Guitars : how to find the SM57's sweet spot

[Sly]

How do you guys find the sweet spot when putting the mic in front of the cab ?
I mean, do you do the classic put the mic/listen/move the mic/listen/move the mic thing ?
I find that it's difficult to find the "best" spot when I'm alone in the studio.
Do you have some tips for this ?

Also do you have the mic aiming straight at the edge of the dustcap or do you have a bit of an angle ?

 

[ahjteam]

I usually do it so that I place the mic where the center and cone meets and then tweak the amp settings rather than the mic position.

 

[Joematthews]

Bust out your headphones, and turn them up nice and loud.... then sweep the mic around untill it has a character you like.

I usually end up going where the cone meets the dustcap at about 30-45 degrees.

Joe

 

[mr.L.]

Bust out your headphones, and turn them up nice and loud.... then sweep the mic around untill it has a character you like.

+1

Take some time to do this and compare it to a reference guitar track that has the kind of character you're aiming for. This should get you a long way.

 

[abyssofdreams]

I usually do it so that I place the mic where the center and cone meets and then tweak the amp settings rather than the mic position.

Actually I'm doing it the other way round.
Get your amp sounding nice in the room and then EQ with the mic.

I'd say you don't "need" an angled mic, just about 1 inch or so away and move it to one side of the cone with very small steps, be careful with the bass if you're too far out.

Also I would crank the headphones and turn down the master volume on the amp just so you can rely on the headphones signal only and for a final check you crank the amp and see if the mic'd signal pleases you

Hard to describe.

On axis always for me, mostly closer to the center, I find the highs are easier to fix if they need fixing than boomy/muffled lowend and the likes...

 

[ahjteam]

Get your amp sounding nice in the room and then EQ with the mic.

But the problem is that you are not listening to the tone 1 inch away from the speaker while being in the room.

 

[MetalJonesy]

Bust out your headphones, and turn them up nice and loud.... then sweep the mic around untill it has a character you like.

I usually end up going where the cone meets the dustcap at about 30-45 degrees.

Joe

ive never been able to do this? firstly i cant trust my cans, and secondly my amps too loud :/

 

[abyssofdreams]

But the problem is that you are not listening to the tone 1 inch away from the speaker while being in the room.

How so? Can't you go as close as 1 inch with your ears
I do it the Slipperman way, just not cranking it while listening that close.

 

[kev]

Get two people whilst you sit at your desk with headphones on, one to move the mic and one to play the guitar : )

 

[Machinated]

the tone should be a combination of the mic and amp settings. usually it will take me more time getting the mic in the right place than the amp settings. you can't eq out the differences the mic will make with the amps eq, they both affect different things.

and of course it should sound good in the room, but the judgements should be made from what the mic is picking up - NOT what it sounds like in the room alone.

 

[AdamWathan]

For the by yourself thing, record a DI and loop it in your DAW and send it out to your amp via reamp box... Sooo handy, no worrying about fiddling with the guitar or having someone else play. Then I just get down in front of the amp with some iso headphones and sweep around until I'm happy. I'm more like abyssofdreams in that I don't really touch the amp controls after finding a tone I like in the room, I just play with mic position until what I'm hearing in the headphones has the same characters as what I like about the room sound.

 

[Metaltastic]

Bust out your headphones, and turn them up nice and loud.... then sweep the mic around untill it has a character you like.

I usually end up going where the cone meets the dustcap at about 30-45 degrees.

Joe

I did this for awhile, but now I'm pretty much confident enough in knowing the effect mic position has on tone that I can hear when it needs to be changed!

But yeah, as ahj mentioned, be sure the amp settings are as good as they can be before you start going nuts with the mic placement!

 

[ahjteam]

...but answer me this: why would Andy always use the same mic position, one SM57 an inch away from the cloth in the middle of the speaker?

 

[John_C]

...but answer me this: why would Andy always use the same mic position, one SM57 an inch away from the cloth in the middle of the speaker?

urmmmm where did he ever say that?

yes, still one 57 in the right spot.

that's all i can find that comes close

 

[ahjteam]

http://noise101.wikidot.com/pro-tips

Try 1 Sm57 (not beta) at the centre of cone, an inch away from the grill cloth.

 

[AdamWathan]

I seriously doubt Andy points a 57 right at the centre of the dustcap. I'm sure I've read somewhere that he points it between the edge of the dustcap and the cone just like everyone else here.

ahjteam, I don't think Andy just throws the mic in the "spot" and hits record, I'm sure he still fine tunes it for each recording based on the tone he's going for.... I doubt that it ever strays drastically from the standard starting placement but I'm sure he plays around with positioning each time...

 

[John_C]

he goes on to say

then move it about an inch -if that, off centre

plus thats advice and not necessarily the process he goes through at all.

 

[garry666]

if you can get through all the bullshit theres some good info in here http://www.badmuckingfastard.com/sound/slipperman.html

 

[AdamWathan]

if you can get through all the bullshit...

Tried once, didn't make it, that article is brutal.

 

[John_C]

if you can get through all the bullshit theres some good info in here http://www.badmuckingfastard.com/sound/slipperman.html

wtf is with the quotation marks around ever fucking other phrase