How should I Record my Guitars?

[tmaworks]

Two of the same mics, at different distances, mix between them, or
pan them hard left and hard right and put different in-daw amps on them to create a wider signal.

What a horrible suggestion. Unless you want to cancel out frequencies all together of course

Wouldn't you be alright if you just stuck to the 3:1 rule. Ex. 1 mic right up on the gril and the other 15 inches back, or so?? I've seen Albini put some mics back there -One closer and one further away, if I'm not mistaken...

Yeah you can make it work absolutely, but I believe mr albini also monitors closely on his oscilloscope to make sure theyre in phase with eachother. you could ofc do this in your daw as well, by moving one of the recordings in time, to match phase with the other. but either way you Are gonna cancel out some of the frequencies, some of the time, which can sound nice and wide ofc, bit like unison or chorus effect.

but just putting two mics at two different distances and mixing between them sounds like a mono summing nightmare.

I'm sure you're right on the oscilloscope thing. I recorded at electrical some time ago and for as "Grunge" or whatever lo-fi that place is, it's surprisingly high tech... They do still cut the tape there though, so... You better be on point... ha!

[tmaworks]

Two of the same mics, at different distances, mix between them, or
pan them hard left and hard right and put different in-daw amps on them to create a wider signal.

What a horrible suggestion. Unless you want to cancel out frequencies all together of course

Wouldn't you be alright if you just stuck to the 3:1 rule. Ex. 1 mic right up on the gril and the other 15 inches back, or so?? I've seen Albini put some mics back there -One closer and one further away, if I'm not mistaken...

Yeah you can make it work absolutely, but I believe mr albini also monitors closely on his oscilloscope to make sure theyre in phase with eachother. you could ofc do this in your daw as well, by moving one of the recordings in time, to match phase with the other. but either way you Are gonna cancel out some of the frequencies, some of the time, which can sound nice and wide ofc, bit like unison or chorus effect.

but just putting two mics at two different distances and mixing between them sounds like a mono summing nightmare.

Exactly.

It will depend on the frequencies in the notes played. So one distance might work better for a certain riff - but as astralprojection suggests, this might seem like creating problems to solve.

One way I might work with this, however, is to use the distant mic like a room mic on a drum kit and use it for reverb. It also depends on the type of music we're looking to create or the mood for a certain section in a piece. Albini is a master of mic placement - EQing with mics - so don't expect his methods to work first time round.

Definitely experiment lots. I don't mean to put anyone off experimentation in recording because that was one of the things that captured my imagination and lead me into sound engineering in the first place.

yeah, I like the idea of experimentation, but it's like... once you figure out what works you just gotta roll with it. Ha! Can't really go wrong with two close mics, capsules lined up, right against the speakers and just let it rip... If you wanna make one more distant then just add some reverb??

Ha!

You can make everything so complex (especially myself)...

[tmaworks]

yeah i also support experimenting. maybe you find a spot where just the right comb filtering is happening making it sound very cool and very wide. but its still gonna be a nightmare when summed to mono, probably. unless you make sure at least 90% of the two recordings are actually in phase with eachother. then you dont run the risk of thinning out the sound or making it sound bad in mono, but still keeping it wide and interesting in stereo.

What's funny is that i'm REALLY into mono these days... Ha!

I'm working on a track right now and it just so happens to be in mono because that's all I had for source tracks -One bass, one guitar, vox, one overhead, kick and snare...

I was going back and forth listening to a couple of stereo source tracks and (not to toot my own horn) I was thinking to myself "Damn this mono track sound HUGE in comparison Maybe I should just do the whole album in mono...?"

So, yeah...

I think mono means A LOT. Sounds friggin' huge, man. Not sure why people discount it so much...

[tmaworks]

Another trick that might work is the fix for hissy guitars: Roll off the highs and then replace with harmonic excitation. Then the cancelation will be more like adjusting tone and any phase issues in the high frequencies will have been filtered out.

That's a crazy idea! Never would've thought of that myself!

