Guitar Gear Forum

I'm starting to make some gradual progress with my recorded tone. I got my leads sounding pretty stellar actually. Heavy rhythm tones are still proving difficult to capture. Maybe I'm being to anal about it and it sounds fine. Anyway, I'll post clips at another time but for now, talk to me about mic placement. This is a noob topic for me, so please, give me the idiots guide.

It's really a matter of trying out different positions and seeing what works best for you. There is no "absolute" rules, because it depends on the room, amp, cab, mic and the sound you are trying to achieve.

I prefer to mic on axis with about 1 - 1 1/2" distance from the dust cap. To me, that gives a very immediate tone but a little air to it.

But you really need to try different positions and see what you like. Also, the sounds you posted last time weren't bad at all. You need to get used to listen to isolated guitar tones, as most sounds that will work well in a mix don't sound too good when isolated.

You can sorta make out the cone/dustcap here:



I find for grindy rhythm tone just off the side of dustcap like this is about right. In this case the mic is back about two inches from the grill cloth. Much closer with this mic (e609) and the tone tends to get a abit woofy sounding in the lows/low mids. Right there it's just a shade harsher than what I hear in the room, but blends in with bass perfectly.

I know folks that use a 57 will hit a similar position but with it angled a bit.

Sometimes I like to blend in a room mic from further back, but metal rhythm tones I tend to like better if they stay relatively dry so I've taken to just sticking with one mic. YMMV.

GuitarBilly wrote:It's really a matter of trying out different positions and seeing what works best for you. There is no "absolute" rules, because it depends on the room, amp, cab, mic and the sound you are trying to achieve.

I prefer to mic on axis with about 1 - 1 1/2" distance from the dust cap. To me, that gives a very immediate tone but a little air to it.

But you really need to try different positions and see what you like. Also, the sounds you posted last time weren't bad at all. You need to get used to listen to isolated guitar tones, as most sounds that will work well in a mix don't sound too good when isolated.

I should probably throw down some drum loops and play over them. Maybe even with synthesized bass, or until my bassist can lay some lines, so that I can use that project to work on various eq settings and mic placements and learn how to record my rig.

nightflameauto wrote:You can sorta make out the cone/dustcap here:



I find for grindy rhythm tone just off the side of dustcap like this is about right. In this case the mic is back about two inches from the grill cloth. Much closer with this mic (e609) and the tone tends to get a abit woofy sounding in the lows/low mids. Right there it's just a shade harsher than what I hear in the room, but blends in with bass perfectly.

I know folks that use a 57 will hit a similar position but with it angled a bit.

Sometimes I like to blend in a room mic from further back, but metal rhythm tones I tend to like better if they stay relatively dry so I've taken to just sticking with one mic. YMMV.

That's about where I have my 57 right now. I'm getting closer and closer, little by little, to a good heavy rhythm tone but I'm judging this out of context because there's no mix. Just a straight guitar.

I am quite proud of the lead tone I'm getting though

Mike LX-R wrote:That's about where I have my 57 right now. I'm getting closer and closer, little by little, to a good heavy rhythm tone but I'm judging this out of context because there's no mix. Just a straight guitar.

That's a tough one until you get used to putting together a mix. I know until I stick the bass track in my mixes sound pretty empty/hollow and somewhat buzzy to me, but I've gotten used to the "guitar/no bass" thing so I know what to look for when it's just guitars.

I am quite proud of the lead tone I'm getting though

Lead tones should squash everything else anyway. Not really, but that seems to be the stance a lot of guys take.

nightflameauto wrote:

Mike LX-R wrote:I am quite proud of the lead tone I'm getting though

Lead tones should squash everything else anyway. Not really, but that seems to be the stance a lot of guys take.

I really want to be good at what I do on a comprehensive scale. Lately I've caught this bug where I feel like, "Mike you've spent years becoming a better musician, like really trying on as many levels as you can to be a better musician. It's time to start flexing your abilities. Start digging on that claim, instead of just sitting on it with a shovel in your hands wondering if there's really gold in there."

My point is, since I've decided I'm gonna do it... I'm REALLY gonna do it. I'm gonna try my best on all levels. A couple years ago this lead tone I'm getting would have made me complacent. I would have been spanking my dick in the mirror feeling like a big bad rock star.

Mike LX-R wrote:

GuitarBilly wrote:It's really a matter of trying out different positions and seeing what works best for you. There is no "absolute" rules, because it depends on the room, amp, cab, mic and the sound you are trying to achieve.

I prefer to mic on axis with about 1 - 1 1/2" distance from the dust cap. To me, that gives a very immediate tone but a little air to it.

But you really need to try different positions and see what you like. Also, the sounds you posted last time weren't bad at all. You need to get used to listen to isolated guitar tones, as most sounds that will work well in a mix don't sound too good when isolated.

I should probably throw down some drum loops and play over them. Maybe even with synthesized bass, or until my bassist can lay some lines, so that I can use that project to work on various eq settings and mic placements and learn how to record my rig.

You should invest on a cheap bass so you can have something to record your demos with. I think I paid $40 or something for my Washburn and it's a fine bass for that purpose. That will make a huge difference on how you hear your guitar tones.

