Guitar Cabinet Mic Position

[Dimebag-15]

When listening to the recording of my guitar there is a lot of high end fizz. I have heard this is caused by the mic position. Where do I move the mic the reduce this high end fizz?

 

[JeffTD]

Away from the dust cap.

 

[Dimebag-15]

I've tried lots of different mic positions, and they've helped, but I'm not getting any warmth in the recording. It sounds really weak, like a solid state but much worse. I'm also getting this clipping like buzz, but it's not the mic pre, any suggestions?

 

[LydonB]

you should post clips.

 

[Dimebag-15]

alright, as soon as possible

 

[brandy]

I had that with too old preamp tubes. Sounds ok in the Bandroom, when miced the sound lacks on warmth and balls, instead of that this booring fizz.

Try to mic in an ancle of 10-30° pointing away from the center of the speaker.

Mabe you are distorting the Mic-Diaphragm?

Try another mic or move a little away or lower the amp volume - just for testing.

brandy

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

When listening to the recording of my guitar there is a lot of high end fizz. I have heard this is caused by the mic position. Where do I move the mic the reduce this high end fizz?

I don't know how experienced you are, but a rookie mistake is to crank the gain knob. You may not need as much distortion as you think you do.

Sloppy playing + soft playing + too much distortion (usually to cover up the playing) = cheese grater sound

 

[Dimebag-15]

I've just started recording, and I don't know much about it, but I've been playing guitar for 5 years and I'm not a sloppy player. If the gain is what is giving me a sterile, fizzy recording then please let me know.

 

[JBroll]

Use around 50%-70% of what you would use live, or what sounds 'gain-y' in the room. You're going to be putting four or six tracks in a mix and the double tracking will definitely make you sound heavier. If you can turn the gain knob down and just hit the strings harder, that'll help too.

Don't forget that the only way to get *close* to the on-tape sound is by sticking your head right in front of the speaker... not a very good idea. If something sounds good while the amp is on the floor and you're a foot or two above the thing, you're naturally going to be losing some high frequencies because you're not in the spot the mic is, so go to the absolute lowest point that you'd think would sound like what you really want - and go a little lower, and double track on both sides.

Jeff

 

[Keiffer]

here's a couple rules-of-thumb for me...

** Roll off above 6k to 9k Hz

Roll off below 60 to 80 Hz

** + several db shelving around 12K - 15K Low Q

Listen around 2.3K Hz for snarly crap and cut with a high Q

Cut 200 to 400 Hz for clarity

I usually never do all and never do none...

 

[JBroll]

I never do any of those, myself - I'm doing well just to get the stuff recorded, living in a bloody blue-hair neighborhood and working around the school schedule.

Jeff

 

[Dimebag-15]

Thanks for all the help, it's sounding much better. I'll post clips as soon as possible.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Thanks for all the help, it's sounding much better. I'll post clips as soon as possible.

FYI It'll be well worth your while to do about an hour's worth of searching on this forum for tips and tricks. There's a killer thread regarding the latest Arch Enemy album that's a must read.

See also: http://www.ilovemetal.co.uk/ for a solid overview of some of Mr. Sneap's techniques. Beware, it's like crack.

 

[daveotero]

I had that with too old preamp tubes. Sounds ok in the Bandroom, when miced the sound lacks on warmth and balls, instead of that this booring fizz.

Try to mic in an ancle of 10-30° pointing away from the center of the speaker.

Mabe you are distorting the Mic-Diaphragm?

Try another mic or move a little away or lower the amp volume - just for testing.

brandy

Brandy, cool to see you here. I've seen you post on the nuendo forums (I'm "flatlineaudio").

Maybe you could share your mic techniques from the Necrophagist recordings. Those tones are some of the cleanest, most un-hyped, killer sounding guitars I've heard recently.

 

[LynchpiN]

There's a killer thread regarding the latest Arch Enemy album that's a must read.

Sprry about the annoying question, but any chance on helping me on this one?Searched a lot, but haven't been around for a while, and I'm pretty clueless on what thread is this..

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

http://ultimatemetal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=197937&highlight=ARCH+ENEMY

Enjoy!

edit: not sure if this has a lot of guitar info but worth the read anyway.

 

[Aaron Smith]

I used to kind of have that same lack-of-warmth, lack-of-balls problem when trying to record the guitar with just a dynamic mic. I'm sure I could do better with different mic placement, but, as I've said before on here, when I picked up an Electrovoice RE20 it added all the warmth and balls I will ever need. I did hardly any post EQing on the last song my band recorded:

www.myspace.com/7horns7eyes

The mics on "Bring The End" are an Audix i5, Sennheiser e609, and the RE20. I've endlessly tweaked every part of the mix, but not once have I felt like I needed to tweak the guitars.

 

[LynchpiN]

http://ultimatemetal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=197937&highlight=ARCH+ENEMY

Enjoy!

Oh it's THAT thread! I tought it was a different one. Pretty cool reading, anyway.

Thanks

 

[JBroll]

...when I picked up an Electrovoice RE20 it added all the warmth and balls I will ever need.

But godDAMN that's an awful lot of money to pay to not swivel the mike a bit...

Jeff

 

[brandy]

But godDAMN that's an awful lot of money to pay to not swivel the mike a bit...

Jeff

But the RE20 is worth it! I used it on all kind of stuff, Cabinets (Guit/Bass), Kickdrums...