In that case, either get someone else to play while you move the mic, or use the hiss of the amp/guitar, I guess (Tommy Gun wrote up a great description of the process in some thread in the Production Tips subforum; I can't ever imagine using hiss over an actual played guitar, but it seems to have worked for a lot of heavy hitters!)
Andy's guitar EQ when mixing
- Thread starter Sly
- Start date
Thanks man. Not hiss though. You want to use a constant hum, created by someone holding their thumb against the tip of the lead cable, or something like that.
izzyrock
Chilean Rocker
How can you possibly set up the mic for its best position while listening to some hum?? That makes no sense at all
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
You sweep the mic until the spectrum of the hum sounds the most appropriate, or 'fattest' to you. High-gain guitar is a fairly broadband distortion sound and shares characteristics with plain noise. Think of the noise as the 'tone', and you sweep the mic until the 'tone' sounds best.
My issue with this has been finding headphones that give enough isolation whilst also giving you a fair representation of what you're hearing. Most of the heavy isolation ones are far from flat.
My issue with this has been finding headphones that give enough isolation whilst also giving you a fair representation of what you're hearing. Most of the heavy isolation ones are far from flat.
izzyrock
Chilean Rocker
I still think thant won't do much with finding the right mic pos according with the TONE
Its like asking the drumer to clap his hands to find the right snare mic position
Its like asking the drumer to clap his hands to find the right snare mic position
GeertSamuel
Member
Since I've got my sperate control room from my live room and got my amp in the control room and cab in the live room it really helps finding a proper tone.
Since what I hear on my monitors is what I will get eventually helped me to get a better tone.
I seriously load a bunch of mics in front of the cab on all the four speakers first, 3 MD421's, 2 SM57, 1 SM7. Then I start checking which mics sound decent or good, and I go for the ones that sound good! I mostly place them like andy does. Just off-center.
Since what I hear on my monitors is what I will get eventually helped me to get a better tone.
I seriously load a bunch of mics in front of the cab on all the four speakers first, 3 MD421's, 2 SM57, 1 SM7. Then I start checking which mics sound decent or good, and I go for the ones that sound good! I mostly place them like andy does. Just off-center.
Genius Gone Insane
http://www.¯\(°_o)/¯.com
I guess you guys have magical powers that I do not possess. You can quickly find the right bite/speaker but once that's done I always run into the issue of getting the low end right, then you have to redial the amp, then move the mic again, and this whole process goes over and over. It's not so bad with a dummy amp like the 5150 but that low end gets kind of crazy with the more complicated amps. I don't know, that's just me.
cobhc
Amiga Enthusiast
Same here man. The process of just slinging a mic in front of an amp just doesn't work with me. I've never got an even remotely useable miked tone without tuning the amp so much that it sounds completely different in the room, to the miked tone.
J.DavisNJ
\m/
Low end will be very hard to control if your camp is coupled to the floor or very near a wall. Try lifting it off the ground onto something like a crate. cinderblocks, etc.
-Joe
Chryst Krispies
Vanilla Gorilla
What I don't get is how all you dudes listen, play and move mics all at the same time as setting up your sounds. I mean it's really easy to say "...get someone to do it for you." But for me it always seems I'm stuck in a room full of drummers 
or just all around derelicts.
Do all you dudes have gophers or something????
or just all around derelicts. Do all you dudes have gophers or something????
abyssofdreams
knows what you think.
What I don't get is how all you dudes listen, play and move mics all at the same time as setting up your sounds. I mean it's really easy to say "...get someone to do it for you." But for me it always seems I'm stuck in a room full of drummers
Do all you dudes have gophers or something????
record a DI snipplet in your DAW and run it through the amp while listening to the mic output on headphones, that's how I do it
Chryst Krispies
Vanilla Gorilla
Jaymz
Stymphalian Productions
What I don't get is how all you dudes listen, play and move mics all at the same time as setting up your sounds. I mean it's really easy to say "...get someone to do it for you." But for me it always seems I'm stuck in a room full of drummers
Do all you dudes have gophers or something????
+1
Possibly really good ISO headphones?
Just got me a Little Labs Redeye, and I'm happy as a pig in shit (or will be, once I get a cab to use it with ) - up until now, I've always had someone else playing (always using my school's studio this past year, and I didn't know about the technique before then), but reamping is logical step for solo recording
) - up until now, I've always had someone else playing (always using my school's studio this past year, and I didn't know about the technique before then), but reamping is logical step for solo recording
Chryst Krispies
Vanilla Gorilla
Plus I keep my amp the room right next to my comp, and there's no door so It's fuckin loud as balls all the time, and I get more bleed than a menstruating cheer squad.
jrt12
Member
i'm not sure if you've covered this in other posts or not, but i havent come across it in the posts i've read so far. when you choose to EQ the guitars, do you set up individual EQ inserts on each track, or do you send mutiple guitar tracks to a single EQ plugin and run them all through the same EQ? i can see the efficiency of setting up a send, but would you really want the same EQ if you have two diff tones coming in? i doubt it right? however, what if youre not really gonna use the EQ to change much except a low and high pass, would that work?
I think its really gonna be whatever you think sounds the best. It doesnt matter how you get there.
