Mic Placement

[BelovedUS]

I have a question about mic placement. I've read through the threads about location (center of cone, away from cone) but based upon my setup what would be the best mic placement for each guitar? As far as tone goes, I'm looking for an IKTPQ tone or Norma Jean.

http://myspace.com/ikilledthepromqueen
http://myspace.com/normajean



Gear:

guitar 1 (lead) - ESP LTD Stephen Carpenter 6-string with dimbucker pickup, .010 .013 .017 .036w .052 .060 strings, tuned in CGCFAD (low to high).

guitar 1 amp - dual rec., solo head 3 chan. 9 month old tubes.

-----------------

guitar 2 (rhythm) - Schecter Hell Raiser 6-string with emgs, .013 .017 .026w .036 .046 .056 strings, tuned in CGCFAD.

guitar 2 amp - peavy 6505+, new tubes.



Cab:

Marshall 1960B 4x12 strait with celestion v30's


Recording stuff:

Cakewalk SONAR 3 producer edition
Sure sm57 and sm58 mics
Alesis io|26 Audio/MIDI 24-bit/192kHz FireWire Interface


Room Size: 9l x 12w x 9h ft

 

[gonzo]

placement of mics on cabs, is strictly one of two things:

1. experience.
2. preference.


especially in rock and roll, there are no rules.

that said, it's going to take some experimenting to find the sound YOU like.

no one here can say 'do this, or do that', and give you exactly what you want.

you have to find it.

start at the center of the cone, straight on, and begin the experiment.

even tiliting the mic slightly off axis, creates a sonic change.
it's infinite.

i prefer halfway between the center of the cone, and the outer edge....
with the mic slightly off axis at about 30 degrees.

i also like a mike right at the edge of the cone, pointing 90 degrees at the face of the cone (whatever that angle is, looks like about 15 - 20 degrees on my particular speaker)

what's really cool, is moving the mic for every track, to get each guitar part sitting in it's own 'sonic space'.

the more you do it...
the longer you do it...
the better you get at it.


it helps, to have the cab in a different room...

and as you monitor, have someone else move the mic for you.

otherwise, if you're in the same room with the cab, you'll never figure it out, except by accident.

 

[BelovedUS]

welp. i figured it out, off axis about 22 degress and about an inch left of the cone. thanks for the help btw.

 

[sean106ESP]

I am in the same boat. I have been trying for ever to get a good recording out of my cabs with 2 Shure SM57's Tried so many positions, but in reality my room just sucks for it. It has hard wood floors, and is oval shaped (refinished attic) Only thing I can get to sound ok are cleans :0

Examples
Cleans.....Nice

http://seanmckenna.server101.com/Music2/MX-250-In-D.mp3
Dirties....Muffled.

http://seanmckenna.server101.com/Music2/MX-250-In-D-Dirty.mp3


Using 2 shure SM57, Diezel 4x12 Front loaded, and the Diezel Vh4S.

 

[burnstudios]

Best thing to do is listen through some headphones as you move the mic around the cab/speaker to find the sound you want.

 

[DaveBorn2Rock]

As a general rule I've found that if you mic on cone the tone will be brighter with more high end and there will be less of that if it's angled a bit. Also the SM57s that I've used have always been kind of bright to begin with.

 

[sean106ESP]

My room for micing sucks and can never get a decent dirty track recorded. It is a finished attic with hard wood floors, oval ceiling round top, one area rug. Just sucks. Always sounds muffled unless I am using the 2 mics wrong. I am gonna try just one mic this time and see what happens

 

[ShyforShy]

it sounded like you had phase problems on those last two clips... how exactly are you positioning your mics?

 

[fpoon]

Everything gonzo said pretty much sums it up especially the part about the cab being in another room. You just can't hear exactly whats coming through the monitors, at least with my setup.