Which method of recording guitar

[participant]

You'll find that moving the mic even a few MM can have a big effect on the sound.

Interesting bit of info. Thanks. Now, I gotta go in there and nudge that SM57 every five seconds for the next million years to see if I cant get it right.


Chad

 

[M.Brane]

Interesting bit of info. Thanks. Now, I gotta go in there and nudge that SM57 every five seconds for the next million years to see if I cant get it right.


Chad

Keep trying, dude. You'll nail it eventually.

 

[stereovein]

micing the amp in my opinion is always gonna be the best it may take a little eq tweaking (micing the amp takes out quite a bit of midrange) but you can usually get a good sound out of it
mike

 

[Lopp]

Interesting bit of info. Thanks. Now, I gotta go in there and nudge that SM57 every five seconds for the next million years to see if I cant get it right.


Chad

Joking aside, that's one beauty of mic'ing the cab. You have the luxury of having such a wide variety of tones from just moving the mic.

I once spent a weekend just studying varying mic placements and combinations. I'd move the mic, record a track, and repeat. I also used various amp settings. I then had a bunch-o-tracks that I could mute and unmute to hear tonal differences.

The result? It depended on the amp settings and whether it required more brightness, bottom end, etc. to sit the way I wanted in the mix. Generally, the best position was the classic SM57 right up against the grill, close to the center of the speaker.



Matt

 

[Son of Mixerman]

I have my cab mic'd and I also go into a little boss sd-1 then into the board directly. I combine that with overdub with the same mic into a Rockman Chorus to split and thin out the rhythm guitars. Lead stuff usually with the boss after the Morely wah. Sometimes for a little added I add some direct guitar into an ever so slightly overdrive.. Mix till tasty


SoMm

 

[Sonic Misfit]

I think that there needs to be an "all of the above" option on the poll

There are situations where DI is best and others where only micing a cabinet will suffice. There are also some where you take the amp cab down the hall to the bathroom and put it in the bathtub, shut the shower curtain and hang a condenser mic over the curtain rod. (But don't turn on the shower.)

Whatever it takes to get the sound you want.

Recent session, guitar to Big MUFF, to Sans AMP bass driver DI box, split signal, one direct to mixing board, the other side went to a compressor and then into the board. Recorded two channels. On mixdown put a slight delay on the compressed channel and panned it 60% left and the other channel 100% left. This got the sound we were going for.

On another session we used one of those little battery powered Marshall amps that you see sitting on the counter in the music stores. Opened a desk drawer and put the little amp in the drawer with an SM57, plugged in the guitar and turned the amp to the Overdrive setting with volume at 100%. Then shut the desk drawer. It actually had a real sweet sound as the desk drawer was wood. I wonder what a metal desk drawer would have sounded like?

 

[Seanmorse79]

Opened a desk drawer and put the little amp in the drawer with an SM57, plugged in the guitar and turned the amp to the Overdrive setting with volume at 100%. Then shut the desk drawer.

I love to hear about stuff like that. Going that extra mile is what it's all about. I collect wierd mics to try and bring depth and character to what I'm doing. If it's possible, I'd love to hear the tone you got with the Marshall-in-the-drawer trick.

 

[tf5_bassist]

On another session we used one of those little battery powered Marshall amps that you see sitting on the counter in the music stores. Opened a desk drawer and put the little amp in the drawer with an SM57, plugged in the guitar and turned the amp to the Overdrive setting with volume at 100%. Then shut the desk drawer. It actually had a real sweet sound as the desk drawer was wood. I wonder what a metal desk drawer would have sounded like?

Wow... that's ingenious... I've gotta' try that sometime... May work perfect for an apartment-type situation. *LOL*

Snag my drummer's little Honeytone practice amp hehehe... That should be interesting, to say the least...