Recording live amps?

  • Thread starter Thread starter EL34
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EL34

EL34

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I am interested in how people here record a real live amps without having a real studio situation.

When I use amp emulation software it's all direct inside the PC and this is easy but my stack of tube amps sound way better than POD's, Emulation software and gear.

Here's the problem I have, maybe I can get some tips from others recording live amps.

I am having trouble hearing the overdub playback and playing a live amp at the same time. The amp is loud, headphones on the playback are a bit overwhelmed by the amp and they prevent me from hearing the amp as clearly as without headphones.

It seems like it would be good to have the playback in one ear and the live amp in the other ear on the headphones.

I have one room in my shop where I record. I don't have another room where I can stick the amp to get some isolation.

I thought about building some sort of enclosed speaker box that was semi sound proofed and then stick the mic inside the soundproof cabinet? Anyone ever mess with a cabinet like this?

I am not interested in room ambience since I close mic the cabinets and there is no room in the sound.

Tips are appreciated considering my situation above and what I have to work with. Thanks.
 
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I drop on the headphones, crank it up, and my amp is right next to me, mic'ed. I can hear my playing cause the amp is cranked, but I also hear the mix cause that's cranked. Sometimes you think you need to hear more, but after it's recorded you realize you nailed it usually. Just make sure there's a click or something that really stands out in the mix that you can grab onto. I don't think it's necessary to really hear the guitars you're playing as much as you would think.
 
try facing the amp away from you.


One more thing....

I just finnished treating my room with broadbandabsorbers.


Try putting one in front of your amp.

I put one 2 inches thick, in front of my Mesa stack, and it had a huge impact on the level.

Ps... place the mic next to the grill, put the absorber 1-2 feet in front of the amp.

I only did this experiment to test the absorber, but it might be used creativly :)

Ps absorber materiall; rockwool 4 feet x 2 feet, or rigid fiberglass.

hope this helps you my friend ;)
 
Something that I do is to use lower volumes on the amps and turn the mix volume and gain on the mixer up. You can also pan the other guitar parts while you are recording. It will not affect the final mix.

Looking into some cheap room treatments like Nakatira said will help too. I've never tried using an iso box, but I've heard some good and bad things about them. Just using heavy curtains can do the same thing...
 
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