JohnnyG Posted January 21, 2005 Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 OK, first up, yes i know that this is the kind of thing that people spend years learning to do and i know that there is a wealth of knowledge that i could and maybe should learn. nehu, current gear is thus. guitar (Kramer striker loaded with quad rail humbuckers) --> FX Line-up (minimum is normally WH-1 -> DS-1) --> amp which in this case is a marshall MG15DFX, not an amazing amp but not bad....if your not using the onboard FX....or the distortion lol to mic up this amp i have a Shure sm-57 which goes into one of the Mic inputs on my M-Audio Omni studio. its then recorded in Logic. the problem im having is that im just not happy with anything that im recording. this could possably be because my general tone isnt actually as great as i thought it was tho i feel i should still be able to make it sound pretty good. im finding that whatever i try with the sound it just sounds either to flabby and bassy or it sounds exactlly like the sort of bad bedroom recordings that make you cringe. so, anybody who sort of knows what they're doing able to give me a few pointers. even if its just pointing me towards a helpful website thatd be great. if people want i could post a few sound clips to show what i mean tho it would be acutelly embarrasing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorecki Posted January 21, 2005 Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 Correct me if I'm wrong but that's a pretty itty bitty amp, probably with a 6" or 8" speaker? You're likely going to have a difficult time getting it to sound like something coming outta 4x12 cabs. I usually use two mic's and two tracks when mic'ing an amp. 1 directly in front of a speaker half way between the middle of the cone and the outer edge of the speaker itself (most dominately for solos). Then I find a place in the room where I like the sound and place a mic in that spot, usually I'm looking for a bass sweet spot that sounds full (mostly for rhythm tracks). Then I'll track and play back, adjust volumes of each track, eq a bit and bounce them down to one track when I'm pretty much all done. Also, keep in mind, that the guitar may not sound the way you want it to up front but after all instruments have been recorded (drums, bass, keys..etc) the playback may change your mind. The magic of skilled engineers make a recording sound a lot bigger collectively than they do as individual pieces. Also, does this amp have a direct out, if so have you tried it? I have one amp that I only record it from direct out, the 12 with open back sounds thin to me. hope it helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyG Posted January 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 yeah i can understand what you mean about the amp. it isnt perfect really tho i assume that i could solve that by simple getting a 4x12 cab (god knows how id get it into my room) and then connecting an amp up to it? ill have a go at placing the mic at different places in my room to see what i get. the amp does have a direct out tho when i tried it quicklly it didnt seem to work with my soundcard. i reckon i just had the settings with regards to which channel was being recorded set up wrong but ill have another play with that cheers for the help. its definatelly given me a bit more to go on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted January 21, 2005 Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 what I do for my recordings is plug my guitar into the amp, then go from the direct out into an adapter (1/4" to 1/8" I think) and plug that into the mic input hole. Then I record it using audacity (free recording software). Sometimes I plug my guitar straight into my computer and use guitar rig to amplify it. I don't really have a preference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted January 22, 2005 Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 That'll work just fine, Silvertone. I did several recordings that way. Johnny won't need the adapter as his M-Audio will already have the 1/4" jack. I'm no pro, but it seems to me that if you haven't tried mic'ing it on-axis and close to the grille, that's the most "common" option to explore. Off-axis might work better for the sound you're after, too, though-- never hurts to try both. After going through similar situations, I eventually found that a medium-diaphragm condenser mic worked best for me, as my dynamic mic had a hard time picking up the subtleties of the small amp. But what worked even better was recording direct. I know that a 'proper' amp with a 'proper' microphone will sound better, for sure. No argument here. But given that my amp is not a tone king (no tubes - Marshall DFX-30) in the first place, I wasn't losing much by recording direct and then modelling the amp with software. At first the software amp sim sounded a bit weak, but by using a bit of trickery (copying the part and shifting a bit along the timeline, using a convolution impulse engine for the reverb, making subtle EQ changes between the left and right channels), it ended up sounding way better than anything I had been doing with my amp. SO, until I get an amp worth micing, it's going to be direct to disc for me. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyG Posted January 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 that is a good point greg and seeing as the output on the DFX already has something of a cab sim on it it may not be too bad. the sm-57 is still gonna be used for vocal work and maybe for picking up my acoustic playing so its still not money wasted. maybe its time then to sort out building that new amp lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marzocchi705 Posted January 22, 2005 Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 Use the line out, ive done it loads of time befor with good results, i then use a programe like sound forge to tweak it the way i want. My amp is the same as yours also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyG Posted January 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2005 im finding that the line out is good but just doesnt seem very full and that the miced signal sounds very dull.....however. recording with both of them and running it together sounds pretty good. i reckon a bit more learning is needed with the mic placement but thanks for all the help guys. i think that the major things holding me back now are my amp and my tone. better (but not necesarilly bigger) amp and probablly a new set of Pups for the Kramer should do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marzocchi705 Posted January 23, 2005 Report Share Posted January 23, 2005 Try running your reverb level to full, then you effects level 1/3rd the way round, thats what i use to get a fuller sound out of such a small amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted January 23, 2005 Report Share Posted January 23, 2005 Reverb is all well and good for making a guitar sound good when you're puttering around on your amp, but I wouldn't add any when you're recording. Save reverb for plug-in duty so that you can adjust the level properly. The point still stands, though-- once you've recorded your part, don't forget to use every trick up your sleeve (including reverb) to make it sound full! I prefer a dryer guitar sound, so I use very little reverb, but it's amazing what a little touch of it can do. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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