recording guitar

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jamesdolecek

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I'm planning on starting to record here in future. I'm going to get a sm57 and mic my peavey vypyr 1-12 combo and i Live in a small apartment. I have heard that room acoustics play a part but i'm just not sure how much. I hate to spend the money to find out that my rooms acoustics will make it impossible to sound decent.So my question is how big of a part does the room acoustics play in your sound? I'm trying to get the best sound possible so I was looking at the presonus tube pre....I was thinking about adding this to my chain before I bu in to my audio interface.....would that warm up my sound?
 
Getting a good recording sound coming out of your amp (even understanding what that is) and knowing how to mic it correctly with your 57 and controlling reflections from whatever walls are nearby are the battle - having or not having a cheap tube pre in the chain will not have much effect in the scheme of things.

Tubes in your amp, not your recording chain at this level, will get you better results, depending upon what you're recording, IMO... :D

YMMV.
 
For a basic amp recording in a regular room, I'd recommend carpet on the walls and keep in mind exactly how you want the recording to sound and position the mic accordingly. Where you mic the cone makes a big difference in the tone.

Do a test recording, then adjust the EQ on the amp to compensate for the EQ of mic placement and mic coloration until you've got something you're happy with.

But with a Vypyr, I'd recommend just plugging it into your computer and recording from it directly. That's kind of what it was made for.
 
FartSword said:
Do a test recording, then adjust the EQ on the amp to compensate for the EQ of mic placement and mic coloration until you've got something you're happy with.
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I'd suggest not doing this. Get the amp dialled in to a tone you like that sounds good in the room, position the mic (a good place to start is probably touching the grill cloth pointing directly at the point the speaker cap meets the cone) and do a test recording or use the direct monitoring feature of an interface (if you have good isolating headphones), then adjust the mic positioning until you get a recorded sound that sounds like the amp in the room. If you move the mic outwards from the cap, you should get more bass, and vice versa. Moving the mic back away from the grill cloth should give you more treble and room reverb. You can also experiment by taking the mic off-axis (i.e. pointing diagonally towards the speaker).

While there are no rules when is comes to recording, it's generally agreed (among people with way more experience than me) that getting the source of your sound right is the most important thing.

Acoustic treatment is always a good idea, but I'd start off having a go at recording with an SM57 and an entry level interface before I started building/buying bass traps.
 
Unless your room is incredibly lively, close miking a guitar amp/cabinet with a 57 is not going to pick up much room effect. Techniques like a second "room mic" might be precluded but my personal taste doesn't go that way anyway.

I'd suggest simply trying it and seeing how you get on. However, when trying it, play with your mic position and angle. There's a huge difference between putting the mic a the edge of the speaker angled towards the centre and a more "straight on" position half way between edge and centre. Try everything and listen critcally.

Obviously, in your case plugging straight from the Vypyr into your DAW is also an option--but I almost always prefer the miked cabinet sound personally. However, definitely try it and see.
 
actually recording direct with the vypyr is not an option as i using ezdrummer and im unable to monitor my guitar and ezzdrummer. even though the vypyr is connected usb i can only monitor it via headphones lugged in to the amp...which is a complete bummer for me...it would lf been a more cost effective route
 
Bobbsy said:
Unless your room is incredibly lively, close miking a guitar amp/cabinet with a 57 is not going to pick up much room effect. Techniques like a second "room mic" might be precluded but my personal taste doesn't go that way anyway.

.
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^

a 57 shoved up against a grill cloth simply isn't gonna pick up much room sound. compared to the level of guitar sound it's getting. Any room sound is gonna be totally covered up by the sound from the amp.

Close miking pretty much eliminates the room from the equation unless, as Bobbsy mentioned, your room is super lively.
 
FartSword said:
For a basic amp recording in a regular room, I'd recommend carpet on the walls and keep in mind exactly how you want the recording to sound and position the mic accordingly. Where you mic the cone makes a big difference in the tone.

Do a test recording, then adjust the EQ on the amp to compensate for the EQ of mic placement and mic coloration until you've got something you're happy with.

But with a Vypyr, I'd recommend just plugging it into your computer and recording from it directly. That's kind of what it was made for.
Click to expand...

Um...What??? Please explain your method. Maybe this is the greatest thing ever?!?
 
jamesdolecek said:
actually recording direct with the vypyr is not an option as i using ezdrummer and im unable to monitor my guitar and ezzdrummer. even though the vypyr is connected usb i can only monitor it via headphones lugged in to the amp...which is a complete bummer for me...it would lf been a more cost effective route[/QUO

Not the recommended way, but you could monitor by using your amp as the USB audio INPUT device and your audio interface (assume you have one) as the USB audio OUTPUT device.
Click to expand...
 
there is only one mic now I ever use on guitar cabs, and that is the beyer m160, sometimes mixed with an sm57, and sometimes the 57 can sound better, but most of the time the beyer wins.
 
Btyre2013 said:
there is only one mic now I ever use on guitar cabs, and that is the beyer m160, sometimes mixed with an sm57, and sometimes the 57 can sound better, but most of the time the beyer wins.
Click to expand...

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
 
Lt. Bob said:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^

a 57 shoved up against a grill cloth simply isn't gonna pick up much room sound. compared to the level of guitar sound it's getting. Any room sound is gonna be totally covered up by the sound from the amp.

Close miking pretty much eliminates the room from the equation unless, as Bobbsy mentioned, your room is super lively.
Click to expand...

+1 a 57 against the grill, and moderate/low volumes, will be fine. If you're worried about it, just sit the amp on a couch, backed into the back cusion. It will kill the first reflections that *could possibly* cause issues.

but personally wouldn't worry about it. I have got great recorded tones from a little 15w solid state amp sitting on my computer chair in my den

Tip: Room sound is more apparent as the mic goes further away from the source. Guitar, vocals, anything.. the further away the mic from the source, the more the room matters. Crappy room? Close mic everything and don't turn it up too loud. (louder = more bounces off the walls)
 
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