Les Paul/MKIV tone sample

[mrd]

Hey guys, yesterday I was fiddling around with a favourite microphone setup of mine (middle-side pair) on my 4x12. I had the 4x12 split between my MKIV and RKII, where the MKIV was the master amp and I was running an FX loop out to the RKII. Just running straight in with my Les Paul.

When I record, sometimes I'll do this little exercise where I'll improvise some sort of rhythm-ish track for a few minutes, then come back right afterward and try to solo over top of it without really having a solid idea of what the structure or chords are of the rhythm track. It keeps me on my toes and often produces some pretty neat results. On this occasion, I accidentally set Cubase to punch-out (stop recording) after about 4 minutes, so the track kind of ends abruptly. When I was recording the rhythm track, I actually played for about 15 minutes straight then finished and looked up and it had stopped after like 4 minutes and I was like "...****!" hahah. Oh well.

Anyway, here's a link to the track, let me know how you like it. It's kind of Satriani-esque.

http://members.shaw.ca/mrduplicity/june5b.mp3 -- 6.22MB

Both guitars are on the lead channel, but for the rhythm track I was playing with my guitar volume down almost all the way, and I only kicked it up to full near the end. In Cubase, all I've done is some EQ'ing (HPF), a bit of chorus on the lead guitar in some parts, and a bit of reverb over the whole mix. Tried to keep it as true to the real sound as possible.

Here's a picture of the mics if anyone is interested. On the bottom is an AT4050 with omnidirectional pickup pattern, on top is an upside down (so that the two pickup capsules of the mics are as close to each other as possible) Apex 460 running a bi-polar pickup pattern.

Any questions... just ask. Cheers!

 

[mrd]

Eek, tough crowd, eh? :lol:

I guess metal is the only thing of interest around here? I just thought I would share the results of that cool mic technique. Oh well

 

[JCDenton6]

That's a good mix with a sweet lead. You captured the sound of your amps well.

I'm now envious of your good mic'ing technique :mrgreen:

 

[BENNY]

thats crazy good. if you showed me that pic without the clip i'd say your friggin' idiot. ha ha ha . just kidding. the tones are real good, but i have to say the most impressive part is how you kept it interesting.

 

[mrd]

Cheers, thanks dudes 8)

The thing I like about this technique is it gives you a pretty sweet stereo image, so can you get a better sense of the amp's environment. Also having the mics so far back off the cab gives more of a "room" sound. This technique works good for acoustics too

As for the music itself, I appreciate the comments! Some parts are a bit iffy :lol: but hey, I'm still learnin'. I practice improvising a lot... and recording the results are a really good way to get a broad sense of what sounds good and what does not.