record guitar

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drumminsnowman

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hey, i was wondering when u record guitar, do u mic the amp or the cab? or both? ... cuz i have a shitty line 6 spider amp, and whenever i record it, it sounds like crap. So, would a cab/new amp be of best interest? thanks.
 
hey, actually im quite the newbie myself, but learning. from my "newbie" experience I can tell you that it proboly has to do with your mic, do you have a shitty mic? if not, look at placement, room settings, to reverb. Do you have a preamp hookedup? I know you need a preamp. as for micing the amp, sure you can use the line out port on the amp and bring it into your computer. For a cab, I know if i ever were going to record a cab, i would want to do it at full volume!!! ack!! depending on where you live, you might not be able to do this, power limiters can get you that sound, but keeping the volume down. One song coming to mind that was recording with a fulll volume marshall cab is running with the devil by van halen. As for a new amp though, really, almost anything will work, just depends on your budget, and you what soudn you want to achieve. For me, my little marshall 30 watter works just fine, you tune the shit just right, you can really get big sound at a lower volume.
 
yeah the line 6 can go in direct, but it sounds like crap.
I am using a shure sm57 directly, in different micing positions, thru a dmp3 mic pre... and in to my m-audio 1010.

I have the amp isolated, so there isnt any reverb.

Idk, the sound i get is terrible. Is it the amps, the mics, the placement?

Im thinkin about using a condenser mic? would that make any sense?
 
I would have to say the amp or the placement. Or a combination of both of them. A 57 is a good mic for electric guitar, and many a great sound has been gotten from just a 57.

Have you edited the presets at all on the Spider? The presets are usually not very good for recording. If you really get down and dirty tweaking the sounds, you may be able to get a useable sound out of that amp. If you have already done that, then forget I said anything of the above. :D
 
If you do a search about micing a cab or amp, you'll find some good tips on mic placement and such that will help you out. This topic comes up quite a bit.

Some tips that I have gotten included placing the amp off the floor, placing it in a dead corner, and isolation booths.

Remember that your ear will hear things differently than your mic will. I have gotten some pretty good sounds out of a 10-watt practice amp, and some really shitty ones from a 200-watt stack. It's all about experimenting with mic placement.

And remember not to use as much gain or saturation when you record as you would use live.
 
If the direct sound is bad and the mic'd sound is bad-> maybe the sound is bad.

A lot of people will have more gain and less midrange than they should. In the room, it sounds good. In a mix, it sounds terrible. I will bet that it is your sound that is the problem.
 
i'm probably wrong but what about your monitors? sound might be good and your mic might be good, but if you have shitty monitors your gonna hear shitty sound
 
I think dynamic mics are more suited for mic'ing amps.

But I could be wrong.
 
Niimo said:
i'm probably wrong but what about your monitors? sound might be good and your mic might be good, but if you have shitty monitors your gonna hear shitty sound
Click to expand...
If you record the sound and play it back in your car, home stereo, your friends car, etc... and it still sounds bad...it isn't the monitors.
 
nah its not the monitors... i have a pair of edirols that are pretty good.
I guess i just have to get a better amp.
 
I have had people come into the studio with that amp. I was able to get several good sounds out of it. I suppose good sound is subjective, but I had less trouble with that than I have had with any Crate amp someone has shown up with. (as far as distorted sounds go)
 
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