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Post by logansc on Jun 24, 2007 13:18:09 GMT -5
right now all I have is an sm57 a small behringer mixer, and a m-audio buddy pre-amp. The best tone I can get recording is sort of bland and far off, and without a ton of tweaking it is also shaky and fuzzy. What is my problem. I know I can get a mic that gets more saturation, and a tube pre-amp might help. what are the best kinds and what else can i do. Most of the stuff I do is very high-gain, but the clean on my xxx records very shaky, and breaks up. Help me and yes, i know I am jumping right in as a noob. I don't care treat me as a friend.
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Post by Tungus on Jun 24, 2007 17:08:07 GMT -5
SM57 will work fine. I dont really see a need for ya to blow anymore cash on something like a specialty AKG. Ive used SM57s for years with no complaints. Youll have to find the SWEET SPOT, when micing, but its time well spent. I tend to place the mic about 2" from the edge of the cone pointing twords the voicecoil at the same ange of the cone...slightly off biased, yet still keeps the brightness. I know im gonna catch hell from Joel on this post. *evil grin*
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Post by logansc on Jun 24, 2007 20:53:46 GMT -5
yeah, and I can get an okay sound with a lot of tweaking, and even when i find the sweet spot, it seems very distant and still breaks up a little on the clean and is sorta shaky. I can get it sounding okay, but not great. So if I stick with the sm57 what else is there I can do or can pair with it to help it.
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Post by Joel Wanasek on Jun 24, 2007 20:55:11 GMT -5
OK.... all you need is1 57 well placed. Screw everything else.
Put the 57 in the center of each speaker, crank the cab, and record all 4. Then pick what speaker sounds best at a loud volume. Once you determine that, spend a lot of time on placement. You don't want a lot of high end fizz, pay close attention to a solid mid range and your high end. Once you get the placement, you've got to crank that amp up and get that speaker moving.
Use a LOT LESS GAIN than you think you will need. The sheer volume and speaker compression will add some natural dirt to your sound. You'd be surprosed on how little gain is used on heavy records. Less gain = bigger tone. I find on say a mesa or marshal that it is not uncommon to use like 5 (of 10) for gain if you pick hard. Sometimes a boss ds1 or tube screamer can line drive the amp and smooth out the gain too.
When mixing, high pass the guitar in the 75 - 100 hz range to make room for bass and kick and low pass at 6 - 10k depending on the amount of noisy fizz on top. You might find yourself searching and destroying annoying peaks in the 4k - 6 k area with deep narrow cuts on a parametric eq. Also, a multiband comp on the low mids area can help tame a pumping low end.
You don't need any fancey pres or etc to get good tone.... it is all about placement, the player, the amp eq, and the amount of gain. Focus on making the amp sound badass in the room and then get a mic placement that sounds like you are standing in front of your amp.
To get the guitar tones you hear on a record (at least a modern one), you most likely are going to use some pretty extreme eq in mix. Mostly mid sculpting.
Good luck.
p.s. I've got like every good guitar mic out there: 57, 421, 414 u87, e609 black, sm7b, etc.... I always come back to the 57. I find few mics can hold up to the mid sculpting in mix like a 57.
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Post by logansc on Jun 25, 2007 10:10:19 GMT -5
thanks, i guess i will work on that, i don't do a lot of remixing so i'll try that, and I always try one of the top two speakers so I can try a lower one.
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Post by logansc on Jul 30, 2007 22:42:38 GMT -5
just to let you guys know, the problem was the mic. Now that I have more for my drums, I tried a different 57 and the sound is amazing now!
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