Recording Awesome guitars

[TrevCircleStudios]

Here's your starter for ten on how to get an awesome guitar sound:

First up, get the amp off the ground if you can otherwise both the rumble and reflections from the floor will cause you your first set of problems. This kind of thing will do the job quite nicely:
http://www.dv247.com/invt/11994/ I'd probably put a rug under this too to minimise reflections.

Let's start with some tips for an 'in yer face' rock sound:

1. Run some pink noise through your guitar amp/cab
2. Stick up your mic in front of a cab
3. Using some isolation headphones monitor the pink noise being captured through the mic
4. you'll now find it really easy/obvious to find the sweet spot by moving the mic around - it just sounds much bigger once you find it
4. if you want to double mic the cab now do the same again (with the other one still in place and capturing sound)
5. as you move the second mic around you'll hear it move into phase
6. providing both are panned to the centre you'll know the phase alignement is perfect when both signals appear in the same spot in front of you
7. press record
8. play the perfect take

Here's me working on number 6:




But which mic you say?

As with anything, it's about what works for you. Am happy again to mention some of the staples and tell you what I do.

In general I'm a fan of ribbon mics on electric guitars. My first choice is a pair of Royer 121s (if and when I have access to them) perhaps supplemented with a Sennheiser MD 421 and, occasionally, a condenser.

Just like this:



Widely used dynamics include:
SM57 - http://www.dv247.com/invt/13247/
Sennheiser MD 421 - http://www.dv247.com/invt/8970/
Sennheiser E606/906 - http://www.dv247.com/invt/26021/

Ribbons include:
Royer R121 - http://www.dv247.com/invt/20928/
AEA R84/92 - http://www.dv247.com/invt/23063/ (I tend to prefer the R92 on guitar)
Beyerdynamic M160 - http://www.dv247.com/invt/8659/

and, the best bang for buck in the ribbons category: Cascade Fatheads

Condensers:
Neumann U47
Neumann U87
Neumann KM84

Ok so you don't have some fancy condensers. Well, stick up what you do have. Move it around. Work out where it sounds best.

Preamps:
Chandler Germ
Great River MP2NV
Chandler TG2
A Designs Pacifica

(sorry gotta bail for now, am falling asleep - more later!)

PS. Rather than commenting on my technique why don't you use this thread to explain your own technique so it can become a useful resource thread.

[modz1]

Fabulous reference post TCS - 'tis stuck!

[waxxy]

weirdest session i did was we mic,d up a small amp..lay it down..then put a old tin bath (a barrel will do the same trick ) over the top then told the guy too start playing normally i then recorded it .
then i told him to do scarches and flicks on the strings and we recorded those too .it was the scariest things we heard..the scratches really freaked us out especially when i started to reverse them and transpose them they sounded like demons lol.

and my mate once recorded a guy play guitar out in the car parks outside the studio were i used to work that was cool he used sm57 mics close to the amps to pick up the guitar and used omnidirectionals to pick up background ambience like people walking by cars pulling up and we mixed it low in the background at the begining of a song.we didnt use expensive mics because the guy was scared itd rain and blow em up we used cheap ones instead.

[waxxy]

oh and another weird effect you can get is too get a old metal watering can put your cable down the spout then plug in the mic and push it back up the spout to hold it in place..if it doesnt stick use blue tack dont use tape because sometimes the tape will crackle and rusttle on pick up.

then get someone too sing or talk into the can ..it creates a weird reverb that sounds a bit like a old 1920s singer ..just make sure they dont get too close to the can or you wont get a clean signal around 12 inches should be ok.oh and another thing make sure you roll of the bass frequencys they metal can will add quite a bit of bass to your vocals and can make it sound mddy but if you take care you can create a really unique sound that vsts cant really replicate ..ive tried speakerphone vst and it doesnt come close to the effect you can get from the water can.

[TrevCircleStudios]

It seems worth adding to the above that in in general the further toward the edge of the cone you point the mic, the fatter the tone, the more toward the centre, the more trebly. FWIW I generally start with about a 45 degree angle on the mic and move it around until I hit the sweet spot per the oroginal post above.

Also, the more you pull the mic back away from the cone the farther back it will sit in the mix so if you want in your face kind of guitars then close mics are the way to go (this is especially so if you don't have a great sounding room!)

[Social Producer]

Trev,

Excuse my ignorance here but what is pink noise?

[TrevCircleStudios]

Here you are:

Colors of noise - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[TrevCircleStudios]

New material added

[TrevCircleStudios]

I finally posted some pics for ya.

[sureno]

any tips on acoustic Trev, i presume this is for electric's right?

[TrevCircleStudios]

ooh. Now there's an idea for another thread!

[sureno]

Originally Posted by TrevCircleStudios

ooh. Now there's an idea for another thread!

im not just a pretty face that would be awesome