Strategies for Reducing 4k – 6k Fizz on Distorted Guitar

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Put your ear in front of the cab/speaker. This is what the mic will be picking up. If you sweep your ear around, you can find 1 or 2 speakers that will sound better than the others.

Since the tone of the amp and the speakers reactions are different when louder (or at recording level), I wouldn't never do that personally, unless you want to damage your ears (even for a short period). Mic one speaker, record, mic another one, record, etc, then compare and pick your favorite one. Even with different mic placements you definitely hear a difference in the speaker's quality.

 

[2012]

Doing this for a second or two isn't going to do any permanent damage, but going to a live show and standing on either side in front of the mains for 45 minutes - 3 hours will. Direct exposure @ 120 dB takes a little more than 3 minutes to cause hearing damage, so taking a few seconds to put your head in front of the cab isn't going to end your career as an engineer, but playing a show, or having band rehearsal without earplugs will. 120 dB is really, really, really loud.

This is something I picked up from Slipperman, but YMMV.

Yeah its loud, so have the bass player do it. He doesn't need to hear high frequencies anyway, right?

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

Strange, it only took me 5 milliseconds of pyro blowing off next to my ear to get permanent tinnitus. But then again, i didn't wait 3 minutes to see if that made any difference....

Doing this for a second or two isn't going to do any permanent damage, but going to a live show and standing on either side in front of the mains for 45 minutes - 3 hours will. Direct exposure @ 120 dB takes a little more than 3 minutes to cause hearing damage, so taking a few seconds to put your head in front of the cab isn't going to end your career as an engineer, but playing a show, or having band rehearsal without earplugs will. 120 dB is really, really, really loud.

This is something I picked up from Slipperman, but YMMV.

Yeah its loud, so have the bass player do it. He doesn't need to hear high frequencies anyway, right?

 

[2012]

Strange, it only took me 5 milliseconds of pyro blowing off next to my ear to get permanent tinnitus. But then again, i didn't wait 3 minutes to see if that made any difference....

SPL causes hearing damage, not apparent loudness.

An explosion of pyro would causes an extreme blast of SPL due to the very nature of what it is: an explosion.

 

[flytrapx]

Yeah its loud, so have the bass player do it. He doesn't need to hear high frequencies anyway, right?

 

[egan.]

1st things first: Move the mic

If the mic is on-axis on the center of the cone, you will get a lot of fizz.

You can also position the mic off-axis.

True.
Frankly I like the 4-6k range on guitar. I think you get the immediacy from this range-- It's >10k range that I think is just useless shhhhhhhhhh.

 

[2012]

Frankly I like the 4-6k range on guitar. I think you get the immediacy from this range-- It's >10k range that I think is just useless shhhhhhhhhh.

Agreed.

Although, if I need a presence boost it's always somewhere between 2-3k. I never touch anything above 3k, with the exception of the HPFs.