put your amp in the cupboard?

[Vurt]

Remember the family reunion I was talking about a few weeks ago in California? Well, I didn't win any money on the roulette table, but I did manage to get roaring drunk a few times and catch a tan in Arizona. Plus, my cousin, who works in a Chicago recording studio, invited us to come and record there over a weekend this summer.

Now, this is akin to inviting the 3 stooges to the Academy Awards ceremony, but we're pretty excited nonetheless, especially since the price is right: FREE.

Anyway, my cousin was explaining to me that rather than having separate rooms, they place the guitar amps in lead-lined cabinets that prevent them from being picked up by the drum mics. Has anyone seen or heard of this? I'm curious as to how good of a sound you can get from them since you obviously can't have a mic four feet away as well as one against the grill, etc. And, I would think that all that sound reverberating in a lead box would sound like shit.

 

[guhlenn]

the lead is a bit weird yeah but i miced my guitar with a box around themic... anly this was lined from the inside with eggfoam (cheap-ass version i think...) and had an opneing, though small. sounds good...

guhlenn

 

[Skate36]

amp in a box...

V,

I recently put my amp in a cardboard box with a hole cut in the side to hold the mic. I did it this way to isolate (as much as possible) the amps from the vocal mike in the room and vice-versa. I also drapped a quilt over the whole thing.

The results weren't bad. I got good clean recordings for both vocals and guitar. The cardboard box was impromtu and if I had my way, I'd build a wooden box with sound foam inside it, place my small amp and a microphone inside, and let it rip.

Like I said, isolation of each mic was the goal. It will have varying success. There are a number of ways to do the same thing. Going straight into the board is one example. I haven't figured out how to eliminate the sound from an acoustic guitar getting into a vocal mic but if you're mic-ing the room I don't think you want to.

 

[Sabith]

When Skate36 said "Going straight into the board is one example."

Yes.... you could do that, but without a direct input box it would sound really shitty..... so I would advise againt goin right into the board, use a box or a sleepin bang to help isolate the sound

Good luck,

Sabith

 

[Skate36]

Sabith is right but going right into the board is a possibility...

I have done both and the better sound always seems to come from either going into a box or mic-ing an amp. It makes it more a more controllable signal.