pink noise to position mic 2013

[mickrich]

I have been asked to do another demo of using pink noise to position mic on cab so here goes.
I did this a couple of years ago too but files are long gone.

In the clip I am sending pink noise from Logic'c signal generator to Radial X-amp>ts808>6505 geen channel>marshall 1960 with v30s.

Amp volume is very low. Just enough to hear the hiss.
Mic is E906 directly on centre of cone right on grill cloth to start.
Mic pre (isa828) is gained up to good level and sent to ATH-M50 phones.
First mic is swept to the left of the dustcap slowly.
I am looking for the first tone change away from the high harshness.
Next I am moving the mic away from the grill cloth for most clarity and again least fizz.

I do this very quickly because your ears go off and you loose focus quickly.

Next is re-amp of Jeffs Rose of Sharyn DIs.
Amp master cranked to 3 for this.
First 1 centre guitar then left, right guitars with backing track.
There is nothing on the guitars. No eq or multiband.
Just the direct miced amp signal.

I find this the easiest way to mic an amp and it is 100% repeatable once you get used to what you are looking for.

I will answer any questions anyone has and all comments appreciated.
This is a small 16 bit wav file so you should clearly hear the subtle differences in tone while positioning the mic.
I tried to give an commentary while positioning but it didn't come out very clear :-(

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2133088/PINK_NOISE_TEST.wav

 

[The-Zeronaut]

Couple of questions..
do you tweak the amp settings "pre or post" pink noise?
dont know if im explaining it well XD ..
do your amp setting depend on the actual sound on the room or on the "mic spot" choosed by the pink noise?
or maybe you tweak even more the amp after the pink noise?

And thank you very much for making this

 

[mickrich]

Set the amp to how I would normally set it then position mic then tweak amp.

Here are IRs of this position.
44
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2133088/6505_1960_44.wav
48
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2133088/6505_1960_48.wav

Damn I am loving the way the Marshall cab sounds on this

 

[The-Zeronaut]

notworthynotworthynotworthynotworthynotworthy

 

[colonel_claypoo]

thank you for that tutorial!

 

[Mago]

never tried that method...seems I should do that one time, the clip sounds really good!
never really liked a marshall v30 cab too much, but this sounds totally nice!

 

[KHE]

just tried this method on my EF2 / Engl V30 4x12 / SM57. I've used just my normal rehearsal-settings on the EF2 and throwed a SM57 in front and used pink-noise for mic-placement.
listen here: (deliverance DIs)
https://soundcloud.com/khe-audio-productions/deliverance-ef2-sm57
no post-processing on the guitars (expect a high-pass at 100Hz), backing-track was the one in the rar-folder.

i have to experiment more with your pink-noise-method, sound pretty good so far!

thanks!

 

[Nimvi]

This was VERY helpful!

I was already interested in this method when you mentioned it a while ago, but I was a bit in the dark as to what I was listening for. But when listening to this, it clicked in my head right away, and you stopped moving at the exact moment when I thought "this sounds right".

Absolutely going to practice with this, thank you!

 

[AntonioPetrole]

Can't wait to try this when I get home, I always have so much trouble finding a good micd tone because I lose reference SO quickly and I fiddle with it too long

 

[Sloan]

Tried this last time I reamped and it worked pretty damn good.

 

[mickrich]

Happy to help out

k.h.e. that sounds brilliant. Full and fat and no harsh high mids.

roflsaurusrex, I totally used to have that same problem.
Position>listen>reposition>listen>reposition>listen>can't tell anymore due to wrecked unfocussed ears.
This method lets you get mic in the right place VERY quickly so you can concentrate on tweaking the amp for the song.

Mago, this cab originally had G12T75 cones but I replaced them with V30s.
V30s supplied to Marshall and Mesa etc are supposedly different to the ones you get directly from celestion so maybe thats the difference.
I have never recorded a 1960av cab to compare.

Sloan, would love to hear that if you can post it.

The other added benefit of this approach is if you want to bring a second mic in.
Reverse phase on the second mic then look for either:
Lowest possible level which means when you flip phase back you are most in phase and have the strongest signal.
Or look for the worst sounding fizzy shit and when you flip phase back that is what is gone from the summed mics.

 

[Sloan]

https://soundcloud.com/sloanzone/02-track-2/s-UlyQa/s-UlyQa

i will never be happy with this, but this is the closest i got to what was in my heeeaad and using the pink noise worked in like 5 minutes vs endless dicking around, recording a bit, comparing, doing it again and like you mentioned - losing your ears.

 

[mickrich]

Cheers Sloan
I will listen later.
Just heading to the studio for a drum tracking session.

 

[Trevoire520]

Gonna give this a go myself I think. Losing your ears/objectivity is one of my biggest struggles during recording sessions. Also doesn't help that when you're working with live drums the final sound is very different to what's captured during tracking, so a guitar tone that works well initially can end up sounding very mid heavy by the time you've ripped your drums with eq etc. Think I might start printing rough samples over the drums during guitar tracking in future to give me a better idea of what things will sound like come mix time.

 

[CubanDude]

^ that's why I like to do some mixing during the tracking stage already. Doesn't necessarily mean that I'll use this mix in the end (sometimes I just start from scratch again), but on the one hand it gives you a better idea at the single stages of tracking, on the other hand it helps the musicians "feel" the music.

 

[AntonioPetrole]

Just gave this a shot. Maybe spent 3 minutes setting it up but I like the results thus far. There really isn't any harsh artifacts or anything. Just HP LP

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2113488/ROS Mick Reamp.mp3

 

[Mago]

Mago, this cab originally had G12T75 cones but I replaced them with V30s.
V30s supplied to Marshall and Mesa etc are supposedly different to the ones you get directly from celestion so maybe thats the difference.
I have never recorded a 1960av cab to compare.

ah well, that makes sense!
to me those cabs sound mostly scratchy, compared to yours. So you did good!
Did you replace all t75s? or do you have an x-patern in it now?

 

[DeclanWhite]

thanks! will give this a go when im back with my evh 50w/mesa cab in the next couple of days. i've always sucked at gtr tones haha hopefully this helps

 

[DeclanWhite]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12459294/aw7 pink noise lol.mp3

here's my first go. massive improvement over my old tones!

 

[maxwellroad]

Done this since i read stavs book mainly for summing multiple mics but have used it for finding single mic tones almost every time since. Great book for anybody looking for good read