Question on micing with sm57

[Inseminator]

Hey guys, need advice plz,
when u micing cab, do u run sm57 straight into the soundcard (so in fact you use mic preamp in it), or u run it into the better (maybe tube?) mic preamp and then from run signal to soundcard?

How do these options affect the sound and does it matter, when micing cab?

Btw, my gear: soundcard M-Audio fast track pro, mic preamp SPL GOLDMIKE 9844

Thanks in advance.

I.

 

[TheWinterSnow]

I did test with my 57 back when i first started recording. When I had a preamp go out on me i got a high to low impedance adapter from XLR to TS so that I could plugin my mic direct into my soundcard. I found that directly into the soundcard through transformer coupling sounded identical as running the mic through cheap Behringer preamp. The bigger difference in terms of tone would be from coloration that you would get from more higher end preamps or if for some reason you had an impedance mismatch from your mic to interface. My recommendation is that if you were worried about using a preamp, save up and get something decent because the cheaper preamps won't make much of a difference if at all.

 

[Inseminator]

I spent a lot of time walking around the cab with microphone and unfortunately without getting decent tone. I thought tubes (in my goldmike I use for vocals) could give balls to distorted guitars (maybe clarity?).
Or I constantly doing something wrong :-/

Do u guys have an experience with M-audio fast track pro, or goldmike 9844? Where could be the mistake?

 

[bryan_kilco]

I spent a lot of time walking around the cab with microphone and unfortunately without getting decent tone. I thought tubes (in my goldmike I use for vocals) could give balls to distorted guitars (maybe clarity?).
Or I constantly doing something wrong :-/

Do u guys have an experience with M-audio fast track pro, or goldmike 9844? Where could be the mistake?

I have experience with Fast Track Pro.

-Make sure you go into your DAW Prefferences -> Audio Devices -> and select ASIO! If you dont have this selected, you will have latency and you wont be using the FT right.

-What amp/guitar/pickups are you using? I'd imagine that your pickups and mic would be the main source of tone here. I have crappy stock Ibanez pickups in my guitar, and I can get a pretty decent sound with some mic placement and tweaking. I play Mesa Mark IV and Peavey 5150. A lot of times for home recording I just use Revalver plugin and impulses. If you'd like to hear a sample of the tones I get with the Fast Track Pro, message me.

Hope this helps a little.

 

[Inseminator]

I have experience with Fast Track Pro.

-Make sure you go into your DAW Prefferences -> Audio Devices -> and select ASIO! If you dont have this selected, you will have latency and you wont be using the FT right.

-What amp/guitar/pickups are you using? I'd imagine that your pickups and mic would be the main source of tone here. I have crappy stock Ibanez pickups in my guitar, and I can get a pretty decent sound with some mic placement and tweaking. I play Mesa Mark IV and Peavey 5150. A lot of times for home recording I just use Revalver plugin and impulses. If you'd like to hear a sample of the tones I get with the Fast Track Pro, message me.

Hope this helps a little.

Thanks a lot for response,
of course I have M-Audio ASIO set up in my DAW , my tone isn't so bad I think.

Btw, my recording chain is (New strings)->EMG81->tubescreamer->Peavey 6505+->Mesa OS->Sm57->Fast track pro - so I think it's not bad and many people with this setup there can do 100x better tone that me.

Mistake could be either in preamp in fast track or in my hands

Just a short clip - no EQ on guitars: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5371715/FastTrackSm57.mp3

 

[TheWinterSnow]

im not questioning your guitar gear at this point, rather your recording gear...what monitors are you using, because from the clip you posted, for not having any eq, you are one crack to think you have a bad tone. Work on your mixing skills, becuase you have a damn near perfect template. If you are not happy with the tone itself experiment with the settings on your amp, as how an amp sounds in person don't mean shit to a mic, it could sound like shit in the room, as long as the final result sounds killer that is all that matters. Get the best dialed in setting that you can, then play around with a shitload of mic positions until you find the one you like the most.

But from what you posted, i really don't think you really need to change much if anything at all, maybe at most some settings on your amp by just a hair.

 

[Inseminator]

im not questioning your guitar gear at this point, rather your recording gear...what monitors are you using, because from the clip you posted, for not having any eq, you are one crack to think you have a bad tone. Work on your mixing skills, becuase you have a damn near perfect template. If you are not happy with the tone itself experiment with the settings on your amp, as how an amp sounds in person don't mean shit to a mic, it could sound like shit in the room, as long as the final result sounds killer that is all that matters. Get the best dialed in setting that you can, then play around with a shitload of mic positions until you find the one you like the most.

But from what you posted, i really don't think you really need to change much if anything at all, maybe at most some settings on your amp by just a hair.

Thanks, I think the tone is bad because I have ears and hear everyday perfect mixed songs... and some mixes out so fuckin' outstanding and clean!
But anyway, thanks for reply, I thought, the problem could be in my hands. It's tough, I don't have a good room and when trying mic positions, the volume of recording kills my ability to differentiate what's good and bad very soon.

 

[Inseminator]

Btw, why vocals are not recorded with soundcard preamps and people use tube preamps to raise signal? Is it cleaner? Or it adds "tube warmth"? Why shouldn't it work for recording guitar?

 

[ScootBaloo]

I am using the mic preamp of the Fast Track Ultra Pro for my SM57 and the tone is fine.
You need to monitor the sound better when tweaking the amp and mic position.
Here is what I do, hope it helps :
- Turn amp volume down to very low, I use a THD hotplate so I can set the power amp
so it is slightly saturating.
- Set up your head phones so that you can hear the mic sound at full volume in the head phones.
- With head phones on, adjust mic position and amp settings.
- Now turn up the amp volume and record.

 

[Inseminator]

I am using the mic preamp of the Fast Track Ultra Pro for my SM57 and the tone is fine.
You need to monitor the sound better when tweaking the amp and mic position.
Here is what I do, hope it helps :
- Turn amp volume down to very low, I use a THD hotplate so I can set the power amp
so it is slightly saturating.
- Set up your head phones so that you can hear the mic sound at full volume in the head phones.
- With head phones on, adjust mic position and amp settings.
- Now turn up the amp volume and record.

Not bad idea, then when I krank the amp up, you think sound won't change?

 

[ScootBaloo]

Not bad idea, then when I krank the amp up, you think sound won't change?

The sound will change but only a little.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Yeah I dont think that tone is bad in any way either. Maybe it could use a little high end but other than that its pretty clean.

 

[Inseminator]

Thanks guys,
I think I do tones, which are either thin and clean, or "wide" and dirty - in both cases I find the sound a little sterile.

I have recorded my song with my second ESP guitar with SD SH4.. so I hope it could make the overall sound warmer...