SM57's record quiet - please advise

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MusicAddict

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Hello all,

First let me say that I'm a complete newbie when it comes to recording, so I apologize if my questions are very fundamental. I plan on reading the FAQ's on here as soon as I find the time. My current problem is that I'm trying to record electric guitar and can't seem to get good volume levels. I purchased two Shure SM57's. I'm micing an ENGL Fireball (tube amp) and no matter how loud I crank it, my recordings are quiet. I saw that my recording interface (Tascam US-122) had a "phantom power" switch, so I turned that on but it made no difference. I then read up on phantom power and learned that its only used for condenser mics. I hope I didn't damage my SM57's at all by turning on the phantom power...

So I'm leaving this post hoping that someone can shed some light on how to get good levels with SM57's. Do I need a pre-amp between the mics and the Tascam? And if so, what would you recommend? I've never used a pre-amp.

Thanks in advance for any replies :)
 
have you tried turning up the preamp gain on the Tascam?
 
Yes, I have turned up the preamp on the Tascam. It does make the recording louder if I turn the preamp way up (about 75%), but it also adds "noise" to the recording. It adds a hissing in the background, if you know what I mean. Do you think the Tascam's preamp is just too weak for mics? The levels aren't this quiet when I record direct-in. It's only quiet when I'm micing.

thanks
 
MusicAddict said:
Yes, I have turned up the preamp on the Tascam. It does make the recording louder if I turn the preamp way up (about 75%), but it also adds "noise" to the recording. It adds a hissing in the background, if you know what I mean. Do you think the Tascam's preamp is just too weak for mics? The levels aren't this quiet when I record direct-in. It's only quiet when I'm micing.

thanks
Click to expand...

I've got a US-122, and never had a gain problem with an SM57. It's got the gain, but it definitely has the noise too. The preamps just aren't good. I ended up putting an M-Audio DMP3 in between the SM57 (or any mic I'm using) and the US-122, with the gain on the 122 all the way down. Not the best way to do it (You'll still get the Tascam preamp's "sound"), but you'll be able to crank much more clean gain and get a better result.

Hope that helps.

-Holden
 
You should be able to record a big strong amp like that with just about any preamp and a SM57, so there must be something wrong with your setup. You would not have damaged the 57s with phantom power.

Is there any more detail you can provide on your setup? Nothing's jumping out, but say, if you had an XLR to TRS cable, and you were running the mics into the instrument-in jacks (if there are any) on the interface, then that would do it.
 
OK i'm looking at a picture of the US-122 right now.

so you're plugged in via XLR cable (you're sure the cable isn't faulty, right) and have it switched to Mic/Line? preamp shouldn't really need to be up to 75% to record guitar amp.

how close is the mic to the cab speaker? try moving the mic around. and you say it hisses...is it hissing over the top of the recorded sound, or do you mostly hear the hissing when the guitar isnt playing? that could just be amp noise or preamp noise, but the sound of the guitar will drown it out. you can get rid of the noise in between with a noise gate.
 
Guitarer said:
I ended up putting an M-Audio DMP3 in between the SM57 (or any mic I'm using) and the US-122, with the gain on the 122 all the way down.
Click to expand...

Thanks a bunch for this advice, Holden. I'll make sure to try it out with a preamp between the mic and US-122 and see what kind of levels I can get.

antichef said:
Is there any more detail you can provide on your setup?
Click to expand...

Well, I'm not too savvy with the terminology yet, but I'll give it a shot. I have both SM57's on tripod boom stands. The mics are against the grill cloth of the cab. The XLR cables are running from the mics to the 2 XLR inputs on the front of the US-122 (left and right inputs). Both inputs have a selection for Mic/Line or Guitar. I have Mic/Line selected on both channels. My ENGL is cranked. It's about as loud as I can get it without altering the tone I want. Thanks for your ideas. I'll definitely do more research and see if there's something wrong with my setup.

zed32 said:
OK i'm looking at a picture of the US-122 right now.

so you're plugged in via XLR cable (you're sure the cable isn't faulty, right) and have it switched to Mic/Line?

how close is the mic to the cab speaker? try moving the mic around. and you say it hisses...is it hissing over the top of the recorded sound, or do you mostly hear the hissing when the guitar isnt playing? that could just be amp noise or preamp noise, but the sound of the guitar will drown it out. you can get rid of the noise in between with a noise gate.
Click to expand...

Zed, thanks for checking into this for me. The reply for AntiChef above has a description of my setup. The mics are against the grill cloth on the cab. The XLR cables are brand new, so I hope they're not faulty. But I haven't tested them or anything. The hissing is not over the guitar sound. I only hear the hissing when I'm not playing. I think you might be right about it being amp noise. I ordered a Boss NS2 noise suppressor pedal. Should be getting it soon. Thanks.
 
yeah dude, don't be afraid to push more gain on the preamp, it's gonna hiss because it's picking up more of the amp noise, but as soon as you actually play the guitar the hissing will not be much of an issue.
 
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