Roomier guitarsound? Mic distance?

[abyssofdreams]

I'm playing with mic distance right now and putting the mic further away from the cab (in a nice bright room) gives me kinda very likable results. I'm searching for a tone with a lot of depths unlike any direct "in-your-face" metal tone but I'm wondering if that is the right approach since I never see anyone talking about longer distances in metal whatsoever...

Think of a more atmospheric record like last Opeth or Daylight Dies.
And if these are close-miced, what did they do to make them appear less close after all? Can't be just EQ, can it?

You know as far as 3d depth goes...it feels like you are in front of the band listening...the band being some feet away from you instead of you standing in between, dunno how to explain this...

 

[punkrockacademyfightsong]

I often put a mic (LDC) next to the cab, aimed into the room (so not at the cab), usually i have to flip the polarity on that channel and you have to play around with the exact position with headphones on but it works really well for me to get a perception of "space" on the guitars. In the mix I usually pan them pretty much to the opposite of the close mics

 

[gorath23]

Use a Ribbon, or something with a figure 8 configuration. This will pick up some room ambience, as well as sounding mega-beefy on the cab itself.

 

[ahjteam]

Didn't Sunno)))) record like 3 meters away while the guitarcabs were blasting at 120dB? The thing with close micing has most to do with isolation in my opinion. The closer you put the mic to the grille, the more you get the actual sound versus the room. But the air is one helluva good and natural sounding compressor. If you put the mic further away, you might notice that you get a lot less of the proximity effect and treble. If it sounds good, keep it further. If it sounds worse, put it closer and vice versa. No rules, just good sound.

 

[Katau]

It may sound weird, but my amps put in that room sound. Hard to explain, but it's there. However, when I want more room, I keep the 57 close, and put a nice LDC to the side about 4 feet away and hard pan the two tracks. Then I make a second take and reverse the panning. So, you'll get something like this:

Left : Take 1 on 57 and Take 2 on LDC
Right : Take 1 on LDC and Take 2 on 57

...of course, mix to taste.

 

[riffmachine]

Use a Ribbon, or something with a figure 8 configuration. This will pick up some room ambience, as well as sounding mega-beefy on the cab itself.

+ 1

 

[TheWinterSnow]

you can either

a) add reverb to your close micing takes

or

b) use two mics, generic example would be a 57 on the grill and a e906 3-6 ft away dead center of the cabinet

your main mic will be the 57 and your ambient mic will be the e906, so you will bring up the e906 to your liking to match the 57. the e906 will be picking up the cab as if you were standing a feet away where the 57 has the in your face sound.

again that was just an example, experiment and use what sounds right.

 

[egan.]

I'm playing with mic distance right now and putting the mic further away from the cab (in a nice bright room) gives me kinda very likable results. I'm searching for a tone with a lot of depths unlike any direct "in-your-face" metal tone but I'm wondering if that is the right approach since I never see anyone talking about longer distances in metal whatsoever...

Think of a more atmospheric record like last Opeth or Daylight Dies.
And if these are close-miced, what did they do to make them appear less close after all? Can't be just EQ, can it?

I can speak directly to the DD record since I recorded it. All of the heavy stuff was close mic'd and the cleans were mic'd close with an i5 and about 12" away w/ a u87. Alot of the sound on both of those records is the way Jens uses EQ and verb and panning to place things in the mix. He is one of the best heavy engineers in terms of space IMHO.