Recording

[gush]

I've taken on a recording project where I am laying down tracks and sending them to my buddy who will add them to his base tracks for a finished product.

I've recorded before but this project is different. First of all its for a country group so this forces me to rethink tone.

I don't have the best setup for this but it will have to do. I've got my amp head sitting next to my tascam with cab in another room.

I'm really struggling to get the tones I deem appropriate for this one song. If I adjust anything from OD, to guitar Vol, to amp Vol or tone pots it seems like it's back to the drawing board. I would say I've spent 24 hours total getting amp where I want it and deciding on which mic to use.

I dI'd get first song done today finally. But I'm not 100 percent happy with tone on some of it. I provided 8 tracks of guitar with all parts being different but complimentary to each other. Most of the tracks will stand alone if needed. Plenty of options.

To be honest, my 5150 head works well for what I normally do but it's shortcomings are blatantly obvious for this project.

I have two more songs to complete but if they like what I'm doing then there will be more.

I need to work on my setup asap

 

[Ovibos]

Maybe supply a clean DI track so your friend can reamp?

 

[gush]

Maybe supply a clean DI track so your friend can reamp?

That's an option for sure. I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel just yet.

I think the room itself is causing the most issue.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

That's an option for sure. I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel just yet.

I think the room itself is causing the most issue.

What about the room is it that you think is causing problems? Is it just a tone issue or are you running into stuff like bass build up or early reflections?

 

[dmatthews]

What kind of mic are you using?
Do you have access to another head? Maybe rent?

 

[gush]

The room I'm using for the cab is about 8x20 heavy insulation in the walls but Styrofoam on the walls instead of drywall.

My wife has canine hearing. room was designed to keep her from being bothered.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

The room I'm using for the cab is about 8x20 heavy insulation in the walls but Styrofoam on the walls instead of drywall.

My wife has canine hearing. room was designed to keep her from being bothered.

Right on, but what about the room aren’t you liking? Too dead? Standing waves?

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Unless of course you don’t want/need help and just have to vent. I get that too.

 

[gush]

I think there is too much reflection going on. Walls and ceiling are Styrofoam board floor is concrete. I own a ton of mics but most are more suited for live reproduction. I have half of them at home the other half is in my trailer inside storage shed. I ended up using an AT2020 which I normally have mixed feelings about.

I need to use a different room. And I need to try my other cab too. I just didn't have a lot of time to get this first song done so any time I had needed to be productive.

 

[gush]

I'll gladly accept any advise too.

 

[gush]

Mics I have available are. Sm57, sm58, senn 609, AT2020, AT3035, AKG perception 220 and 420, audix i5, audix D2 D4 D6, shure beta 52. I have more just can't remember.

 

[László]

If I were in your shoes, here’s what I’d do to reduce the effect of the room; step one is to deal with cabinet placement:

1. Get the cab away from the corners, the walls, and the floor (raise it on a stand or put it on a chair). This will reduce standing waves, and the bass doubling or quadrupling caused by half or quarter space placement (depends on proximity to walls, corners, floors).

2. Reduce reflections from the floor (it’s like an audio mirror!) by using throw rugs. The floor is probably causing the most problems, because it’s the hardest surface you’ve mentioned. To imagine the effect of a concrete floor, just think of what the inside of a parking garage sounds like.

3. Reduce wall and ceiling reflections: Put up pillows and blankets if you need to (just don’t put them between the mic and the cab). I use a professionally made gobo, but the basic idea is to eliminate the effect of the room if you have a bad sounding room.

3. Try a close mic technique if you still can’t tame reflections. For that, I’d use a dynamic, perhaps a 57, perhaps the i5. The closer it goes, the less room you’ll hear. On the other hand, the closer it goes, the less like what you might want to hear it sounds, so be prepared to try several distances and placements. A condenser will pick up more of the room reflections in most cases. So don’t use the A-T.

It’s less about choosing the “right” mic, than about good mic placement. A guitar cab doesn’t generate much above 5kHz, there’s very little advantage in using a condenser unless you have a great sounding cab and a good room to put it in.

4. Experiment with mic positioning on the speaker. Try angles, try straight on the cone, straight on the dust cap, etc. Ultimately, it’s a matter of compromise. Here’s a tip:

Put on a set of headphones, and get a buddy to play the guitar, or if you have a looper, just play a repeating loop. Then grab the mic stand and move the mic around until you’re hearing things the way you want in the headphones. You don’t have to put your head in front of the speakers to do this, use a long enough mic stand to find the right spot. Mark the spot with a piece of tape or something. Then set up the mic positioned on the spot in the usual way.

5. Give yourself plenty of recording headroom with the mic preamp; don’t set the preamp too loud. Mic preamp distortion can sound nasty and interfere with what you’re getting from the guitar amp, and it’s difficult to know if it’s the amp causing the issue or the mic preamp distorting.

Also, with digital recording, there’s no significant noise penalty if you have to boost the volume of the track later. Eliminating preamp distortion and saturation can be important in proper gain-staging. You’d be surprised how easy it is for a guitar amp to overload a mic preamp, even with a dynamic mic.

Incidentally - soundproofing is about mass and isolation. Since styrofoam has very little mass, and you didn’t mention anything isolating it from the studs, I can’t imagine it being much good at soundproofing, though it might help reduce noise transmission a little. Might want to reconsider, especially if you’re doing some recording and not getting a good sound.

 

[Boogie]

Ooo, lots of variables. I don’t think you can have too many mics on the cab. Having the ability to mix a variety of inputs gives you the option to influence the tone to the point that’s necessary. The twin 57 technique (on and off axis) is the easiest and adding a 57 to your AT2020 is another example. Having another person there to move the mic around until you find the sweet spot is highly recommended.

Personally, this has not been top of my mind since I got my Kemper. It feeds directly to the board and it sounds exactly like what comes out of FOH. It’s stupid simple and delivers 100% every time.

 

[gush]

I read about wall separation after I built that small room. When we bought the house we had several kids living with us so rooms had to be built quickly and a musIC room was low on the list.

If I was going to build it today I have a much better idea of how to do it.

I spent a fair amount of time with mic placement and different mics. The AT2020 was my last choice.

I should have just moved to a different room but my wife isn't very tolerant of my noise at night.

I will have more time with these next two songs so hopefully I can occupy I different room when I'm alone and get better results.