For example andy might only be using a touch of eq on some stuff and ton of eq on others. Everyones approach is very different.
Look at colin for instance, he is usually a MUCH more radical eq'r than most and the majority of us just love his mixes, myself included. You can tell by his mixes he really digs into the eq's plus i've spoken to him about it. Hes not afraid to just totally crank an eq, and no one should be. Whatever it takes.
I certainly find myself eqing quite a bit and rarely leave anything flat, i think a great and properly recorded tone should take eq well and not have any sudden phase issues or weird filtering if you decide to eq drastically. And i dont view having to eq drastically as any sort of failure, and neither should you. Guitars especially i RARELY have to cut any frequency besides the normal high and low shelf. But someone else could take the same tone and make more cuts than i did boosts. No limits to what you can do.
Look at someone like chris lord alge or randy staub. Those guys are eqing some things SOOO extreme it looks silly. But how does it sound? Fantastic.
Lots or not alot, doesnt matter, as long as it sounds good.
Rather than focus on andy's or someone else presets, load up a song he mixed or another favorite mix and just listen, try to figure out what you're missing. You'll be suprised what you can discover on your own.
For example andy might only be using a touch of eq on some stuff and ton of eq on others. Everyones approach is very different.
Look at colin for instance, he is usually a MUCH more radical eq'r than most and the majority of us just love his mixes, myself included. You can tell by his mixes he really digs into the eq's plus i've spoken to him about it. Hes not afraid to just totally crank an eq, and no one should be. Whatever it takes.
I certainly find myself eqing quite a bit and rarely leave anything flat, i think a great and properly recorded tone should take eq well and not have any sudden phase issues or weird filtering if you decide to eq drastically. And i dont view having to eq drastically as any sort of failure, and neither should you. Guitars especially i RARELY have to cut any frequency besides the normal high and low shelf. But someone else could take the same tone and make more cuts than i did boosts. No limits to what you can do.
Look at someone like chris lord alge or randy staub. Those guys are eqing some things SOOO extreme it looks silly. But how does it sound? Fantastic.
Lots or not alot, doesnt matter, as long as it sounds good.
Rather than focus on andy's or someone else presets, load up a song he mixed or another favorite mix and just listen, try to figure out what you're missing. You'll be suprised what you can discover on your own.
J.DavisNJ
\m/
Mark, I agree. Everyone will approach a mix differently, it's just a matter of taste. I'm sure getting a good tone in the beginning helps a bunch for you though.
If you wouldn't mind, I have a question about where you position your SM57 for mixes like the BDM and such.
Where, in relation to the dustcap, do you generally put the SM57???
I've experimented with the diaphragm being basically halfway on the dustcap, and halfway on the cone. Or, The diaphragm is mostly on the cone, and the edge is just ever so slightly touching the dustcap.
This, combined with amp EQ, always results in a struggle between sounding too bright, sounding too dark, or just sounding plain crappy. I think I'm getting closer though.
thanks
-Joe
J.DavisNJ
\m/
I definitely have placed the mic there quite a bit. I get closer to dustcap for a bright tone and farther away for more lows and mids, obviously.
I'll sometimes spend hours getting two mics to phase in a cool way. For instance i'll take a 57 and place it til its bitching then put up a 421 or beyer 201 and go for some great low end. Then i'll flip the phase on the 421 and see whats leftover in the frequencies. Because what is there when you flip the phase is whats missing when its not flipped. Then i'll basically just move the mic until it sounds so tiny and horrible that i cant bear to listen to it anymore. Then i'll flip the 421 or whatever im using back in phase and BAM its usually a way beefier version of what i had going on with the 57 before.
Its really something i've focused on doing more in the past few years, before i would just put up a few mics and make them all sound great on their own and not realize that i probably had some phasing issues in there once i started blending them all. Now i really try and use the phasing to my advantage, and i really make sure thats its not noticable at all when the guitar is solo'd. I'll put an eq on the guitar and just crank the HELL out of some random frequencies and just sweep through the spectrum... phasing tends to show its face more when you start eqing. If i can crank the eq and not hear anything major, i should be cool.
Hope that makes sense.
I'll sometimes spend hours getting two mics to phase in a cool way. For instance i'll take a 57 and place it til its bitching then put up a 421 or beyer 201 and go for some great low end. Then i'll flip the phase on the 421 and see whats leftover in the frequencies. Because what is there when you flip the phase is whats missing when its not flipped. Then i'll basically just move the mic until it sounds so tiny and horrible that i cant bear to listen to it anymore. Then i'll flip the 421 or whatever im using back in phase and BAM its usually a way beefier version of what i had going on with the 57 before.
Its really something i've focused on doing more in the past few years, before i would just put up a few mics and make them all sound great on their own and not realize that i probably had some phasing issues in there once i started blending them all. Now i really try and use the phasing to my advantage, and i really make sure thats its not noticable at all when the guitar is solo'd. I'll put an eq on the guitar and just crank the HELL out of some random frequencies and just sweep through the spectrum... phasing tends to show its face more when you start eqing. If i can crank the eq and not hear anything major, i should be cool.
Hope that makes sense.
Similar threads
