muffled guitar

  • Thread starter Thread starter dan
  • Start date Start date
D

dan

New member
Im having trouble with my clean electric guitar sound. Im micing the guitar cab and when it gets recorded it sounds muffled and bassy kind of like its comming from the next room or something. When I used the EQ to sweep some bass out it still sounds bassy and muffled. The higher the volume the worse it gets. When Im playing chords it seems like the notes are very warbled and the notes arent ringing out clear. Im using a real shity compressor (alesis nano)but I kinda think thats not the problem. Does anyone have an idea or some suggestions?
 
For a clean electric sound, I usually go direct into my board rather than through my amp. Your right, the compressor probably isn't the problem but I replaced my nano-compressor within 2 weeks of buying the Alesis studio pack. Poor research on my part :-(
If you don't want to go direct, try playing with your mic positioning. Just a couple of inches or a slight difference in the angle makes a huge difference in the sound.
Which begs the question - What kind of mic are you using ?
 
The mic im using is sm-57 and ive tried repositioning it several times and it helped but barely. Im not crazy about going direct Ive tried it and it sounds kinda cheap, at least with my setup. If I go direct what kind of equip would would typically go far to juice up the sound.
 
Just a thought, I had an acoustic guitar track that was giving me essentially the same problem today. When I investigated the problem closely I discovered that I had applied an effect I was using to compress the bass guitar track to the acoustic track by mistake. Removing it solved my problem. I doubt this is the case, but maybe the compressor is causing the problem after all. Worth recording with out it to see, especially if you haven't done that already. Good luck with this, I know how it is. I spent about a year recording before I got the sound I wanted by miking an amp.

As for direct recording, I've never used one, but the Line6 Pod sounds like it's the best thing ever to exist from all the great stuff people are saying about it. I'm thinking of getting one even though I love the sound I'm getting from my amp and trusty SM-57 mics. I just have to experience the POD. :)
 
I think you ahould try to record the direct signal and the amp with a mic and combine the 2 sounds to a single track
That way you can get the full sound of the amp with a more sharp and bright sound of the direct sound.

Mark
 
Dan,

I'm NOT an expert, but I've had some success just sticking my SM-57 about two inches away from the center of the cone at sort of an angle. That is, the mic is at about 45 degrees off horizontal but the "tip" of the mic is directly inline with the center of the cone.

Aiming your mic closer to center will give you less of a bassy sound. Basically I leave mine in the center and never screw with it...I use the good ol' tone knobs on the amp, guitar, pedals, and mixer (sheesh) to get the right sound at record time.

Also, try not to run too many effects while recording and know that the sound coming out of your amp will not be exactly the sound coming through your headphones. Depending on what you're recording with, you've got a lot of crap between your ears and the amp. Effects like compression and reverb can be tweeked after recording.

Also, you'll probably want to record with quite a bit more treble and less bass than you're used to. It'll sound annoying and less "deep" while you're playing it...but when you add in bass and drums or whatever, you don't want your guitar to drown out the other instruments or be drown out. If you listen real close to most albums, you'll notice that the guitar is rarely as "deeply" toned as what you prefer playing at home.

Another thing you can try is a crappy radio shack microphone BEHIND the amp (if it's open). Pan the SM57 hard right and the cheap microphone hard left and record stereo. The cheap mic will add a lot of high frequency that you're lacking. This of course requires some proper mixing. Watch the level on the cheap mic cause it DOES sound crappy when you can really *hear* it.

Slackmaster 2000
 
yo man don't be ashamed about going direct. If you have a decent guitar it will sound fine. The less crap you have delaying your sound to tape the better. anyway if you must record your amp, I've had much success w/ my SM57, so just mess around with the mic placement, like off center and tilted, don't have it facing directly at the amp. anyway try some new stuff and keep going back until you're happy with your sound. Good luck man.
 
yo man don't be ashamed about going direct. If you have a decent guitar it will sound fine. The less crap you have delaying your sound to tape the better. anyway if you must record your amp, I've had much success w/ my SM57, so just mess around with the mic placement, like off center and tilted, don't have it facing directly at the amp. anyway try some new stuff and keep going back until you're happy with your sound. Good luck man.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top