Stuck on recording guitar

[thedevilshour]

Ok, while I realize that we don't have the same gear that a bigger band would have we would still like to have that up-front, in your face sound similar to Opeth on Deliverance or Dimmu's Death Cult Armageddon. I have looked in several places and have tried several different micing techniques. Right now I have one sm57 and one sm58. My guitarist has a Vox Valvetronix 100w amp with 2 12s in it. We have turned the wattage down to the minimum and disconnected one speaker.

I am micing the speaker right now in this sound clip here with 1 sm57 pointed directly at the dust cap. (Played by me. I am not a guitarist btw)
http://www.mediafire.com/?kznvrexzd2n

I guess the sound is just a bit shallow and doesn't really have any power to it. I have tried to incorporate the use of the sm58 into the mix but it ends up sounding kinda muddy with all my attempts so far.

The amp settings are as follows:




As far as the room goes it is a basement room that I am slowly converting into a studio. Here is a pic.


Guitar is a Alexi-200 LTD

Any help sculpting our sound into something more usable would be greatly appreciated. I have been reading over many of the stickies and old forum posts and it seems there are several individuals who really know what they are talking about here. If anyone is interested in hearing our past attempts at micing using only an sm58 the songs are on myspace.com/swarmoflegion. I really appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. Thank -Jake

 

[Joematthews]

my favorite position is at approx 30 degrees to the front of the cab, facing at where the dustcap meets the main body of the speaker (dustcap being the bit in the centre) usually an inch or occasionally 2 inches away from the grill.

If you want I can get my friend to bring his valvetronix over, and I'll find a nice position for the mic, photograph where it is and then post it on here for you along with a soundclip.

Joe

 

[John_C]

that clip sounds a bit echoey to me, i'd deal with that somehow before doing any serious tracking. Either record guitars in a different room, or treat the one you're in a bit.

 

[TheDriller]

Turn up the wattage for a start.
I have the same amp and it sounds like ass with the wattage down low.
something to try would be am overdrive pedal in front of the amp, like a tubescreamer. tightens it right up.

 

[Jason Selden]

It really likes it when you crank the master.

(Looks like you already have it all the way up...try turning it down a bit...there tends to be a "sweet spot")


leave the wattage at 100

 

[JonWormwood]

Yeah dude, crank it up

 

[Jason Selden]

also these amps can get be really bass heavy and muddy...

Turn the bass freqs down as well as the gain.

I'm a fan of cranking the mids as to have some rich freqs to carve out your mix.

 

[thedevilshour]

Thanks for all the responses. After about a month of modifications to our studio I believe I have eliminated the majority of the echo. We attempted some serious tracking using many of the suggestions on here.

We turned the wattage to max and I believe we found a pretty good spot for the master volume to be at.

Amp settings are now:

Bass - 65% Mids - 100% Treble - 60% Gain - 65%

Mic is slightly off axis at about 30% approx 1-2" from grill and 1-2" below dustcap. Soon enough I will be getting another 57 to try dual micing but for now I was wondering if anyone had anymore suggestions.

This short clip has our guitarist playing using the same gear listed above only with the new settings and sound treatment in the room. We are still struggling with achieving an acceptable guitar tone . This sample has quad tracked guitar panned 100/80L 100/80R and a high pass at 60hz and low pass at 8khz.

Test Tone

Once again I really appreciate any more input anyone has to offer.

 

[Russtopher]

It's better, got some fizz in there that you can probably remove with some different mic placement.

I have that amp too, I find that a blend of the UK Modern and Numetal amps (Marshall TSL and Mesa) gives a decent thick tone without sounding too "fake". And definitely boost with a TS if you can.

 

[John_C]

it'd be an awesome tone for a different style. The tremelo picking sounds really awesome, but the mutes don't come through well at all

 

[thedevilshour]

Ok I tried out moving the mic to the center of the dustcap on axis and through this together using UK and numetal settings like russtopher suggested. Everything is panned the same and quad tracked with a hp and lp. I put a limiter on the mix just for the hell of it.

Not really sure if it sounds good or if the tone is something my guitarist is going for. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2wqymmdzw4l

 

[Russtopher]

Try micing it up on axis right where the dustcap meets the paper, still sounds a bit too fizzy to me in that mix. Give it a shot and post it up!

 

[thedevilshour]

Ok here it is again but with the mic pointed at the edge where dustcap and paper meet.

http://www.mediafire.com/?jnomwdz0jnu