(recording guitar tracks) 15 watt practice amp, steinberg C1 1 and shure sm 57

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nightraven

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So I have a 15 watt amp (fender frontman 15 R), a steinberg CI 1, and a shure sm 57 mic.
I want to record these using garage band.
I can't seem to get a decent sounding guitar track from this setup...
I don't know what settings I should have the steinberg set to or how i should set up the input volume on garage band.
I also don't know what volume I should have the amp at or how to place the mic...

I have been experimenting a lot but everything i tried sounds really terrible. I'm not picky, it doesn't need to even be that good, i'm going for a black metal sound, like Darkthrone or Moonblood. (I want it to sound as good as I can though, of course)
but the sounds i'm getting isn't even as good as some of the lowest sound quality Black metal i've heard...
I really need everything explained because I really don't get this at all...
Thank you...
 
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Post what you did record so everyone can hear it and help you figure out what you need to do.
 
at least change the speaker, if not it's worth investing in a new amp ideally a valve/tube amp
 
You're never going to get a big, fat metal sound out of a beginner's amp (Frontman, Spider III/IV, Marshall MG, etc.)
They simply don't move enough air/can't be turned up loud enough/just sound bad no matter what.
 
AFAIK, black metal is (or at least originally was) all about horrible guitar sounds which would never be acceptable for anything else. The overall impact of the mix comes from the combination of several layers those horrible, useless guitar sounds with massive horrible drums and the bass. But I've never really worked in that genre, so...

First thing is to work with guitar and amp and maybe a pedal or two to get the sound you want in the room. Then you work with the mics till you get the part of the sound that's in the room that you like into the recorder. I really can't see a Frontman giving you anywhere near the distortion you'd want from this genre. It's not really about wattage or speaker size. The can itself might have some funky resonance which will make it difficult to get a tone you like, but it really just comes down to total gain and the distortion characteristics of the amp. Stick a Rat in front of it, or a Big Muff, or one of those Boss Metal pedals and bet you'll get a lot closer.

At that point (once the sound coming out of the amp is actually what you want to hear) miking is pretty easy. Make sure the amp is not on the floor! With close miking, the room doesn't matter quite so much, but it will have an effect. Start with the 57 right on the grill toward the center of the speaker and move it by little bits until you like what you're hearing.

But you really need to be listening to this in the context of the full band. Doesn't really matter what the guitar sounds like on its own.
 
Greg_L said:
There's your problem. A tiny, low-powered, solid state combo with an 8 inch speaker? No. Just, no. I'd suggest starting with a better amp.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if he's trying to do black metal, Greg, his problem here might be TOO much technology. Running that SM57 into an oldschool boombox and overloading the tape deck, then bouncing from the tape down to the computer so it's REALLY trashy might get him there. :)
 
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