Metropoulos Forum

I seem to be having a problem in that my amp does not sound as thin or bright as it does when I record it. I have read through this article many times but need some help with mic placement and a couple of other issues.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug07/a ... ording.htm

Are there any general rules about mic placement such as:

putting a mic at an angle warms up the recording;
putting the mic closer/farther from the grill cloth warms/brightens;
putting the mic right on center brightens/warms..

Or is it purely finding the sweet spot?

What affect does volume have on brightness?

AND, what affect does converting a file to mp3 have? Are some recording programs prone to brightness?

Thanks

nobody's talkin! the method of monitoring with headphones at lower volumes work well. i think there's more "brightness" in the center (dust cover) & less toward the outside (near the frame edge) generally. i'm no studio pro, just experiment & find what you prefer.

The first thing is to know the pickup pattern of the mic you're using. If it's a 57 or other cardioid dynamic mic, start with it pointing straight at the cab. Start dead center pointing right into the voice coil. Then move horizontally across the speaker cone. You'll hear many different tones this way. In general, on the voice coil is brightest and it gets woolier as you move towards the edge.

You can also experiment turning the mic 30-45 degrees off axis in relation to the speaker.

It just takes time to find the spot that sound how you want it to.



VG

Every componant and variable in an audio system will have an effect on the output of the system, the source sound , the mic type and placement and then the rest of the signal path etc.....What type of mic and other equipment are you using?

In the studio I mic my cabinet w/ a 57 straight at the grill cloth 1" away from the grill,halfway between the dust cover and roll of the speaker.
Last Demo we did I had a brightness problem and evan close mic'd I moved the amp into another room(deader)and put egg crate foam padded shields(isolaters kicking around the studio)and placed them a few feet infront of the cab and my tone warmed up ALLOT.
That was with my Strat w/ DiMarzio super in the bridge.
My other strat with a PAF style pup in the bridge sounded just fine in the livlyer room(same mics settings etc...)

A sure SM57 is a good mic for close micing a cab - moving the mic to find the sweet spot - Pulling back a few inches and having the mic over the cone may give you more brightness - the room should

Jude wrote:Every componant and variable in an audio system will have an effect on the output of the system, the source sound , the mic type and placement and then the rest of the signal path etc.....What type of mic and other equipment are you using?

I am using a plexi clone with webers and a pre-rola greenback, an sm57 into a Mackie Onyx satellite into my laptop with Audacity. It just seems that I really like my tone standing in front of the cabinet, but when I try to record, it just sounds thin and blah. I have tried different speakers, different locations on the speakers but similar results. Even different volumes. I suppose that is why people get paid to do this sort of stuff.

What other mics do you have?

Jude wrote:What other mics do you have?

Just the one sm 57.

An SM 57 is a nice mic but its a dynamic mic! It handy when your in a live situation and your Cranking your amp and want some reinforcment, as it wont really pick up much more than whats fired straight at it from an amp blasting or a snare being slamed etc...
In the studio you have the option to go track by track and thus can use much more sensetive equipment to capture your sound and thus get much better results. It sound to me that you should get yourself a condenser mic or 2 , these use phantom power from your board or preamp and are a lot more sensetive(also alot more fragile!!! dont drop them!!!!!!) Once you put these into the quation you will bring your studio to life.
Neumann U87 would be considered as the industry standard, you probably have seen them used alot as vocal mics, these also are great for micking an amp or kit etc.... they are quite a bit more expensive than a 57 though, you dont need to go that far to get a better result that a 57 you can also get condensers for a couple of hundred dollars which work great, the point is that you now have an active mic and if you go for a large diaphram type it will be good for a vocals too!

http://www.drpeterjones.com/guitar/micamp.php


take that into consideration, you might be standing up in front of your cab protecting yourself from direct level contact with the speakers.

I only have a SM57 and SM58. I had been messing with the 57 for clips with the amp cranked and also had trouble getting a sound that I liked. A couple of weeks ago I wanted to do a quick clip so I just grabbed the 58 and set it a few feet away from the cab giving it little thought regarding position. It captured exactly what I wanted to hear. Of coarse I also pickup up a bit more background noise but I could have done something about that. Next time I'll put the dog outside.