Record Your Electric Guitar
RECORDING YOUR GUITAR DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A BRAINMELTING EXPERIENCE. WITH THE HELP OF LEGENDARY PRODUCERS, WE TAKE THE PAIN OUT OF CAPTURING THE SOUNDS OF YOUR ELECTRIC GUITAR...
Recording electric guitars is different to recording acoustics – you’ll most likely be micing up an amp for starters – but many of the same ideas can apply. An electric guitar amp outputs fairly high sound pressure levels (SPL), so if you’re closemicing your cab with your amp cranked, you might want to consider using a dynamic mic or a condenser mic with a pad switch.
Get close
Many engineers like to close-mic amps and cabs with a dynamic mic and, believe it or not, placing the mic at different points in front of your speaker has a huge effect on the sound you capture. Start with the microphone 1cm-to-3cm away from the grille, pointing halfway between the centre and edge of the speaker. Moving the mic by just a couple of centimetres will change the sound. As a general rule, micing the centre gives you a bright sound, while moving the mic towards the edge of the cone makes things progressively darker. Moving the mic away from the amp introduces ambience to the sound.
No control room? No problem
Unless you live on Abbey Road, it’s unlikely that you’ll have a separate control room in your house. Don’t panic, though, as John Leckie reckons you might be better off playing in the same room as your amp. “You get a better sound if you stand in front of the amp with electric guitar,” he says, “because something happens. Not necessarily full-on feedback but there’s an interaction between the guitar and the amp. If you have a brick wall between you and your amp and you’re in another room, you’re not going to get that.”
Listen closely
Start by getting your amp to sound right in the room first. Spend a bit of time thinking about the kind of sound you want to achieve, and listen objectively. This is the time to experiment – getting it right at the first stage will make micing a lot easier. Try your amp in different areas of your room at the volume you’re going to record at. Sweep your amp’s tone controls through their range while playing and stop each one when it sounds right. Once you’ve set up your sound, it’s time to position the mic.
Make your mark
Once you’ve found the position in which you’re going to place the mic, use some tape (any kind is fine, as long as you can see it) to mark the exact spot on the speaker grille. This will save time if your mic gets moved during the recording. Obviously, if you’re using a cab without a grille, it’s advisable to skip this step!
SPEND A BIT OF TIME THINKING ABOUT THE KIND OF SOUND YOU TO WANT TO ACHIEVE
Dual mics
It’s common for engineers to use two mics on the same cabinet to get a balance of two different sounds. This could be either a pair of different dynamic mics that give different tonal characteristics, or a dynamic and a condenser mic.
As with acoustic guitars, you’ll need to be careful of phase issues ruining your tone, but – particularly with overdriven guitars – you can use the phase relationship of each mic to your advantage when crafting your tone. Start with the dynamic in the ‘close’ position, then add a condenser two-to-three-feet further back. From here, record some short test parts and move the condenser mic around to hear the difference from each position until you’re happy with how it sounds.
Model behaviour
Up until now, we’ve focused on capturing your guitar sounds through your amp with a mic. Of course, this method isn’t going to be practical for everyone. If you’re recording at unsociable hours or you can’t crank an amp at home, then amp modelling could be your new best friend. You probably already own some models, in which case you can get going. If not, you’ll need to decide on a hardware or software solution.