How do you get a good sound from your guitar when recording???

[BoyMambo]

HI,

I have just set a new server with an usb digital interface (Yamaha UW500) and Cubasis VST.

It is all working, but I was wondering if there are any tricks to getting a good guitar sound.

Regards

David

[GaryNattrass]

In my humble opinion there is no other way than to get a good valve amp and mic it up with an SM57.

A little bit of compression will help keep the db's in moderation.

[BoyMambo]

Thanks Gary,


I have a compressor that I was going to try, so I shall give it a go. Will look into getting an SM57 and recording with my old Fender 30.

Have a good time a the UK Forum meeting.

David

[Quinny]

Experimentation is the key!!! Try different mics (though the 57's do a great job), different mic positioning, different effects, whatever you can think of tweaking give it a tweak and see what happens.
It'll also depend to a degree on what sort of sound you are after, do you have any specific tonal areas in mind??

Q.

[BoyMambo]

Gary and Quinny,

I bought a new SM57 today (Aus$145) and shall be trying to mike my Fender 30 (valve) amplifier next weekend when I get a chance.

Thanks

David

Gary,

Is it write that you are a sound editor and mixer on The Bill? My wife and I are, sad to say, completely addicted to this show. Still brings a tear to my eye when I think about Tosh.

David

[BIG GINGER GIT]

Hi Dave,
Hope you and the family are well :D

I've been using a POD for my recordings and the results are pretty naff.
I've had an SM57 for a while now but only ever used it to record some vocals and a harmonica track, gonna try it in front of the Boogie and see what happens.

Post some clips when you get sorted mate :dude:

[johnreardon]

As an aside, back in the 60's, one of the guys in a Cardiff group called Love Sculpture, Dave Edmunds, used to hang a shure (I think it was the SM57, or its predecessor), at gigs, down the front of his amp and plug it into the second channel. First saw him doing it plugged into an AC30, amazing sound he got with. I tried it once, but couldn't achieve the sound he got, just lots of hum. Never mind, he was better than me:)

[GaryNattrass]

Gary and Quinny,

I bought a new SM57 today (Aus$145) and shall be trying to mike my Fender 30 (valve) amplifier next weekend when I get a chance.

Thanks

David

Gary,

Is it write that you are a sound editor and mixer on The Bill? My wife and I are, sad to say, completely addicted to this show. Still brings a tear to my eye when I think about Tosh.

David
Yes I am the Dubbing mixer and Editor on The Bill. Interesting you mention Tosh, his real life son is joining the cast soon.

[Big Norm]

Ive found that marshalls always come back sharp when miked and if you try to tweak the sound to get rid of the harshness it sounds thin and weedy

The best way is to muddy the amp up at the start
ive found that if you turn a marshall amp up to about 8 in the drum booth
turn the bass up full
mid about half
treble down low
presence down low
you get an horrible muddy sound in the room

close mike the speaker with an sm57 and put an ambience mike up away from the cab as you can..

mix the to channels together and tweak the Eq the sound coming of the desk in the control booth is a mile wide and sounds awesome.

[Quinny]

Here's what I do.... every 'serious' recording I've done, I've done from this Marshall 4x12, and more often than not straight from the top right hand cone:

http://freespace.virgin.net/c.luscombe/cab.jpg

I spent a couple of days in the studio trying different micing techniques and found that an off-axis Beta 57a, coupled with an SM57 just off axis at the bottom left cone did the trick for me. Very occasionally I'll set a Neumann about 15 feet away from the cab, but that's just to gather a bit of ambience and is rarely high in the mix.

I've no idea why this works for me... taping that cone up was a revelation, really tightened the sound up, gave it a sturdier, more middle tone which when mixed with the bassier track from the 57-on-bottom-left-cone sounds great!!

As I say, experimenting is the best thing, if you can spare an afternoon to try different things and give them a good listen through then you'll quickly realise what works best for you. A good rule of thumb is to use less gain than you might assume you need, and double tracking the guitars is always a winner in my book!

