Hi there.

I'm after some tips on guitar recording. I've been recording for some time now but have mainly used software like gearbox and podfarm for my guitars. Mainly what I'm after is mic-ing tips.

I spent all day yesterday playing with a Sennheiser e606 which I bought sometime ago for this purpose. I played around with position on the cone until I felt I had covered every possible inch and I found no matter where I put it the sound that was recorded was not the same as the sound I hear from my amp. I'm going to play some more today as I had a thought. All day I had the mic right up against the grill (or tweed like cover - Orange amp) and I thought this morning when I listen to my amp I don;t put my ear right against it, I'm stood back from it. so I'm going to try different distances as well. I had the idea of maybe putting the microphone where my head would have been when I got the guitar sound I wanted but felt my maybe my large diaphragm condenser would be best for that.

I know it's down to experimenting but thought I would like to see what others have to say about the ideas I've had so far.

Thanks
Andy

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www.the-gifted.co.uk
www.myspace.com/thegifted

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug07/articles/guitaramprecording.htm

The issue is that you hear the sound of the amp in the room, with all the room reflections, as well as gaining some direct sound from the guitar itself. The mic close to the speaker won't get anything like the same sound.

Usually, that's a good thing because most small domestic rooms don't sound very nice and it's better to exclude as much as you can with close miking, and then create something better with early reflections and reverb from a processor or plug-in.

However, if you are lucky to have a nice sounding room, there's nothing wrong with using a more distant mic placement intended to capture the sound of the amp in the room.

That article link above covers it all pretty well I think.

Hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

That's all great thank you.

I also forgot to mention that I'm recording a very high gain distorted sound (using Boss Metal Core with the gain turned pretty much up full) so quality of room isn't that big an issue. The problem I've found with the close miking done so far is it seems to lose the crisp crunchy top end.

Andy

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www.the-gifted.co.uk
www.myspace.com/thegifted

Hi There,

I've also used Gearbox many times for guitars, as well as Guitar Rig. I always found that there's a certain brute harshness missing from heavy guitars (like you say - especially the top end) that I couldn't capture via re-amping. Believe it or not, I've had better results miking a Line6 Spider IV than using Line 6's gearbox!

All this changed when I started getting more 'in depth'. Try looking into 'impulse responses' - they are a more convincing/acurate 'modelling' of the tonal characteristics of an cabinet/mic combination in a room - http://www.redwirez.com do some free ones and some fantastic products.

Ultimately , I settled on using a 're-amp' VST by TH2 called 'Overloud'. It's awesome for distored rock/metal guitars and it also allows you to use custom 'impulse reponses' - this is equivelant to using an 'amp' from gearbox with a much better 'cab' simulation by someone else.

I'm currently working on my band's new EP, a rough mix with the above technique can be heard here:

http://www.tentheffect.com/tracks/uploadedfiles/ScreamsOfRemains.mp3 < br />
The guitars have no EQ on them - only the TH2 VST and a limiter.

Ant.