Recording guitar w/ 2 mics on a cab

[Genius Gone Insane]

Is it blasphemy? j/k

I was talking to an acquaintence (who some of you probably know) recently about recording guitars and he said as opposed to using 4 separate rhythm takes, he records only 2 takes but uses 2 mics on each take; both are sm57s.

He points one mic in "sneap position", straight on, maybe a bit off center. The second one is basically the same location however it's angled upward toward the rim of the speaker. He said if you do this well it sounds better than 4 separate takes.

I'm curious if any of you actually prefer this method.

I tried it out last night and, despite some phasing difficulties, it came out pretty cool. I ended up combining both styles for the hell of it--a total of 8 guitar tracks. The fizz is a bit thicker, but it's a good fizz if you feel me. If I was recording only two rhythm takes, I would most definitely use this approach.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

If time is running out and you can only double track rhythm guitars (instead of quad track), or maybe just for sonic decisions (Exodus is 2 rhythm guitars) you should definitely use that method. Put one mic, then blend in the other one until you get the desired amount of extra mids.

 

[Frank'nfurter]

I do that more often last time. I put a SM57 and a SM58 on two different speakers on a Marshall 1960 cab and track them. Have a look for the sweet spots. Gives you a good range of varition.

 

[Ermz]

I was actually just mixing a tape that used this approach, except they'd mic'ed the cabinet both with a 57 and a 421. The great thing about that method is that you've got your blend right there, because the 421 provides way more low-end and meat to the sound, whilst the SM57 is richer in the high areas.

I still preffer the tried and true Andy way though. If I WERE to use the 2 mics - 1 cab approach, I would most definately use two different mics, because it'd just feel superfluous otherwise.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

57 and 609 work well together as well.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

I used a 2 57s last night. I've got a beta 58 that I could use but I don't think that's going to get much different of a sound. I know Darkane used a 57 and a condenser on their newest album, but I haven't heard it yet. I've tried that a little before but the condenser couldnt handle the volume. Maybe I'll try that again for shits and giggles.

 

[Impy]

I know that Fredrik Nordström uses a lot of double miking on cabs, 57's and C414's is what i've seen him use mostly.

Personally i've actually never tried with 2 mics, the only amp i have is a little Mesa/Boogie Subway Blues so you can barely fit 2 mics on it

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

I know that Fredrik Nordström uses a lot of double miking on cabs, 57's and C414's is what i've seen him use mostly.

Personally i've actually never tried with 2 mics, the only amp i have is a little Mesa/Boogie Subway Blues so you can barely fit 2 mics on it

Totally unrelated question here that I've been dying to find out but too lazy to ask, so here goes: How do you get the two dots over the o in "Nordstrom"? Can you do it from an American computer? I'm serious by the way.

 

[Impy]

Hahaha i don't know, i've got a swedish keyboard

try alt o or something like that

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Hahaha i don't know, i've got a swedish keyboard

try alt o or something like that

I tried that shit for like 5 minutes, couldn't figure it out. Fricking amazes me!!! Totally fascinating. You Euros are just way ahead of us cowboys these days. Even though you're not Euro, sorry.

 

[Impy]

I am actually euro, like you put it, i'm from sweden, i just ended up down here...

Anyways, doesn't windows have some sort of utility where you can see what all key combinations do?

 

[~BURNY~]

I will try 57/421 combinations in a few days on two amps running at the same time... The only thing that is bothering me is comb filtering. Seems like whatever I correct the phase or not, there's always some kind of loss. Especially when using two different mics. I'm probably missing something. How do you guys deal with this?

 

[Impy]

Well, if there's a loss you haven't corrected the phase

In PT it's usually easy to fix cause you can just do tab to transient and then line em up, usually works, in other programs you just have to fiddle with it.
In logic i usually use the track delay function on one track and change the time until the phase is good.

 

[~BURNY~]

That's what I do too, except I can't tab directly. Probably not in the most accurate way... And I have to admit it is not always easy to "read" the waveforms on a guitar sound. Maybe I should use some kind of impulse to do this. Waveforms looks very different sometimes... I'll go deeper into it this time.

 

[Benny H]

Totally unrelated question here that I've been dying to find out but too lazy to ask, so here goes: How do you get the two dots over the o in "Nordstrom"? Can you do it from an American computer? I'm serious by the way.

ALT-0214 = Ö

http://www.coloryourprofyle.com/phade/alt.html

woohoo!! I contributed.. I now feel just a little less like a knowledge leech.
Happy days!!

 

[Nitronium Blood]

I know that Fredrik Nordström uses a lot of double miking on cabs, 57's and C414's is what i've seen him use mostly.

Personally i've actually never tried with 2 mics, the only amp i have is a little Mesa/Boogie Subway Blues so you can barely fit 2 mics on it

So:

57 = On axis
C414 = Off axis?

 

[~BURNY~]

MD421, not C414... Both will be probably on axis and close to the speaker but I will experiment a lot before I choose what sounds best.

 

[Frank'nfurter]

Well, if there's a loss you haven't corrected the phase

In PT it's usually easy to fix cause you can just do tab to transient and then line em up, usually works, in other programs you just have to fiddle with it.
In logic i usually use the track delay function on one track and change the time until the phase is good.

Hey Impy, phase correction is a setup thing normally

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

ALT-0214 = Ö

http://www.coloryourprofyle.com/phade/alt.html

woohoo!! I contributed.. I now feel just a little less like a knowledge leech.
Happy days!!

ö = alt-0246 for the lower case, which is more use here. Sorry.

 

[Benny H]

bah.. you got that from the link I posted!