Miking bass and guitar

S

Shack

New member
Hi, I use a Neumann TLM 103 for vocals and want to record some bass and rhythm/guitar by miking the amp. I hear a Shure SM57 is good for this purpose, but what I was wondering was whether my Neumann could give me equally good results or is it not suitable for that type of work?
 
Hey! yesterday i got the same neuman. and it souds great on a vocals. i didnt try it with nothin else yet but if you ask me, it could be a great choice for guitar amp too and also the bass amp. but i think that you will have to use some eq to eliminate hi frequencies that bass and guitar do not need. try to lowpass the bass amp at about 7000 Hz coue you dont need higher bass. Guitar you can highpass at 100 hz and low pass at 10000 Hz and i think you will get 100 times better resoult than with sm 57!

i hope i helped you somehow! :)
 
you could use the neuman on acoustic. for electric I'd go with the shure sm57, but be extremely picky with mic placement. for bass, I'd just put it directly in.
 
grn said:
you could use the neuman on acoustic. for electric I'd go with the shure sm57, but be extremely picky with mic placement. for bass, I'd just put it directly in.
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You mean DI the bass? To be honest I was gonna do a DI and a mic'd bass at the same time and try to combine them.
 
If you have the mic, put it in front of a bass cabinet and see if you like it. Without knowing what type of bass sound you are going for, there is no way to answer the question. Skaman's EQ suggestions may work well for what he does, but would be suicide in other forms of music. As for guitar, put the 57 and the tlm in front of the guitar cab and see which one is better sounding for you application. You don't have to ask permission to try a certain mic on a certain source, just try it.

If you are asking if the mic can handle the sound presure, I think it will be fine.
 
Farview said:
If you have the mic, put it in front of a bass cabinet and see if you like it. Without knowing what type of bass sound you are going for, there is no way to answer the question. Skaman's EQ suggestions may work well for what he does, but would be suicide in other forms of music. As for guitar, put the 57 and the tlm in front of the guitar cab and see which one is better sounding for you application. You don't have to ask permission to try a certain mic on a certain source, just try it.

If you are asking if the mic can handle the sound presure, I think it will be fine.
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I havven't got the SM57, that is the reason I was asking, to find out whether I should get it or use the Neumann. I know the Neumann would give me something I may find acceptable, but without the comparison, I won't really know if I could have cut something better. I just wanted to know whether from everyone else's experience, I could get what I wanted from the Neuman just as well as I would from the SM57 and basically avoid purchasing the SM57.
 
I got to sit in with Recording Engineer on a session last weekend, and he used his omni E-V on a Mesa 2x12 cab. Very tasty sound, 1" off the grille cloth, dead center, and no proximity effect.

Don't ignore omnis for very close micing with accurate results.
 
If you record anything, you will not be able to avoid getting an sm-57. That would be like trying to avoid air, you won't be able to do it for long.
 
The gist from what you all are saying is that I can get the Neumann to do the job, but I might have to tweak here and there to get a good sound, but with the SM57, I should get the good sound straight away. I guess I might as well go and get it, it seems to be industry standard. I wasn't really too keen on using the Neuman for what it was best at doing. Damn £'sss!
 
Shack said:
The gist from what you all are saying is that I can get the Neumann to do the job, but I might have to tweak here and there to get a good sound, but with the SM57, I should get the good sound straight away. I guess I might as well go and get it, it seems to be industry standard. I wasn't really too keen on using the Neuman for what it was best at doing. Damn £'sss!
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Shack,

I think that is what everyone is saying. The SM57 is an industry standard and they are inexpensive. It won't break the bank and you'll find many uses for it.

It seems the sm57 is THE MIC for guitar cabs.
 
Shack said:
Hi, I use a Neumann TLM 103 for vocals and want to record some bass and rhythm/guitar by miking the amp. I hear a Shure SM57 is good for this purpose, but what I was wondering was whether my Neumann could give me equally good results or is it not suitable for that type of work?
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Sure, try your TLM103 and see if you like the sound it gives you or not... the SM57 has been used on amps by studio's for years... so has the MD421... the NT3 can sound good on many amps too.
 
Shack said:
The gist from what you all are saying is that I can get the Neumann to do the job, but I might have to tweak here and there to get a good sound, but with the SM57, I should get the good sound straight away. I guess I might as well go and get it, it seems to be industry standard. I wasn't really too keen on using the Neuman for what it was best at doing. Damn £'sss!
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What I am saying is that it doesn't matter. Before you try to find something 'better' you have to define what better is, and go get that. I was simply confused. Most people have a locker full of 57's before they get there first Neumann, so I assumed you had both. Maybe you could borrow one and try it out before you spent $75. There must be 30 of them within a block of where you are standing.
 
Farview said:
What I am saying is that it doesn't matter. Before you try to find something 'better' you have to define what better is, and go get that. I was simply confused. Most people have a locker full of 57's before they get there first Neumann, so I assumed you had both. Maybe you could borrow one and try it out before you spent $75. There must be 30 of them within a block of where you are standing.
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I know what you mean, I have a locker full of 15 years of SM58's which preceded my Neumann! I didn't really bother with the SM57's cos I have always preferred to DI my basses and guitars mainly cos I always had crap cabs. It's only now I am exploring combining the DI sound with the miked sound. Unfortunately I don't know anyone with an SM57, but I really should get one since it is so versatile. Thanks man.
 
Shack said:
You mean DI the bass? To be honest I was gonna do a DI and a mic'd bass at the same time and try to combine them.
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That's what I like to do. If you have a kick drum mic, it will probably work well on a bass cabinet.

What I really like about recording a bass with DI and a mic is then you have two tracks you can pan slightly (maybe 20%) left and right to allow some space in the middle for the kick drum. I think it helps the bass guitar cut through better also.

As for the 57 on guitar, Fairview said it best: you don't need permission to try a mic on a source. Just try it. You will know if you like it or not.

I personally don't like the SM57 on my guitar amp. I haven't been able to get the guitar sounds I want with an SM57 and my equipment, room, etc. This is probably due to my inferior engineering skills because obviously lots of great guitar tracks have been recording with an SM57. I'm just warning you that an SM57 is not a silver bullet. It may or may not get you the sound you are wanting.

Cheers!
 
Thanks for the note of caution. Ideally, the best thing would be to borrow one and try it out, but to rent will be a quarter of how much it costs to acquire, so I have to think carefully about that. I think the key here is that if I get the sm57, it is unlikely it will be of no use. It seems I will discover uses for it.
 
Take the ball off of the 58's and youve made yourself a 57, they are the same capsule. The 57's and 58's don't sound different enough to buy a 57 when you have a locker full of 58's.
 
Shack said:
Thanks for the note of caution. Ideally, the best thing would be to borrow one and try it out, but to rent will be a quarter of how much it costs to acquire, so I have to think carefully about that. I think the key here is that if I get the sm57, it is unlikely it will be of no use. It seems I will discover uses for it.
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Yeah, I wasn't trying to say "don't get an SM57." They are very handy mics and you will definately find uses for them. What I was trying to say was use your TLM103 on the guitar amp before you go buying other mics. The TLM103 may give you exactly the sound you are wanting. But if you want to buy an SM57 you certainly would not be wasting your money. Besides, there's no rule that you can only use one mic to record a guitar amp. You may find that the TLM103 mixed with the SM57 is perfect.

Cheers!
 
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