Guitar sounds, hopefully I have come to the right place..

[myownsilence]

Hi,

Ive been mixing recording for a while now but I struggle with distorted guitar.

Ive seen the little tips on C4 etc around here.

But I generally find that I struggle with the guitars sounding harsh, and im talking about recording from good valve amps here with an sm57.


I notice many put the 57 right up against the grill. Im finding I have to pull back a mile.

And then the SM57 sounds harsh, never like the clips I hear around?

However the amp sounds fine in the room.


I don't want to question the gear or the EQ I need, I believe in getting it right from the source as I can do with just about every other thing I mic up.

So what do you recon I am doing wrong or not listening to?

 

[Lasse Lammert]

post a clip

 

[myownsilence]

whats best to use for putting up an mp3?

 

[cobhc]

http://www.getdropbox.com

 

[myownsilence]

Very cool, dropbox is wicked!

Ok,

First one is an sm57 that sounds rubbish, different amp settings.

First its of axis pointing towards cone center

second on axis slightly to the left

Third is back fromt he cone but in line with it, about 6 inchs


http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/880876/track.mp3


I have a feeling my SM57 is broken. OI have a samson dynamic instument mic on the grill, listen to the difference.



http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/880876/take 2.mp3



The amp is an Orange OTR80, i use various pedals on this one to push it harder.

I would say the samson sounds a lot better. This goes against what people say about the sm57 so I am concerned for the state it was given to me in.

 

[cobhc]

You need to have the mic up about an inch from the grill cloth and about an inch either side of the dust cap. 6 inches is way too far away from the cab. Also, how loud do you have the amp running while recording? Maybe turn it up a bit also.

 

[myownsilence]

louder, closer, still sound a lot harsher than I feel it should:

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/880876/take.mp3

 

[cobhc]

What cab/speakers are you using?

 

[LeSedna]

It doesn't really feel so bad to me. It lacks some little adjustments, but when double or quadtracked, Eq, etc and finally mastered, that could be okay. Maybe you can record each guitar with using your 2 differents mics, so you have 2 sources for each of your takes.

 

[mick thompson]

use a low pass filter to chop out the real high end of the guitar tone. or turn down the presence on the amp head (if it has presence) guitar cabs are weird. their sound generally tends to follow a straight line out compared to a bass cab which pushes out air in more directions so when your standing head height to the speakers it can sound really trebbily but move about 6 inches to the left and it can sound really dull and bottom endy. its just mic placement. keep trying and you'll find the right spot

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeooowww, listening to the most recent one, it's far from too harsh - quite the contrary, it sounds like I'm standing behind the cab while you're playing. SM57 an inch or less from the grille, and as cobhc said around an inch from the very center of the speaker; once you've done that, then we'll be able to judge whether the amp settings need tweaking as well.

Also, too little gain on the clip, and it sounds like a Marshall Micro Stack or something Which Orange is this, exactly? One of the solid-state models?

 

[LeviathanMetal]

what i find good is aimed directly at the very edge of the cone as close as humanly possable to the grill without touching it....

however dont take things for granted... exprimentation is everything

 

[myownsilence]

hey mataltastic, you sure you know what you on
about

 

[myownsilence]

sorry about the image size, thats what I have to play with.


Is that what you think of Orange amps they sound solid state?


Im tempted to sell and just but the whole fucking mesa.

 

[Joematthews]

more gain, play with the mic position a lot, find somewhere it sounds good using headphones to position it and then experiment with angles, I usually end up about 30 degree angle, pointing the mic at where the cone meets the dustcap (the centre bit)

Joe

 

[myownsilence]

when you say more gain do you mean more open volume? More pre amp gain? or more powervalve drive?

 

[Metaltastic]

hey mataltastic, you sure you know what you on about...Is that what you think of Orange amps they sound solid state?

No, I think yours does in this particular example, I loved my Tiny Terror And more gain meaning more preamp gain (AKA distortion/saturation)

 

[Joematthews]

yeah, more distortion unless rock and indie is how you roll.

Joe

 

[drew_drummer]

more gain, play with the mic position a lot, find somewhere it sounds good using headphones to position it and then experiment with angles, I usually end up about 30 degree angle, pointing the mic at where the cone meets the dustcap (the centre bit)

Joe

This guy knows what he's talking about. Put some headphones on, have the amp kinda quiet, so you can hear the headphones without the outside spilling in. Listen for the sound you want this way, whilst moving the microphone around.

Once you've found it, mark the front of your cab with a piece of chalk or felt-tip pen. Chalk works better, as you can just brush it off if you need to sell the gear.

 

[myownsilence]

cheers for the advise, I love distortion but I tend to try to limit it as a lot of heavy bands I like don't always sound like they crank the gain to mud city if you get my drift.