mic'ing a marshall cab? help...

[chal7ds]

Hey Everyone,

This is my first time recording with PT and mic'in stuff and I own a marshall amp and cab half stack. I record metal songs and I'm curious as to what's the best mic'ing technique. Do i put the mic on the top speakers (which sound more trebly), or am i supposed to mic the bottom speakers (which sound more bass heavy)...OR, is there something i'm not even thinking of?

Right now, i'm mic'ing the top speaker..and in my opinion, the recordings are coming out making the guitar sound a little..umm..hi-fi sounding..sorda 'noisy teeth' kinda sound...don't really want that..

any ideas?

[Endure]

Do a DUC search on the subject and I'm sure you will find a ton of info.

Check out this site since you are just starting out. There is a lot of nice info here as well.

http://theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Best of luck and have fun!

[will the moor]

make tea first:

http://www.badmuckingfastard.com/sound/slipperman.html

[Aussie169]

Mark Optiz, who recorded a lot of ACDC's albums, puts a LDC and SDC in XY directly in front of the speaker's dust cap.
Then move in and out to get more or less room.

[JonMitchell]

1) I don't know with four speaker cabinets, but when recording single speaker or dual cabs it is critical IMHO to lift the cabinet off the ground. The bass will couple off the ground when the speaker is sitting on the floor and it will sound like ass.

2) Second, I would NOT use two of the same mics to double mic it. i.e. no double sm57's. Two can be good, just make sure your using different mics. The most common mic technique I see *constantly* is a 57 pointed directly at the speaker, halfway out from the cone, and a Royer 121 ribbon a few feet back to taste. I haven't seen anyone record a cab in person that sounds better to me than this.

3) Watch for phase.

4) Turn down the distortion. Double the guitar take, that will give it that heavyily distored sound while retaining the tones. If you can't restrain yourself to turn down the distortion more than you feel you should, you will never successfully mic a guitar cab.

5) This is the most important tip in my opinion that took years for everyone to drill in my head. The room your recording in makes such a HUGE difference. It needs to be properly treated. Thats for high AND low frequiencies. Throwing some auralex panels on the wall WILL NOT cut it. You NEED bass traps. BADLY.

I'm telling you I searched for 'that' sound I heard on so many records for so long, and I'm still working on it. I've gotten damn near close many years later, but you've got to address all these issues before you get it. Its alot more work than one might first think trying to caputure that perfect distored guitar sound, esp with metal.
Adam

[will the moor]

awesome stuff jon. especially the less distortion tip.

it's all in that slipperman thread in incredible detail. chal7, and anyone who records heavy guitar, take a couple of hours and READ THAT WHOLE BLEEPING THING.

He disses everyone and everything, including digital recording, but the information will make your guitars sound better. period. plus, it's pretty funny.


Will

[Aussie169]

Mark Optiz, who recorded a lot of ACDC's albums, puts a LDC and SDC in XY directly in front of the speaker's dust cap.
Then move in and out to get more or less room.

Oops, got that slightly wrong. he uses an LDC and a small dynamic in XY..... His example showed a 414 and an SM57

[fredsparky]

Very easy: hure SM57 right in front of one of your 12" speakers about 2 inches from the grill.

[madrock]

pull the tone on the amp before you even think about which mic's to use.

i tend to like blending amps too. my favorite combination at the moment is a JCM900>1960A, Orange AD30>1960AX and an AC30. sometimes the Fender Pro Sonic makes a showing too but i only pull that one out for special occasions. the cab's are usually on a wooden surface (sorry jon, i like leaving 'em on the floor - you just gotta find that sweet spot between the speaker breaking up nicely and the cabinet starting to woof) and i put two mic's on each cab in the X-Y style described above (usually U67/M49/C12B with a good 421 or M88) into Neve 1073's and/or API 512B pre's straight to tools or if i'm on analogue or running low on tracks, i'll decide on the blend then and there. i'll often use two STC 4038's to get extra air around the sound as i like to shove the close mic's right in the guts of it so the 4038's sit back a few feet. if they're too close, watch your phase!

although i have these certain mic's i like to stick in front of a blaring marshall, i generally find that even a 57 will do if there is no microphone available and the amp and player sound good.

[chal7ds]

how do you know if you're phasing or not..and what the hell is that?