I've been dicking around with direct recording via hotplate and IR cabs for far too long now, so much so that I've lost sight of what this is all about...fun.....messing about with IR's really is no fun at all as I can never find one that sounds how I want it to. Seem to spend so much time on "the sound" (that can never be attained) that I never end up actually writing or recording anything anymore.
So, back to basics, one amp and cab, guitar plugged-in, one sm57 direct on the speaker, two condenser room mics 6 feet away from the amp and about a foot or so above it space about 6 feet apart. Even if your room doesn't sound that great, it will still make for a fantastic sound with all 3 mic's blended. The room sound on it's own might not be that great, and the direct sound might not sound that great on its own either, but blending all 3 gives just the sound that I really like.
All 3 mics are then recorded onto their own individual tracks for mixing later. I really love this setup. The 3 mics really work so well together to get that "playing in the room" sound, just bringing up the close mic just enough to give definition and focus to the guitar sound. I always like lots of room in my recordings, for me it's the room that makes it sound alive and there just is no substitute for a real speaker moving real air in a real room with real mics. I use the Zoom R16 for recording this way, just makes things so easy as it allows me to record up to 8 individual tracks simultaneously but then play back up to 16 tracks simultaneously. I'm using the Fender Superchamp X2 amp for recording with multi-mics and it sounds absolutely huge recorded with 3 mics. I've been testing this out for the past few weeks just to make sure it's not the "new toy" effect and I'm glad to say it's not.
This really is a very satisfying way to record. No dicking around tweaking IR cab settings and all of that nonsense, just plug in, hit record and play and fuck the rest of it. Keep the take or junk it, either way the only thing I'm messing about with now is my playing and not the technology.
clips soon.
I don't room mic... yet. but, man, I totally relate to that. been through almost the exact same thing. mic'ing, whether it sounds better or not, is just more convenient somehow and keeps me focused on music instead of technology.
I totally am with you both, unfortunately I just can't keep a miked up setup at the moment. It kind of drives me crazy because for the life of me I cannot find an impulse or combination of them that sounds as good as my amp and speaker do in the room. I get close, but there is a wow factor in the room that just is not there direct.
I hear you. I use one or two room mics for ambience all the time. We've got mics all over the studio, though... Sometimes I'll hear something and throw that mic to a track... lately, I've been gravitating to a pair of Audio Technica condensers that are sitting inside of the grand piano. Sometimes the sound those pick up from the room is amazing, with all this weird resonance and dark ambience.
so after this post I had to... crank up in the room! ;D
I forgot how great the sustain is that way. the interaction among guitar, amp and speaker at high volume is so amazing*... something I've been missing in my closeted cab recordings. it sounds so much more alive. time to go buy some new earplugs! heh.
*"I get close, but there is a wow factor in the room that just is not there direct." -- I have the same problem and I think the interactions above are why. interestingly, when I mic'ed my usual cab at the same time as I was raging in the room with the amp and second cab... it didn't capture the magic. the feedback, for example, sounded weird and comparatively weak. interesting stuff... but means my life is about to get a lot louder day to day.
and another way I have been playing around with micing.
1) silently record the amp via hotplate line out directly into Zoom R16 (so I can record at night) so I am recording all the juice of the amp.
2) next available slot when I can make lots of noise, play back the amp recording into the power amp section of the guitar amp and record the speaker via various microphones. The best thing of this technique is that you can do multi-micing with just one mic. Simply play the guitar track several times with the mic in a different position each time. I remember doing this a couple of years ago but never pursued it further for some reason. Just trying it now and it give great flexibility. sort of a variation on reamping although I'm not reamping the guitar signal just putting a real speaker at the end of the already juicy recording.
Jon, that's an incredibly great idea :) The only thing that hits me is that you get you power section twice in the chain, but that may not be a problem...
The only thing for me wioth the Mini Rec is the Master volume happens before the FX Loop, so i would have to be very careful about levels coming from the DAW back into the FX return.
But damn, that might work!
RectoZilla — Oct 01, 2013Jon, that's an incredibly great idea :) The only thing that hits me is that you get you power section twice in the chain, but that may not be a problem...
The only thing for me wioth the Mini Rec is the Master volume happens before the FX Loop, so i would have to be very careful about levels coming from the DAW back into the FX return.
But damn, that might work!
Hey Paul, I think even just using a high-fi amp driving your guitar cab speakers will work just as well if not better as all the "juice" is already recorded on the track, all you want to do is amplify it into a real guitar cab. Works a treat !
Why not just record DI, then reamp it through the whole chain? We take a DI about half the time, after the pedals and before the amp input. I can't even tell you how many times this has saved an otherwise unexciting recording.
charger — Oct 01, 2013Why not just record DI, then reamp it through the whole chain? We take a DI about half the time, after the pedals and before the amp input. I can't even tell you how many times this has saved an otherwise unexciting recording.
I don't like doing it that way. Never had satisfactory results with that even by using a reamp box, just not for me. I like to record all the juice of the amp so that the only variable is then the speaker and a graphic eq that goes before the power amp.
RectoZilla — Oct 01, 2013Jon, that's an incredibly great idea :) The only thing that hits me is that you get you power section twice in the chain, but that may not be a problem...
The only thing for me wioth the Mini Rec is the Master volume happens before the FX Loop, so i would have to be very careful about levels coming from the DAW back into the FX return.
But damn, that might work!
Hey Paul,
I've just been experimenting with this again today and it really does work well. I've found it works best if you pipe the signal out from your DAW into an EQ pedal and then into the power amp. You can then optimise the sound coming out of the guitar cab to be really mic friendly. I've have found that the "amp in the room" sound (that you get when you are playing) is not usually the best sound for micing the speaker....mostly because the sound has too much high end. It sounds good when you play in the room of course because you are not hearing the same thing from the same position that the mic is hearing it, so shaping this with an eq really gets a good sound into the cab and then the mic.
Give it a try. The best of both worlds, silent recording at night with all your pedals and wah etc in the chain and then simply run the DAW signal out to a power amp and real guitar cab, then mic the cab when you can turn it up at opportune moments during the day. Much better than using IR's.