals until I get what I want. I like it, and though I do end up with extra stuff, I rarely have to retrack if I find I don't like what I've got...I just reblend the signals I have already and bounce them all to stereo.

Jacob

 

[Chris Shaeffer]

^ Oy. I've done that. And *always* regret it when it comes to mix time. What the hell do I do with 37 guitar tracks for 3 takes?!?!? Its a lot of work at the end and, IMO, not enough work at the beginning. I do this only when I know the band isn't sure what they want up front or they want me to do it that way.

I tend to start with the amp and room. Does it sound right? No? Make it sound right. Yes? OK... on to micing it.

I start with 1 57 or whatever on the grill and move it around until the recorded channel sounds right- or we determine that we've found the spot that's as close as we can get to right. Then, if its not quite right I'll get another mic out and try to fill in what ever is missing. Sometimes (rarely) this is a different mic on a different speaker. More often its a condensor of some kind 1-3' away.

If we're going for a stereo image of the guitar (amp, really) those mics will go up next further out in the room. Usually a spaced pair, but sometimes X/Y or M-S. I haven't done this too often as the spaces I'm recording in are usually just barely good enough to make this acceptable. Its takes a lot of work to get it right, but its SO much easier to mix later if you put the effort into it at the beginning. Real room sounds better than adding it in later, if you put the time in.

While I agree that you can always mute the stuff you don't need, I greatly prefer having a good reason for every single mic I put up and a vision for how that track will be used in the final mix. If its not used, fine, but I hate dealing with 34264 tracks of duplicate garbage when trying to get my head around a mix. And the bands I'm usually dealing with...well, its better to give them *less* choices sometimes.

Take care,
Chris

 

[gullfo]

I think if you spend some time with one or two mics on the cabinet you'll get the sound you need without going overboard with tracks you're not likely to need. and if you can DI the guitar, capture a clean version on a seperate track, this way if you do need to re-amp or whatever, you have the original guitar source available.

 

[frankieballsss]

Thanks for the advice, appreciated.