Recording my Guitars and Basses?

[JonathanRay]

Could I just put an SM57 up to my guitar amp to record? Could I do the same to my bass amp? Thanks.

 

[ez_willis]

Could I just put an SM57 up to my guitar amp to record?

Yes!!

Could I do the same to my bass amp? Thanks.

You may want to DI the bass but experiment and see.

 

[rpe]

Of course you can. The 57 is well thought of as an appropriate mic for micing an amp. Although most will probably tell you to record the bass via direct in.

rpe

 

[JonathanRay]

I've never recorded a bass before so thanks for the tip about recording via a direct in. Any reason for that?

I plan on purchasing around 7 or 8 SM57s for recording instruments and 3 or 4 SM58s for vocals, run it all into a mixer, and then into my laptop.

 

[ez_willis]

I plan on purchasing around 7 or 8 SM57s for recording instruments and 3 or 4 SM58s for vocals, run it all into a mixer, and then into my laptop.

The 58 is the same as a 57 with a ball grill on it. The 57 is a good, industry standard microphone but 7 or 8 is overkill. What will you be recording? There are many, many mic's better suited for certain applications.

 

[Purge]

Yeah, definitely give a thought to some different mics. A few 57's are a good idea due to their versatility, but there are a few other options to check out that are similarly priced: Audix I-5, Sennheiser e609, etc.

 

[JonathanRay]

I'll be recording drums (Four 57s), Guitar Amps (57s), Bass (DI maybe?), and vocals (??). I'm on a tight budget, thats why I was thinking about 57s/58s.

 

[Richard Monroe]

The SM57 is a valid mic for recording a guitar amp. Personally, I prefer Sennheiser e609 silver a little, and Sennheiser MD421 a lot more.

As far as the SM57 on bass or drums, it's a perfectly good mic on snare, fair on toms, sucks on kick, is a fairly cruddy overhead, and is fairly sucky on bass.

Why record bass direct? because it works. Why add all the noise and mic bleed if you can get good sound and better isolation without all the trouble? For those who want the honest sound of a mic'd up bass, don't use an SM57. I've had good results with AKG D112 and Audix D-6, which are also good kick drum mics. Most people prefer condensers for overheads, and I'm with them.
For the guy who is doing drums with 4 mics, try SM57 on snare, Audix D-6 or AT Pro25 on kick, and a pair of Marshall MXL 603s as overheads. I agree that 8 SM57's is just wrong. It's like a drawer full of spoons with no knives or forks.-Richie

 

[Purge]

I'm on a tight budget, thats why I was thinking about 57s/58s.

e609's run $100 new, and $60-$75 used. I just got one, and haven't had a chance to use it yet, but they're supposed to be pretty good for guitar cabs.