Good luck, it's all fun! :)

N.

[aleclee]

Jay Graydon has a series of articles (http://www.guitar.com/cda/ColumnCorner/article_display.aspx?sPath=8181000c217300000001000 0794a00000000) on this topic in Guitar.com.

[Lyle Long]

I usually place a '57 close against the grill and on-axis right where the speaker's dust cap and the cone comes together. That is usually the balanced tonal point.

If you have a large diaphragm condenser mic, place it about 3 feet out in front 90 degree's off axis along with the '57 mic'd like the previous paragraph. The 57 will have more of the mids and the condenser will have more full range. Print each mic to it's own track. This will allow you to mix both signals together at mix down to find the right blend of tones for the track. You can also pan the two track differently for a full huge stereo sound.

Just a side note: Old Gray SM-57's that say "Unidyne III" on the side of them sound way better than the current '57's. By a mile!!

Also, move the mics around and listen to the sonic changes! Moving a mic just a little bit will dramatically change the sound you record! Experiment with that. Just be conscience of phase issues (comb filtering) between the mic placements if using two mics together.

Another couple of cool guitar amp mics are Sennheiser's E-609 and Electro-Voice's ND-478. Both have a fuller, more detailed sound than current '57's. The 478 is also a killer snare mic.

Be careful with compression when recording, You can't remove it if you go to far, but more can be added during mix down. I would avoid compression all together if the sound of the amp is highly overdriven. The sound is already compressed by the clipping of the tubes to begin with. I like compression on some clean tones and some dirty rhythm stuff but again I would save it for mix down. Use just enough to ensure safe recording levels when tracking and no more.

You cannot beat a great tube amp mic'd for a killer recording. All our heroes recorded that way. It beats the living bleep out of the amp modeller's, all day long. Crank it up!

Peace

[redmax61]

SM-57 on the lower right V-30 in my "A" cab. I place it perpindicular to and about 1/4" from the grille, right at the edge of the cone and outer suspension on the 9 o'clock side of the speaker. The resultant tone for me is the perfect combination of aggression and a tight compressed presency sound. It's pretty much the magic I've been looking for all of my life.

[Andrew]

http://forums.birdsandmoons.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2235

[bassomatic]

Pop over to the Recording area on TGP, when you have a moment. There are a couple of active threads on this subject at present.

And listen closely to whatever Ed D has to say - he's getting some very, very impressive tones to Nuendo currently, which you can hear if you check out the current TGP jam collab.

[Oldgtarz]

I get great results with my self built 'DogHouse' speakercab. Loaded with celestion sidewinder 150 watt, miked with either a Superlux condenser or an SM57.

http://home.wanadoo.nl/rvkuijen/oldgtarz.com/pictures/mp3/tubetest1.mp3


http://home.wanadoo.nl/lvkuijen/oldgtarz.com/pictures/prsforum/doghouseproto1final.jpg

[BoyMambo]

Hi, I have been experimenting. I have upgarded my software and now run Cubasis VST 5.0, this seems to work really well and isn't bad for a total investment for 39 UK pounds. The software has 48 audio tracks and 64 midi tracks, and quite a few free VST instruments.

I have found that the best sound that I have recorded so far has been using my 25 year old Fender 30 valve amp and using this at just above coversation level with a shure sm57 about 2.5 cm (1 inch) from the speaker baffle.

My tele on the neck pickup is fantastic for rhythm, and by using exactly the same amp settings, my McCarty overdrives really nicely and records so cleanly. I have tried going direct, but have not had as good results.

I am going to try a few amp models soon and shall keep you posted.

I am thinking about getting a second mike (possibly a Behringer B2 pro or a Rode N2) and using a mixer (Behringer UB802) and trying the results from there.

I want to record straight acoustic, 6 and 12 string, any hints on getting a good results here. One of my acoustics has a fishman and the other acoustic has no pickup, so any advice is gladly received.

Regards

David Bullock