- Jan 23, 2011
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Okay so this trick might not be new to all you guys but I suggest everyone who hasn't tried this to give it a shot! I heard this tip in on Pensado's Place from a highly successful engineer so it's good stuff I promise you!
For this technique you need two mics. It doesn't really matter which two... just use the two you like the most. In my case it would be an SM57 and a Royer R-121. The plan is to find sweetspots for these mics where they work amazingly well together. Now how do I do that?
I'll go through this from the very beginning so it might be boring to people who already know most of this.
1) turn you amp gain to full so your cabinet is making a lot of noise
2) now take the mic you like the most (in my case SM57)
3) use closed headphones to find a sweetspot (I always close mic)
---> sweep the mic through the edge and center of the best sounding speaker in your cabinet. You'll notice it gives you two kind of fizzy sounds, one on the edge and one on the center. This sweetspot for me would be when I have the same amount of both fizzy sounds. The fizzy sounds kind of eliminate each other.
HERE'S THE MAGIC PART:
4) take your second mic (R121 in my case) but DON'T SOLO THE TRACK, instead leave both mics on so you hear them both in your headphones. FLIP THE PHASE ON ONE OF THE MICS. Now what you need to do is find a new sweetspot with the second mic but how? Phase flipping will eliminate all the same frequencies. So if you had another SM57 and it was placed at the exact same spot as the first mic you would hear no sound at all. What I want you to do is try to find a spot with this other mic where you hear the least amount of noise. This should not be judged by what sounds best. It should be judged by LEAST AMOUNT OF SOUND PERIOD. What this does is it will give you a spot where the mics are perfectly in phase. Also... what it means is that both mics will have somewhat same frequencies so they aren't giving much of a mic character thing but just complimenting each other and giving a more realistic tone of a cabinet.
5) TURN OFF THE PHASE FLIP. Now you should have an awesome sound. Personally I'd leave them at the same volume but you can experiment all you want.
If you have an open back cabinet I suggest you put the second mic to the rear side of the cabinet/combo and do the same thing. That works great too.
GOOD LUCK AND I HOPE THIS TIP WILL COME IN HANDY!!
For this technique you need two mics. It doesn't really matter which two... just use the two you like the most. In my case it would be an SM57 and a Royer R-121. The plan is to find sweetspots for these mics where they work amazingly well together. Now how do I do that?
I'll go through this from the very beginning so it might be boring to people who already know most of this.
1) turn you amp gain to full so your cabinet is making a lot of noise
2) now take the mic you like the most (in my case SM57)
3) use closed headphones to find a sweetspot (I always close mic)
---> sweep the mic through the edge and center of the best sounding speaker in your cabinet. You'll notice it gives you two kind of fizzy sounds, one on the edge and one on the center. This sweetspot for me would be when I have the same amount of both fizzy sounds. The fizzy sounds kind of eliminate each other.
HERE'S THE MAGIC PART:
4) take your second mic (R121 in my case) but DON'T SOLO THE TRACK, instead leave both mics on so you hear them both in your headphones. FLIP THE PHASE ON ONE OF THE MICS. Now what you need to do is find a new sweetspot with the second mic but how? Phase flipping will eliminate all the same frequencies. So if you had another SM57 and it was placed at the exact same spot as the first mic you would hear no sound at all. What I want you to do is try to find a spot with this other mic where you hear the least amount of noise. This should not be judged by what sounds best. It should be judged by LEAST AMOUNT OF SOUND PERIOD. What this does is it will give you a spot where the mics are perfectly in phase. Also... what it means is that both mics will have somewhat same frequencies so they aren't giving much of a mic character thing but just complimenting each other and giving a more realistic tone of a cabinet.
5) TURN OFF THE PHASE FLIP. Now you should have an awesome sound. Personally I'd leave them at the same volume but you can experiment all you want.
If you have an open back cabinet I suggest you put the second mic to the rear side of the cabinet/combo and do the same thing. That works great too.
GOOD LUCK AND I HOPE THIS TIP WILL COME IN HANDY!!