How To Record Electric Guitar

thehipcola · Post by **thehipcola** » Fri May 06, 2005 2:24 pm

Hey All~

Thought I'd start a thread about how to record electric guitars. There are a million different ways, and it's pretty tricky to get good sounds if you are throwing a mic in front of a cabinet.

In my searches for material, I stumbled across this series of posts from another forum by a dude named Slipperman. It appears he is some kind of expert on the subject of distorted guitars, but the posts deal with some good common-sense recording tips all around. These are a funny read, there is good information in there, but since it's clipped from a forum, the formatting sucks. But stick with it if you want some info on this ... art of recording distorted guitars.

And post away if you know other stuff that works well for you. I'm waiting for a mic to arrive any day now so I can stop going direct with my amp and start recording the amplifier. Whee haw!

Here's the link..MS Word format. I'm dumb and don't know if that works in Apple-ville...if not, pm me and I'll copy it to an email and send it to you.

Slipperman's Distorted Guitar Primer

8)

Sober · Post by **Sober** » Fri May 06, 2005 2:51 pm

If you're using a preamp or an FX unit of some kind that has an SPDIF output, try that. I'm using a Yamaha DG Stomp, and it sounds fantastic, especially when I'm using the amp modeler on it. It sounds like a perfectly mic'ed cab.

Hoblit · Post by **Hoblit** » Fri May 06, 2005 4:19 pm

<b>For Home Recording:</b>

Line 6 POD. Direct.

Utilize Noise Gate, Compression, Choice of Amplifyer/Cab modeling/distortion, and a hint (JUST A HINT) of reverb for room simulation. (seperation and realism)

All other effects can be added later for better timing and level mixing via plug-ins.

<i>This doesn't beat a real studio with a fender bassman amplifier mic'd about an inch off the grate at a 45 degree angle. </i>

Post by **Lunkhead** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:15 pm

Buy a Marshall tube amp. Stick an SM-57 straight at it. Plug in your Les Paul. Record.

jack · Post by **jack** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:34 pm

Lunkhead wrote:Buy a Marshall tube amp. Stick an SM-57 straight at it. Plug in your Les Paul. Record.

if this is not an option, try to get inside the brain of phil redmon.

king_arthur · Post by **king_arthur** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:40 pm

What Hoblit said. Note, however, that the Pod XT is significantly better than the original Pod, and is said by those who have played both to be well worth the difference in price. Stay away from the presets, as they're pretty much all set up to show off what the unit can do, and tend to overdo the FX a lot.

Not that I'm Mr. Tone or anything, but I have had several positive comments on guitar tone since I started using the XT...

Charles

c hack · Post by **c hack** » Fri May 06, 2005 8:24 pm

I have a fender blues jr, and I just put the sm57 in front of it, pointed at the edge of the speaker, and I think it sounds great. Bass, OTOH, I just plug directly into the mixer, and I think it sounds great.

Dan-O from Five-O · Post by **Dan-O from Five-O** » Fri May 06, 2005 9:43 pm

It really depends on the sound you're going for. POD's are great, no doubt. I've got a version 2 that sounds pretty good and the XT does sound better. I have a friend that lets me use one at practice sometimes. I agree the pre-sets are a waste of time for the most part. But nothing beats a real tube amp with a mic in front of it, period. Do you want to emulate an amp and cabinet combo or really play through one? The preference should always be the latter but there are a lot of constraints with an amp. Neighbors usually hate the volume it takes to get the sound you want and they definitely don't like those 3 am recording sessions. So that's where a POD or something similar can get you by in a pinch, particularly on rhythm parts.

If you do have and can use an amp, use two mic's if you have them to spare. A good 57 in front of the cabinet (off the edge of the speaker as CHACK said) works very well for close up mic'ing. If you can get a second good condensor about 6 to 12 feet away from the cabinet for ambience you'll really like the results.

Post by jb » Fri May 06, 2005 9:59 pm

Direct in to a Presonus BlueTube preamp, with both knobs turned to eleven.

CRUNCH.

jb

jack · Post by **jack** » Fri May 06, 2005 11:16 pm

get a Hot Plate

jute gyte · Post by **jute gyte** » Sat May 07, 2005 12:11 am

i've been struggling for a long time to figure out some sort of good metal guitar sound. i have some plans for this summer, but those probably won't work. there's not exactly a wealth of online information on the subject (at least i haven't found any.) short of buying a marshall, any ideas?

thehipcola · Post by **thehipcola** » Sat May 07, 2005 5:09 am

hey Jute, check teh article at the top of the thread..it focuses primarily on distorted guitars...you might find some good tips in there.

c hack · Post by **c hack** » Sat May 07, 2005 6:49 am

jute gyte wrote:i've been struggling for a long time to figure out some sort of good metal guitar sound. i have some plans for this summer, but those probably won't work. there's not exactly a wealth of online information on the subject (at least i haven't found any.) short of buying a marshall, any ideas?

