Recording Your Guitar Work

[davidmichael]

Hey all

Just wondering how many people here mic their amps when recording vs. running straight into an interface and just using software to get their sound.

Ive spent years adjusting settings on my amps,and fairly recently started splitting my signal and playing through two amps.

I love the tones Im getting and cant imagine how I could ever replicate the tones starting with a dry input and trying to insert my effects after the fact,but Im an old geezer,old school,the old dog that dosnt easily learn new tricks.

Just thought this might start a good discussion topic for people to share their techniques and ideas about ways for people to get their desired tone,as far as micing up,software used,or any other methods used.

Also,Im about to buy a couple mics for my amps,and from what Ive read,and most peoples opinions Ive talked to,Shure SM 57's are the way to go.

Any opinions on that?

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

Rock On !!!!!

[TapperMike]

Currently I'm using a yamaha thr10c which is a combination amp and sound card. You can read all about it here- 

http://forums.songstuff.com/blog/159/entry-1484-review-yamaha-thr10c-the-little-amp-that-can/

 

The nice thing about it is that it sends both a dry and amp signal to my daw (mixcraft) at the same time.

I mute the guitar track coming back out of the computer to the speakers.  This allows for zero latency 

 

I've often thought about mic'ing the amp separately and some do...I wish I could find the link right now.  

 

The nice part about separate amped and dry signals being sent to the host is that if I want to re-amp internally I can after the track is laid down. I've got a wide variety of amp sims and effects courtesy of the many daw's I own and a nice collection of effects/amp sims with IKM's amplitude http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/amplitube/.  They all sound quite amazing. The thing about having too many choices is while experimenting is fun ....nothing ever gets done. Which is why I stick to the amp sims in the yamaha. 

[Rudi]

I mostly modify patches from Boss GT5 & GT6. I have yet to find a nice jazz tone.

Boss just cater to heavy metal wannabes really.

 

I have yet to successfully mic an acoustic guitar properly too.

 

I tend to get fed up searching for the 'ideal' tone and settle for less.

[TapperMike]

Try to find as clean an amp setting as you can...then turn the middle and the treble mostly down.

[davidmichael]

Mike

That was indeed a very thorough article you wrote on the yamaha thr10c , and I did find a vidio showing it miced up.Sounded pretty good .But half the sound Im relying on for my tone comes out of the closed cabinet of my halfstack {for hard rock or metal}

Also a quote from your reply to this topic : "The thing about having too many choices is while experimenting is fun ....nothing ever gets done"

That is exactly why I want to mic my amps .

The true tone of the sound Im producing from the amp is the motivation driving me to play the way I do while Im playing ,and also lets me know how to attack the strings for the mood Im trying to produce .

Yes I do use a lot of effects but I work out how and when thell be used before I actually record ,and if I dont like a portion I use punch in /out to overdub the area Im unsatisfied with .

Cant wait to get my mic's and see what I wind up with !!!!!!!

[Rudi]

Whenever Ive had a pro studio record me, they always mic the speakers really close in. At about an inch from the grill. If any patches are used, they insist on using speaker simulation of some sort with it.

[Space]

I love the flexibility that recording straight into the box offers. For writing music and getting Ideas down fast, you can't beat it.

 

That said, I still have never recorded a direct-in guitar that I have kept and liked. It always has that.. tone that I just don't like. All that sweet amp tone that I have grown to love just isn't there. There is some new software out that fakes it pretty well, but it still doesn;t beat out a miced. Electric Guitar and acoustic guitar alike. Bass guitar you can sometimes make it work if the bass piece isn't very melodic.

 

As for micing, for most electric guitar I can usually always fine a nice tone from a 57,  1" from the grill as you've mentioned. I usually set it 1" from the grill, about half way to the side of the speaker, and I aim it towards the dust cap. I have also had fun with a Rodes 1k about 3-4 feet back on a nice dirty bluesy sound and low volume.

 

If I can give any advice, its to start low and work your way up. The best sounds (in my opinion) come from lower volume and less distortion/gain than you would normally want to jam around at. The mic picks up the sounds differently than we do, especially since its listening in from 1". Just start off as low as you can go, and slowly move it up from there. You will get great dynamic sounds I promise.

[davidmichael]

I know a lot of people dislike amps with master volumes {why i have no idea}.

Without a master , youve kinda got a one trick pony , where as with the master i can open up the master and ease the pre amp for super cleans with plenty of headroom , or on the other hand , wind down the master and push the preamp for the desired amount of dirt I want in the signal.

It just seems insane that someone woudnt want the best of both worlds out of an amp.

Needless to say , all my tube amps have masters . [Carvin / Mesa / Fender]

All that jabbering was supposed to have relevance to what Space said about starting a low volumes and working your way up , and I do thank you for the advice and your input to the post .

[Space]

no prob at all. Finding tone is hard, but capturing it is a whole nother beast. Another thing about recording straight in the box, is you can't really get good controlled feedback. For instance, listen to this cover I did with a few other efriends just for fun: https://app.box.com/shared/41h8h1c78h I am on everything but lead vox and drums. You can hear my tone and feedback and everything very well so its a good example. I used a 57 into a RNP (Really Nice Preamp) and thats it.  I remember trying very hard to make my direct-in track work out, but I couldn't. 

[davidmichael]

Space 

That is an Awesome track .Dont know what else to say xcept that it sounds great.

Still trying to figure out whos song your covering but if I close my eyes I think im listening to Black Label Society ,

Well done my friend !!!!!!

[Space]

thanks man. I feel I captured a pretty good tone on that one, and more importantly to my earlier point, I use tons of controlled feedback in that song. Something that is almost impossible to do direct in. The bass in that track is direct-in though..

 

as for the cover, its Alice in Chains off the Dirt album.  

 

thanks for listening and enjoying!