tryin to get better at mic'ing a cab..

  • Thread starter Thread starter skiz
  • Start date Start date
S

skiz

New member
hey guys!

tracking a southern metal cover at the moment with a buddy.

really struggling to get a great sound on the guitars tho.. The tone coming out the amp is awesome, loving it. It just doesnt translate when i mic it.

SO!

i have a few questions on mic positions and how the characteristics of the sound will change as the mic is moved. So could anyone help with these?

What is the main attribute looked for when one chooses micing directly ON axis, mic 90 degrees to the mesh?

What is the main attribute looked for when one chooses micing off axis (halfway between edge of cone and dust cap) also 90 degrees to the mesh.

How does the sound change as you move this mic towards the center and also further to the edge of the cone?

What is the benefit of off axis micing with 45 degree angle towards center?

what is the benefit of off axis micing with 45 degree angle towards the edge?

so after all that, i ask you, if you were tracking a relatively high gain guitar (i know that too much gain is never good, i tend never to go much higher than 3) what mic placing would you start with to give you the crunchy tone you would want with enough high end to give it definition?

i know this is sort of a "go by what sounds good to you" type of question, but where would you start? from there i can make fine adjustments based on how the characteristics change with position.

thanks a lot guys :)
 
For fairly distorted guitars like that, I'd start with a 57 right where the dustcap meets the cone on the speaker, on axis and maybe an inch or so back from the grill, and then start adjusting from there. Usually gives the best balance between low end and crunchy distorted high end. Of course, YMMV, and at that position moving half an inch in either direction or back more from the grill can make a big difference. Pulling back from the grill will add more room and give a slight bit less of the "in your face" high gain guitars normally give you.
 
great video....I need a lot of my clients to see this.....how can I download it????
 
Not to sound like a smartass or anything, but alot of your questions can be answered by placing your ear in front of your amp and moving it around. There is no standard "sweet spot" for different amps/cabs or genres. Only what sounds like what you're going for.

That said: You're not limited where you place your mics. There's mixing and all of that jazz too.

Personally, to achieve "my sound" it takes a bit of both micing and mixing techniques. All, very simple to do.

I use primarily open-back amps/cabs, so for the front of the amp/cab I shove my head in real close and listen for a good spot to stick a mic and throw an SM57 about half an inch from the grill cloth. On the back side of the amp, I do the same thing and toss my ADK Hamburg there. I pan both of those mics to the same side, then choose a different amplifier and mic it up the same way, then play the same exact part and record it again, panning it to the opposite side as the first take.

Not that any of that really helps you, but to get what you think is right, you're going to have to get into the studio or wherever you record and trying everything you can think of until you get it worked out.
 
skiz said:
What is the main attribute looked for when one chooses micing off axis (halfway between edge of cone and dust cap) also 90 degrees to the mesh.
Click to expand...

The term "off axis" usually means the mic is not 90 degrees perpendicular to the grill. Mic response graphs show how the response changes as you move "off axis" toward the sides and rear of the mic.

Placing the mic closer to the speaker rim would mean placing it "off center". You can call it "off axis" if you like, as long as everyone understands and agrees on how you are using that term.

Try using two mics, both on axis (perpendicular to the grill) but one mic is on center (directly in front of the speaker dust cap) and the other is off center half way between the dust cap and the rim. Mix to taste.

But keep this in mind...... the hardest thing about using two mics is capturing the signals in phase....unless you are using two identical mics. I use an SM7b and a PR20, and I got lucky with placement and phasing. One mic fills in the frequency spectrum where the other mic might have weak spots, and when they are in phase the sound is fuller, bigger, and phatter and tends to more closely resemble the actual sound coming out of the speaker. If they are the slightesst bit out of phase then the sound on playback will be weaker, thinner, lame, and much harder to mix. Once you get ti right, though, the sound will be much more than just the sum of two mics, and you might never go back to using just one mic.
 
Judging from your original post, you have one extremely valuable asset at your disposal: a friend in the studio! Have your friend sit and play the guitar through the amp, with everything set up just as it would be when you punch the "record" button.

Put on the headphones, set up your monitoring chain, and start slowly moving the microphone around the speaker. Try to make sure that you're listening to as much of what the microphone hears as possible. Try to minimize leakage of the guitar amp into your ears and maximize the direct signal from the microphone into the headphones. This will probably mean turning down the amp while you're experimenting and looking for an ideal placement. And the ideal placement may be different when the amplifier is up to recording volume versus when it's turned down enough to do this experiment.

The key is to hear what the microphone hears. At some point, you'll find that sweet spot. I've found that a particular point won't "jump out" at you, but after you've heard all of the different positions and orientations of the microphone relative to the speaker, you should start to come to a consensus on where it sounds better and where it sounds worse.

Good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top