IMO, you should do whatever Glenn did when he covered your "Violet" (I think he said he turned all the knobs on his 4-track to 11). I thought that came out great and really fit your style.

joshw · Post by **joshw** » Sat May 07, 2005 7:02 am

I have the most luck going direct in (with a direct box or high-z input) and using an amp emulator like Amplitube. For what I do, it sounds better and it gives you the flexibility to tweak the tone after the fact. It also makes punching in a breeze because punching pre-processing is much cleaner. If you need to, there are boxes you can buy that will take a direct signal and route it through a real amp when you're ready to mix down.

And yes, I have a '66 Blackface that I prop my feet up on when I type, and recently sold off a Marshall half-stack. They just don't sound as good to me.

reve · Post by **reve** » Sat May 07, 2005 9:52 am

Ditto to most of this thread. I havn't used a real amp in like five years. But I say bugger the pod and do it all in post. NI's _guitar rig_ is just the. best. thing. ever. More expensive than a pod and you don't have something to use as a paperweight, but worth it.*

With the simulators you do lose a bit of subtlety, particularly in regards to the individual instrument. However, unless your audience consists primarily of professional guitar players, no one's going to a) notice its absence or b) care that it's not there.

* if you don't have the money, or for whatever reason you need a hardware solution, I've got a j-station I'll sell ya.

jack · Post by **jack** » Sat May 07, 2005 12:57 pm

dude, i friggin love the j-station. best $99 i ever spent on a piece of musical equipment.

i know some here hate them (like GC) but i think it serves it's purpose well. i personally like the rectifier tone, i use the tremelo effect alot, and the blackface amp modeler isn't bad for a twin reverb copy. it's been well worth the money for me.

WeaselSlayer · Post by **WeaselSlayer** » Sat May 07, 2005 4:42 pm

Put your laptop mic generally next to your amp. Don't use distortion. Play very loudly. Also scream.

boltoph · Post by **boltoph** » Sun May 08, 2005 4:08 pm

When it comes to balls to the wall overdrive/distortion:
I usually mic up a single 12" tube combo amp using the amp's own overdrive channel using about 2/3 the amount of distortion that I'd actually use live. (always prefer to mic up some tube amp, any kind will do). mic right on the rim of the inner core of the speaker...but always move the mic around a couple inches to either side and hear the difference.
The more disortion you add, the less presence and more midrange you may want to dial in on the amp's tone controls. Otherwise you get a papery distortion sound.
Ideally I think its best with the amp cranked, with an SM57 but if it has to be quiet, throw a lg. diaphragm condenser on there real real close (if you have one). I take the grille cover right off the amp so I can line the mic up good.
Les Paul is always preferred for straight ahead chords by me, but mostly just because humbucking pickups have a fuller, smoother tone than single coil pickups for heavy guitar tones.
I'd pretty much always double the distorted electric rhythm guitar and pan them out some. Even if you just copy the existing track and throw it off with the tiniest delay time imaginable, that could work sometimes.
These are my preferred methods for good distortion electric tone. The tightness of the doubled rhythm guitar is always key.
A sound example is in my next songfight, sometime on or after May 9, '05

Alright here's a living breathing example, a song my band recorded last year. But we left a little more prescence in the guitars than usual:

http://www.thepincushions.com/audio/pin ... r%20Me.mp3

We recorded the guitar tracks live, two different guitarists on left / right, one a les paul through a marshall, the other my strat through a boogie. We even just used our footswitches to switch between the clean / distorted parts. heh. Not the ideal, but fun to do if you're in a band and want to keep it all realistic.

thehipcola · Post by **thehipcola** » Sun May 08, 2005 4:23 pm

you know I'll be waitin' on it Boltoph. Right on. Thanks for the tips everyone!

jack · Post by **jack** » Sun May 08, 2005 7:38 pm

hey rob, you should be able to mine some seriously fat sustain with that new epi dot/humbucker setup you just got. humbuckers on a semi hollow body gives you all kinds of inherant tone. add a TS-9 tubescreamer (the one must have pedal of all pedals) and go DI and i'll bet you'll be pretty impressed with what you can come up with.

blue · Post by **blue** » Tue May 10, 2005 10:40 pm

we use one of these

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/fg= ... id/276668/

duct-taped to the speaker grill cloth.

the sound is a little less high-end bitey than a 57, and with a little more bass as well. i like it a lot.

boltoph · Post by **boltoph** » Wed May 11, 2005 7:44 am

Added a sound example above in my last post, complete with SM57 high-end bite and all

I do kind of think a bit of the bite is rippin'.