Anyone know any good "Guitar Cab Mic'ing Tutorials?

[Lonely Raven]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but my searches here didn't come up
with anything.

Anyone know any good "Guitar Cab Mic'ing Tutorials?

I'm having LOTS of trouble getting what I hear and what the Mic hears
anything alike.

Currently I'm using a Seasound Solo 24/96 sound card that supports
two Microphones, and I'm using two vintage SM-57 Mics that *really*
deliver...but I'm having trouble finding the correct spot to get the sound
that I hear in the room!

Right now I have one Mic right at the edge of the dustcap/cone and the
other Mic about 3-6 feet into the room picking up ambience. The sound
is really great, but again, not what I hear when I play!

So if you know of any online guides, some quickie suggestions off the top
of your head, good (cheap) books I could read....

Any help is greatly apprecaited!

[guitarpicker2006]

You might want to check out a guitarists' recording handbook. It's called the Recording Guitarist. It's really cool. I got mine at Barnes and Nobles. As for advice...
I'd say to get your monitors out (or headphones) and finding a really nice spot for the microphone. Either way you do it (miking or direct) you're not going to get the exact same sound from the mic or directly. So all I can suggest it messing around with the mic placement and finding one that you really like.

[Lonely Raven]

Thanx for the book tip!

And thanx for afferming what I figured.

I'm finally starting to get my tone where I like it, and now it's a whole new
battle getting that tone recorded where I like it! Grrrr.

[MorbidDream]

The best way to search the right sound is to experiment with different angles and positions with microphone. SM57 is very good and trusty mic. I've tried to use different aproach in all our records. So there is no certain method to record the guitar. Test, test and test. And remember you can use many mics in many postitions to give some space and depth. And then you're able to mix between different mic positions and sounds. What type of music you are recording with your guitar ?

[Drew]

You know, i can't get tones that i love out of a sm-57 for the life of me when recording guitars. I got some pretty good sounds with a friend of mine's akg though; maybe try a few different mics.

That said, if you've got the amp to sound perfect in the context of the room, then break out a boom stand and place a good mic EXACTLY where your ear is in the room, facing the same direction. Just remember, your ear is sort of a microphone of it's own, and the sounds you like arn't being captured at the speaker, they're being captured about 6 feet off the floor and 10-15 back, most likely.

alternately, you could re-EQ your amp when you're got your head down at speaker level, so your mic is capturing exactly what you were hearing. The ensuing room tone may be a bit muddy, but the tones going to tape will be better. I started doing this while gigging, and it made a HUGE difference in the quality of my tone coming out of the PA. for reference, it involved lowering my treble from 8 to 4.5 (it's a mesa, really dark sounding), leaving the mids, and bringing the bass from 3 to 6.

-Drew

[Lonely Raven]

Yeah Drew, that's what I was going to do next.

Actually, in messing around I've basically taken all your ideas and put
them together. With the exception of chaning the amp settings at all.
What I hear in the air, is what I want on tape (er, hard drive).

so here is going to be my setup (rather guitar anal).

One SM-57 dead on nose into the cone. (gets the mids and meat)

One SM-57 slightly off axis (seems to get the buzz the the other mic misses)

And I'm currently searching for a quality mic to put in the room a few
feet back from the amp.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I am recording the amp in my "listening" room
which is full of sound diffusers and absorbers to help clean up the
listening sound. I figure that I can get more spaciousness out of the
boom mic in the room with the diffusers reflecting a larger sound.

Here are the diffusers I use:

http://www.decware.com/acintro.htm

I hand built almost a room full. I have some half built and some cut out
but not assembled because I was running out of room for them!!
And I think being laid off last year kinda put a hamper on my audio
building and purchasing. LOL

These things REALLY work. WONDERFULL for vocals. I lent some to my
dad when he hired a pro vocalest to help him finish off some Demos.
It was like night and day the spaciousness good diffusers add!!

And for listening, the big CWALLs clean up the MAJOR amounts of bass
that come from my Home Theater....

[Drew]

Nice... If i wasn't broke and working out of a college dorm room, i'd give that a try.

Yeah, the EQ'ing is really only a good idea if you're relying solely on a close mic. You get a "punchier" tone that way, but i don't think it's quite as alive as a room mic. I've been meaning to screw around with a similar setup- a fairly dark mic against the grille (I've got this crappy old mic from like the 60's my dad has from god knows when; real peice of junk, even has its own built-in mic cable with a 1/4-inch plug, about as cheap as it gets, but it actually doesn't sound so bad- highs are a little weak, but the mids and bass are pretty even. I figure a shure 57 against the grille mixed back, that thing a few feet off and pretty low as the primary mic, and whatever else i can grab capturing the room sound, (fairly low for punchy heavy rhythms, higher for leads). I'll let you know how it works.

By the way, if you play live a lot, at least audition your tone through the house PA if you're micing. You might be suprised. first time i did this, i was shocked to hear it was all brittle and fizzy. An EQ tweak or two later (less treble, more bass, ending up about 5 for each and mids about , and it sounded nice and full again.

-Drew