Sounds like you have a good attitude about it Mike. And Billy's right. Get a bass. It will change everything once you hear the bass in the tracks. Trawl pawns and Guitarcenter's used site. You can get perfectly good basses for under a hundred all day if you look in the right places.

If this is any help, I really liked how simple Ola put this into perspective...

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maA1wGBX7ag[/video]

Granted it is for metal, but I have been having good luck following what he suggested.

Cole

We have recording coming up, and I'm looking forward to getting different sounds from mic'ing up.

GuitarBilly wrote:

Mike LX-R wrote:

GuitarBilly wrote:It's really a matter of trying out different positions and seeing what works best for you. There is no "absolute" rules, because it depends on the room, amp, cab, mic and the sound you are trying to achieve.

I prefer to mic on axis with about 1 - 1 1/2" distance from the dust cap. To me, that gives a very immediate tone but a little air to it.

But you really need to try different positions and see what you like. Also, the sounds you posted last time weren't bad at all. You need to get used to listen to isolated guitar tones, as most sounds that will work well in a mix don't sound too good when isolated.

I should probably throw down some drum loops and play over them. Maybe even with synthesized bass, or until my bassist can lay some lines, so that I can use that project to work on various eq settings and mic placements and learn how to record my rig.

You should invest on a cheap bass so you can have something to record your demos with. I think I paid $40 or something for my Washburn and it's a fine bass for that purpose. That will make a huge difference on how you hear your guitar tones.

You know... I sold my bass and now I feel really stupid for doing it, but at the same time I hadn't used it in years. It had quite the layer of dust on it.

colejustesen wrote:If this is any help, I really liked how simple Ola put this into perspective...

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maA1wGBX7ag[/video]

Granted it is for metal, but I have been having good luck following what he suggested.

Cole

Cool video. Obviously, I'm over thinking things a bit, and judging my shit way out of context. I need to hear myself rip some riffs over some drum loops and bass before I can truly judge.

Mike LX-R wrote:You know... I sold my bass and now I feel really stupid for doing it, but at the same time I hadn't used it in years. It had quite the layer of dust on it.

yeah, it's just one of those things that is essential to have even if you don't plan to use it much. CL is full of Squier etc basses for under $100 just pick one and keep it for when you need to record demos etc...

So we have two guitarists in our band. I play with a brighter sound and the other guitarist plays a darker sound LP through orange dark terror. Obviously the originating sound is different, but how would you approach that for recording in terms of mic placement? Like if you were trying to achieve a similar sound on the recording but wanting both guitars to have presence in the mix? Would you still record the brighter guitar with putting the mic in a 'harsher' place on the cone?

Elessar [Sly] wrote:So we have two guitarists in our band. I play with a brighter sound and the other guitarist plays a darker sound LP through orange dark terror. Obviously the originating sound is different, but how would you approach that for recording in terms of mic placement? Like if you were trying to achieve a similar sound on the recording but wanting both guitars to have presence in the mix? Would you still record the brighter guitar with putting the mic in a 'harsher' place on the cone?

You don't necessarily need to replicate your live tone on the recording? Why not use both of your cab/amp setups for both of you, quad track, dual track/dual amp, mix and match, use different amps and cabs for different songs etc. Little variations like that will keep the record interesting imo. We even went as far as to changing the tuning between songs just to keep them from becoming too similar.

nakedzen wrote:

Elessar [Sly] wrote:So we have two guitarists in our band. I play with a brighter sound and the other guitarist plays a darker sound LP through orange dark terror. Obviously the originating sound is different, but how would you approach that for recording in terms of mic placement? Like if you were trying to achieve a similar sound on the recording but wanting both guitars to have presence in the mix? Would you still record the brighter guitar with putting the mic in a 'harsher' place on the cone?

You don't necessarily need to replicate your live tone on the recording? Why not use both of your cab/amp setups for both of you, quad track, dual track/dual amp, mix and match, use different amps and cabs for different songs etc. Little variations like that will keep the record interesting imo. We even went as far as to changing the tuning between songs just to keep them from becoming too similar.

Ironically this has been my angle. That is exactly what I was going for originally. But I mean in terms of keeping the guitar sounds seperate in the mix. Think in terms of live recording for a moment. How do you keep the sounds so they are distinguishable enough when applying that in a home recording setting? (if that makes sense).

Elessar [Sly] wrote:Ironically this has been my angle. That is exactly what I was going for originally. But I mean in terms of keeping the guitar sounds seperate in the mix. Think in terms of live recording for a moment. How do you keep the sounds so they are distinguishable enough when applying that in a home recording setting? (if that makes sense).

We used identical setups for both guitar tracks but we played different guitars with different pickups that was enough to make them sound pretty different.

colejustesen wrote:If this is any help, I really liked how simple Ola put this into perspective...

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maA1wGBX7ag[/video]

Granted it is for metal, but I have been having good luck following what he suggested.

Cole

cool demo, thanks for the link.

I have always been amazed at how big of a difference a mere quarter inch of mic adjustment makes. Great thread