Guitars Recording Touble

[mike42]

Hey guys, I have an mbox 1, and a sure sm57 mic, and a small mackie mixer. Ive been trying to a while to get my guitar recordings to sound good but they all sound very bad. Im recording with a marshall dfx250 combo amp and a Gibson Sg 77. Im trying to get some recordings that sound somewhat professional. I have tried a few things with mic placement: six inches away, right against the amp, on axis with cone, slightly off axis. Nothing has really helped. Can somone show me the error of my ways?

[Herkimer]

I'll tell you what I do and then let's see if the professionals here hack it apart or not. (I'm just a home hobbyist.)

Point the SM57 right at the speaker about 2-3 inches away from the speaker just a little offset from the center. Your mic will probably be very close to the fabric cover. Record a take. Create a new track and record another take. If you like, record a third take.

Create a stereo aux input track. Bus all three "takes" into the stereo aux input track. Pan one left, one right, and leave on center. (sometimes the center track ends up being too much - but try it and see if you like it.)

I usually put a compressor on in the insert effect area of the stereo aux input track. I tend to fish through the presets until I find something I like and then modify that if necessary. Next, I put the seven band EQ on. I boost a little at about 250-300HZ. That's probably controversial - but I find it adds a lot of depth. I also like to add a little shine maybe around 5K. Often, I'll pull a little 800-1000 to leave room for a vocal. I also like 1200 for guitars but sometimes it's not necessary and may compete with vocals. If the tracks lacks brilliance, I'll use the shelf EQ to up everything like 12K and above. That might be controversial too.

A simpler way is to record one take, add the slap delay (stereo) effect. Delay one side about 10 ms and the other about 20 ms. Add EQ as above. This way you only record one take. Supposedly it's how Van Halen recorded all their early stuff.

Let's see what the rest of the folks say. If I've led you astray, they'll surely let us know.

Good luck.

[lemix]

mike42 ,
That setup even with your Mbox should sound decent, at least.
I would set up the amp sound in the room first to your satisfaction. What does it sound now ?
Could always try a second mic, back a bit.
cheers,

[tbonechillaxin]

With that setup, I would try to go direct in with a pod. It would probably sound a lot better than trying to mike it. If that isn't an option than If you have an extra mic you could try micing the amp with two mics, do two takes to get a total of four mono tracks, pan the first take of two tracks all the way left and the second take of two tracks all the way right. Frustrating isn't it.

[madcow]

Mike..

Find the center of the speaker cone. Point the mic straight into the center of the cone and then move the mic 2 inches or so to the left or right (mic about 1 inch from the cloth/grill). Record a few takes. You may have to move the mic a little at a time till you find a sweet spot. I typically create a tent with blankets over the cab and mic to get a tite sound but that may be not what your looking for. I almost always have the guitarist play 2 tracks and then pan one hard left and one hard right (<75 75>)

As stated above, after tracked I will bump a little 200-250 (1.0 - 1.3 q).
If the sound is a little brittle (not buttery) you may have to cut 10-12k -\

This is always a good reference:

http://www.recordingwebsite.com/articles/eqprimer.php

[mmeskinas]

Hi,. Put marshall into the closet. I'm serious.. Sometimes its helps. Or make some acoustic walls around the combo to issolate sound.

[GothicV]

When you are doing your second and third takes, change the tone of the amp to thicken it up. If you are recording in a large room or a room with lots of glass sometimes the sound is just a little too ambient - with a small combo a good way to do it is just to put some couch cusions around the amp so that there is little sound getting to the mic from the sides.

[mike42]

Thanks so much guys, almost everything sounds great now. I used the slap delay, and the eq settings you guys mentioned and it sounds damn near perfect. Thanks for the tip about the couch coushins they really helped get that clear sound I was looking for. I just have small problems now, I noticed a few pops in the recording, probably due to levels or a cheap cable im not too sure any tips?