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__________________ "All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"
Amp model discussion aside (don’t want to get into that fray!) there is a particular nuance missing when you record direct that CANNOT be modeled: amp interaction.
You play differently when you have a loud amp at your back: you are more conscious of controlling feedback, your muting and picking is subtly different, and the raw tone coming through the pickup is different due to resonance in the body of the guitar.
The end result is that the playing sounds more energetic and “live” when you are standing by an amp that is suitable loud.
I split my signal, one goes into the board direct for recording, the other to the amp. That way I’ve got my clean direct signal that I can futz with (I’ve been using Amplitube lately) after I’ve recorded, and I’ve got a good loud growl that will help drive the harmonics on the guitar.
I know this is an old topic but this was a great post for someone like me who is just starting to experiment with recording/mixing. Thanks for taking the time to do this
As a follow up question, I have just started to get into home recording literally this last week. After reading this thread I went and had a very rushed , rudimentary go at recording guitar to see how it would go. It was rushed and rudimentary mostly because my wife and kids were home and a cranked 5150 in a house does not mix well always with others.
In short, I put a shure SM58 mic in front of one speaker of my 5150 combo, plugged direct into the mic in port of my creative sound blaster sound card and recorded into my Cakewalk Home Studio 2004 software.
The result didnt totally suck, but was a bit buzzy, as if recorded hot. So I re-recorded it, the best take I got (in limited time) was a bit buzzy in high end. Not great but didnt totally suck. Got a better result after some EQ tweaking as suggested above.
When I have more time I intend to play around with mic placement to see if I can get a better tone with less buzzy highs. Also want to maulti track with less gain as I think that will help.
My question is though....I have read elsewhere here about using a mic preamp which I assume goes between the mic and sound card. Do I need this? Can I do without, what will it change in my situation?
As a follow up question, I have just started to get into home recording literally this last week. After reading this thread I went and had a very rushed , rudimentary go at recording guitar to see how it would go. It was rushed and rudimentary mostly because my wife and kids were home and a cranked 5150 in a house does not mix well always with others.
In short, I put a shure SM58 mic in front of one speaker of my 5150 combo, plugged direct into the mic in port of my creative sound blaster sound card and recorded into my Cakewalk Home Studio 2004 software.
The result didnt totally suck, but was a bit buzzy, as if recorded hot. So I re-recorded it, the best take I got (in limited time) was a bit buzzy in high end. Not great but didnt totally suck. Got a better result after some EQ tweaking as suggested above.
When I have more time I intend to play around with mic placement to see if I can get a better tone with less buzzy highs. Also want to maulti track with less gain as I think that will help.
My question is though....I have read elsewhere here about using a mic preamp which I assume goes between the mic and sound card. Do I need this? Can I do without, what will it change in my situation?
Thanks for any advice
Glenn
A good tube mic pre will help. But to be honest most of the buzz is coming from the amp itself. The 5150s speakers "Jensens" tend to be more buzzy in the high end. EQ will help a little but not alot.
My suggestion if you can afford it or have a friend who has a cabinet with them you can use when you record. Is either get new speakers for the 5150 or Borrow a cabinet from a friend that has celestian Vintage 30 speakers.
The Celestian Vintage 30s, by far the best match for the 5150 out there.
Sorry its taken so long to respond to these guys, family and life got in the way for a bit .....
As for exciters and maximisers like the BBE Sonic Max ... Dont use them for recording. They work wonders in a live situation. When recording they just add more buzzy frequencies.
As for Direct ....
The Line 6 Pod XT Pro or Native Instruments Guitar rig are the best in my opinion.
Just one problem I'm having a little trouble here and there making out some of the words, just one suggestion to make your future post's even better than this one please if you have a word processor with a spell-edit feature please use it and then copy and paste the info into the post thread box.
Other than that its a great source of information that I'll definatley be using in the near future, thanks again
Great post...I'm just wondering...what would you do if you were recording an acoustic guitar?
I'm not much for being able to sit still...but I'm not wild as in Angus Young wild...I usually tend to get up and walk around my room...which would probably lead to me having to use a cable direct into my computer.
Great post...I'm just wondering...what would you do if you were recording an acoustic guitar?
Anyone got any tips for me?
There's lots of ways to record an acoustic. With just one mic, point it at the spot between the sound hole and the neck (where you strum) and then experiment moving your guitar to the left or the right. You're trying to get some bass, but not the full-on boom. I've experimented with all sorts of angles and distanes for acoustic recording. Well okay. 4. If you have two mics, point one at the neck, and one at the 12th fret and one at the sound hole - in a crossed position, about 2 feet from the guitar. Apply tons of compression.
The challenge you face is room sound. Close mic gets rid of the room sound but also takes away the bottom end of the guitar. 1-3 feet away can get some great bottom end but also picks up the ambience way too much.
Linear Mode
