Weird Recording Track Problem

[ChiroVette]

ChiroVette, totally understand. I'd say your position on recording guitar puts you in line with roughly 98% of guitarists!

Yeah, we guitarists are a stubborn lot!

Also, I think Peter was inviting others to join in, and wasn't directed at you at all!

Totally! I didn't take his comment as anything negative. I was agreeing with him.

Peter, by the way, is one of the nicest and most helpful people on KVR: always patient, always willing to listen, and invariably adds considerable meat to a conversation. I've learned a ton from him, and he's even gotten me to abandon old ways of doing things for much, much better ways.

He doesn't work for Tracktion, but they ought to compensate him for the years of advice he's donated here. Maybe a nice tee-shirt.

He has been very helpful! I mean, if you read back to his comments on the last page of this thread, the guy has really helped me a lot.

The SM57 is cardioid, not omnidirectional, which means there's a huge dead spot right behind its base. If you point the SM57 at your amp--and have fun figuring out the distance you want from the amp, because as you've likely discovered, moving it closer or further can dynamically change the sound in all sorts of creative ways--anyway, if you point it at your amp, there's a giant dead spot behind the mic. You could sit there and play and should likely not be heard very much at all. This might help you a lot.

I like cardioids for this very reason--they greatly reduce the amount of ambient sound coming into the mic from the back and sides. That's likely why you're appreciating the SM57's ability to get a clean sound. The Sennheiser is a super-cardioid, so it will pick up some audio behind it.

It is a great instrument mic. I have to confess, I do actually prefer using my Sennheiser e609. Although, I am seriously considering switching to the Shure, at least for home recording, under less than ideal sonic conditions, for the reasons you mentioned, as the 609 pick up more ambient noise. But the sound is very sweet.

[Watchful]

Owning one mic only convinces you that you should own two. And if you have two, you'll learn you need four. And so on.

Each does different things, imparts different flavors, and has unique strengths. But you've learned the hardest lesson: a bad recording will never sound good, no matter how much software you throw at it. It's best to get that right and the rest is so much easier.

[ChiroVette]

Yeah, no doubt. But I like owning more gear, if for no other reason than in most bands I play in, I own the PA system. So I have multiple mics for that reason, vocal and instrument mics. Also, as I said, I like the SM57 and e609 for slightly different reasons. I also like the Shure and the EV vocal mics. At some point, I will likely also pick up a Neumann. Awesome vox mic, great for recording and for acoustic gigs even, but I wouldn't use one, for instance, with a rock band.

I think that there is a certain utility to owning more gear that isn't just down to GAS.

[Watchful]

If you pick up a Neumann, let me borrow it for a couple years, would ya?

[Peter Widdicombe]

The demands of actually recording acoustic instruments and the time/budget have to be weighed. Piano, for instance - even if you HAVE a beautiful piano, it may not be practical to get a roomful of mikes, when it's much easier using a VST - which may actually sound better than a recorded piano !