The Heavy guitar set up

N

Naghorvik_Soran

New member
this question falls into several forum categories but i figure this forum is as good as any...

I am currently re building my Cubase SX driven studio but there is one thing im not to clear on recording heavy guitars

in the past when i used cakewalk 9 (uhggg) or Cubasis AV i just directed in to the sound card from a DOD dethmetal distortion pedal Later i moved on to direct from a Line 6 POD but always it seemed that something would be missing that trace elemet if you will which makes a full smooth heavy tone a thing of beauty

My current thinking is use CUBASE SX mic my marshal half stack with one AKG mic (specific brand undecided) and 2 SM57s for amiance run them into a mackie VLZpro but im stuck on weather or not to invest in a rack compressor, noise gate and mabye rack eq or do the plug ins for SX do these functions just as well

i would like imput and if my aproack is not optiomal please direct me to a superior solution
 
Using the mics on the marshall halfstack is going to give you a nicer sound than going direct with a POD. Some peeps do a combination on seperate channels at the same time and mix it later on. If I understand you correctly you intend on using 3 mics to record the guitar and I think that's a bit of overkill, 2 is more than enuff. The outboard compressor shouldn't be necessary for recording the guitar but you're going to need it for vocals so you should get it anyhow. I'd also record the guitar dry and add any eq or plugins when you mix.
 
I'd consider going direct with the POD AND recording with the mikes and listen to both. Sometimes I have found that only the direct lines in sounded best, sometimes the mikes sounded best and sometimes a mix of both was the answer, depending on the project.

NY has it right, you don't need all three mikes, or if your set on using all three of them I'd set them all up right on the halfrack and listen to which ones sound the best. If your looking for a heavy sound you don't really need the room ambiance.

Once my friend was in the studio with his band and the sound engineer puts up like 8 mikes all around his half stack (including one pointed at the back of the whole halfstack! :eek: ). My buddy questioned if this was going to be worth all the time it was taking him to get everything set up. The engineer looked at him like he was some idiot to question the allmighty power of the sound tech and mumbled something about "ambiance" and "kicking ass".

Of course they only ended up using two mics that were both right in front pointed at the cones :rolleyes:
 
ahhh enlightement

Thank you, this helps i'll go and try some of your suggestions
but one more question which is better having one mic directly in front of the cab and one directly behind the cab mic about a yard or so

OR

puting the second mic off to the side a bit?
 
This thread might go better in the mic forum, but...

Often for very heavy guitars, you only need one mic. A SM57 stuck right in the grill does wonders. It is very "in your face." You can then alter the angle for different tonal variations. I've experimented with various mic combinations for a heavy tone, and prefer the lone SM57 in the grill.

Granted, bands like Metallica supposedly use numerous mics...

Also, you will definitely run into phase problems if you stick a mic behind the cabinet along with one in front. If for some reason you do, adjust the phase to 180 degrees for one mic.
 
correct me if I'm wrong...

...but aren't Marshall half-stacks close backed? That would eliminate the need to mic the back of the amp, no? :eek: :confused:

This is truly well explained in "The Big Thread", as stated earlier. Harvey goes into great detail about mic'ing guitar amps.


Chad
 
Ya, it was a close backed half stack. That's what my friend thought was so crazy about it, but this guy insisted, so they let him set it up with all these mikes around the cabinate.

In the end they had him solo each channel and they all sounded crappy except for two that were right in front of the cab.
 
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