Tips and gear for recording loud, heavy guitars

[jrmy]

1.Record multiple passes--DON'T just duplicate the track in your DAW.

Worth noting: if you duplicate the track in your DAW, and amp-sim/EQ the two signals differently, the interaction can create weird phasing problems between the two signals. Which can be a fun messed up effect, but will probably not be the heavy sound you're looking for...

[Decibill]

1.Record multiple passes--DON'T just duplicate the track in your DAW.

Worth noting: if you duplicate the track in your DAW, and amp-sim/EQ the two signals differently, the interaction can create weird phasing problems between the two signals. Which can be a fun messed up effect, but will probably not be the heavy sound you're looking for...

Yeah, my advice is to avoid this completely. If you do dupe your tracks and you hear unwanted phase problems do some nudging of the soundbite or hit the phase invert button if your DAW has one...

[Vuvuzela]

posted this in the dynamic mic question thread as well.

if you're looking to two-mic a guitar cabinet though, i've had a lot of success using these combinations:

Punk/Rock/Metal-Punchier Tone (Good for moderate to high gain sounds)
1. On the cone, right on the grill, slightly off-axis, SM57
2. Halfway between the cone and edge of speaker surround, on-axis, e609.


Metal/Fuzz Based Tones
1. On the cone, right on the grill, slightly off-axis, SM7b (great low end, lots of detail for brighter/higher fqs) OR SM57
2. On the outer edge of the cone, aim diaphragm towards surround, slightly off-axis AT40/30 or AT20/20 (the 20/20 is more budget friendly and still sounds pretty awesome)


hope this helps![/quote]

[goroth]

This thread is awesome!

Any thoughts on how to arrange the equipment in the room so that it sounds as good as possible with a simple mic set up? At the moment we have a wall of amps all pointed at the drummer and everyone stands with their backs to the amps facing the drummer. I'm pretty sure it's not optimal but...

[John]

This thread is awesome!

Any thoughts on how to arrange the equipment in the room so that it sounds as good as possible with a simple mic set up? At the moment we have a wall of amps all pointed at the drummer and everyone stands with their backs to the amps facing the drummer. I'm pretty sure it's not optimal but...

Speakers interact with not only the walls they are pointed at, but the walls they are in front of: especially if they're open-backed, but not exclusively. Also think about the things in the room that are reverberating from the presumably loud volumes. Research speaker-wall spacing.

Drum overheads are probably pointless at terminal volumes. Put a good condenser at or over the snare and it will pick up most cymbals at a useable level. Mics on the toms will fill in the blanks. I like close-mic'ed toms because those drums get lost more than everything else. At least put one on the floor tom so it goes from *peh* to *POOM*.

[Decibill]

This thread is awesome!

Any thoughts on how to arrange the equipment in the room so that it sounds as good as possible with a simple mic set up? At the moment we have a wall of amps all pointed at the drummer and everyone stands with their backs to the amps facing the drummer. I'm pretty sure it's not optimal but...

Are all the guitar cabs mic'ed...? What's the drum micing setup...? Let us know and we can help...!

[goroth]

This thread is awesome!

Any thoughts on how to arrange the equipment in the room so that it sounds as good as possible with a simple mic set up? At the moment we have a wall of amps all pointed at the drummer and everyone stands with their backs to the amps facing the drummer. I'm pretty sure it's not optimal but...

Are all the guitar cabs mic'ed...? What's the drum micing setup...? Let us know and we can help...!

We just use a zoom h2 in the middle of the room, but it sounds like a zoom h2 in the middle if the room...
So we've been talking about micing up for ages but haven't done it. So the question is something if a preemptive strike.

Wondered if there was any sorta general consensus on how to set up a rehearsal room. Seems like you see everything - amps on the side facing in, amps opposite the drummer, amps angled inwards, bass behind drummer, bass with guitar amps, all amps behind the drummer...
I guess our room is maybe 4x5 metres, concrete with carpet and some crap on the walls to insulate the sound a bit.

[AxAxSxS]

Honestly I think it's really dependent on the room, and what the band is working with. For instance, my band has a drummer who hits the drums hard an although he uses some finesse on the cymbals, he's also using 20's as the "small ones" and he using some really loud paiste's across the board. they sound great, but man do they project. I'm working with a couple condensers, 57, and some vocal mics. I get a room mi by placing the condensers as far away from the drums as I can, and not so close to the speaker that they blow out. the room is small, so this is kinda a delicate balancing act. I then run each of the vocals into their own track as well as the kick into it's own. A 57 for guitar, and (soon) a 57 for bass will give us the ability to control levels to add in or take out what we want. as long as the overall mix with condensers is a bit drum heavy, we'll have a multitracked recording that can be manipulated from every practice. The room itself is kinda ideal as it has very few square corners, and the storage areas on each side of the house act as natural bass traps.

I'm running a 16 channel board into a scarlet 18i8 into ableton full, so there is some money invested in my "cheap" recording setup. For you, I would recommend constructing some bass traps and room diffusers to enhance the rooms acoustic properties. Youtube has tutorials on how to do this, very simple. As for gear, if you are on a budget, the MXR condenser mics are not that much, and a 2i2 is pretty cheap as well, we got a lot of decent recording with that setup. the "all amps on one wall" way of doing it is probably the best thing you can do with a squareish room. you dont want speakers pointed at each other. If you can keep all the speakers relatively equidistant from the drums it will helo with finding a sweet spot in between the drums and the speakers to place condensers.

Sorry if this is kinda rambly, am drinkishing.

[goroth]

That's ok. I've got gastro and am currently trying to avoid boredom at the same time as I avoid spewing on my phone. Probably going to forget most of this. .. Hopefully.

[John]

IF all your speakers are pointed towards the middle of the room, and if your mics pick up much bleed, there is a good chance of moderate phasing issues. If you have the space to do so, I'd suggest having all speakers aligned along one plane. You want the mics at least to be along a similar axis.

You might be best off with a good stereo or quadrophonic room mic setup. Forget close-micing anything, just set everything at an even level where you can hear it all well with your ears, and put your best mics in an array at the sweet spot.

Another suggestion: mic only the drums. They're the only acoustic instrument you're probably using, and need the best mic treatment. "But my awesome cab collection! I want to capture that sick sound!" Brother, unless you put all the cabs in another room with good acoustic treatment and proper mic'ing, you're not going to get that big sound anyway. So much of that big sound comes from actually being in a room and getting pummeled with all that air. So what to do? DI the amps. ProCo makes a DI box called the DB-1 that you can run your speaker cable through, so you get the real gain of your amp as opposed to just running from the pedals or line out. Here's one on eBay for $30 or best offer: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ProCo-DB1-Passi ... 1052730573 Behringer makes a copy but I can't vouch for it http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GI100 Bass is often best captured direct, and the guitar etc is going to bleed into your drum mics anyway.

[Decibill]

Lot's of good advice coming in here. My next question would be what type of recorded sound are you trying to achieve...? Open lo-fi garage sound...? Tight, dry in-your face...? If you expect a sound that your set-up and room can't deliver, you will be fighting an uphill battle and you will never be satisfied.