setting the sound

[Get Down And Boogie]

Hi there,

I've got a sound engineering type question:

I've noticed that my amp sounds different depending on where I'm standing in the room - especially at loud volumes. This shouldn't be news to anyone. My question is: If you were going to mic up the amp, where would you stand when dialing in your tone so that the miked-sound sounds best?

 

[ned]

In the room where you want your sound to be optimized.

 

[Elpelotero]

always stand about 10-20 feet back from the amp. ideally, you should place the cab in a big open room where you can crank it very loud.

 

[jbird]

I'd get in-line, and as close to the speaker being miked, as possible! I actually prefer practicing (at home) in this manner, usually sitting on a low bench, or on the floor, about a couple of feet from the cab!

 

[ThunderMonkey]

Having done some studio engineering as well as co-produce my old band's CD's I've found that WHERE you place the mic is key.
Obviously, you want to stand in front as close as you can to dial your tone in but ultimately you can tweak your tone if you move the mic around.

Which is cool to do if you want to achieve different ambient ranges.

You may not need to go this far (especially with Digital Recording) but I recorded ANALOG to digi this way and was tons of fun !

3-4 stereo tracks using my halfback 4x12:

(2) SM57's - front mic, 3 inches from center dust cover on cone
rear mic, just inside the middle of open back
lower volume on amp (barely to the sweet spot but real tight rhythm tracks)

(2) MXL 90's - front and rear mics were @ 5 feet away
stage volume on amp (right at the sweet spot, very thick)

(2) Neumann U87's (condensers) - front and rear were @ 10 feet away
I cranked my amp way past clipping and got some UBER lead tones with natural reverb as freq's were bouncing from all sides.

Mic placement is the key more than where you stand.

 

[Get Down And Boogie]

Thanks for the information guys

Let me optimize the question a little bit:

I want to set my amp up in the jam room so that it sounds good when I'm playing live.

I've noticed that when I stand next to my amp it sounds warmer - probably because I'm getting the sound reflected off the floor (usually carpet) and it takes out the top end. However when I stand about 5-10 feet back from the amp it sounds, toppy/fizzy/harsh even weak. I'm wondering, which sound it is that the mic pics up?

Do you guys set your live sound up standing close to the amp, or standing back from it?

Or does none of that matter because the main factor is where the sound guy places the mic?

Cheers!

 

[ThunderMonkey]

OK, I got ya now ! The mic is going to pick up frequencies right at speaker cone. The tones you hear several feet back are the frequency waves opening up. That's to say it takes distance for cycles of freq's to break, guitar tone cycles obviously shorter and Bass tones longer.

Get a nice tone up close to your amp....That's what the mic is picking up !

 

[Get Down And Boogie]

Cool, thanks!

It's so much easier to get a good tone close to the amp anyway, and it's the sound that I hear when I'm standing on stage.

I just feel sorry for the guys in the first few rows (i.e 10 feet back from amp) - though hopefully they are getting most of their sound from the frount of house PA system (which comes from the mic anyway).