Thanks, man!!

Ever seen this??: https://plugins4free.com/plugin/1765/

Haven't used it yet myself, but am quite intrigued by some of Variety of Sound's offerings. More a fan of the Antress stuff cuz it's easier to use, but the VOS stuff sounds GREAT. Just dove into his chorus / echo/ tape thing today. Forgot what it's called...

[tmaworks]

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[astralprojection]

I'm sure you're right on the oscilloscope thing. I recorded at electrical some time ago and for as "Grunge" or whatever lo-fi that place is, it's surprisingly high tech... They do still cut the tape there though, so... You better be on point... ha!

Ive not been there but ive seen a few videos on youtube where he tours electrical audio and it is Very impressive. He even has his very own power supply in the basement and a giant ground rod through the building. No mains hum anywhere to be found! The man is pure genious at work. Its cool you got to go there and record, must have been an amazing experience. And yes, that tape is like Gold, better make it worth your time and money

yeah i also support experimenting. maybe you find a spot where just the right comb filtering is happening making it sound very cool and very wide. but its still gonna be a nightmare when summed to mono, probably. unless you make sure at least 90% of the two recordings are actually in phase with eachother. then you dont run the risk of thinning out the sound or making it sound bad in mono, but still keeping it wide and interesting in stereo.

What's funny is that i'm REALLY into mono these days... Ha!

I'm working on a track right now and it just so happens to be in mono because that's all I had for source tracks -One bass, one guitar, vox, one overhead, kick and snare...

I was going back and forth listening to a couple of stereo source tracks and (not to toot my own horn) I was thinking to myself "Damn this mono track sound HUGE in comparison Maybe I should just do the whole album in mono...?"

So, yeah...

I think mono means A LOT. Sounds friggin' huge, man. Not sure why people discount it so much...

I love mono aswell. All my synths (most of them, lets say) are mono. All my drums are mono. But hihats and overheads and room reverb i like to keep stereo, aswell as atmospheres and stuff like that. Having your album 100% in mono i think wouldnt be very exciting, personally speaking.

[tmaworks]

[/quote]

I love mono aswell. All my synths (most of them, lets say) are mono. All my drums are mono. But hihats and overheads and room reverb i like to keep stereo, aswell as atmospheres and stuff like that. Having your album 100% in mono i think wouldnt be very exciting, personally speaking.
[/quote]

Dude, i think it would be exciting, too!! The only thing I really missed when I was listening was the stereo guitars -I wanted to hear some of those melodies a little more clearly. Also, yes -The hi hats and other aspects of the drums, for sure. I close mic everything -including the cymbals -and really enjoy having that stereo spread on all that, too. But -the mono guitar down the middle does A LOT, I think... Discovered that's one of Tom Lord-Alge's favorite mixing tricks -The one guitar right up the middle...

[zerocrossing]

Track DI and amp in parallel. Then, if you need to re-amp and add layers later, it's easy to do and you have the feel of playing the amp whilst performing.

If an effect is in stereo, then I would track that as intended - such as a Leslie, pingpong delay, etc.

This is how I used to do things, back in the day when I used actual hardware amps. Best of both worlds. I gave that up a long time ago, as my style of music wasn’t easily done using traditional amps. Now I just use an AxeFX 3 mk2. I don’t get that “amp in the room” feel, but I live in a condominium now and my wife and I both work from home, so there’s rarely a time when an amp could be run, even at moderate volume. I’m pretty satisfied with using a touch of Sustainiac to recreate the amp in the room effect.

[tmaworks]

Track DI and amp in parallel. Then, if you need to re-amp and add layers later, it's easy to do and you have the feel of playing the amp whilst performing.

If an effect is in stereo, then I would track that as intended - such as a Leslie, pingpong delay, etc.

This is how I used to do things, back in the day when I used actual hardware amps. Best of both worlds. I gave that up a long time ago, as my style of music wasn’t easily done using traditional amps. Now I just use an AxeFX 3 mk2. I don’t get that “amp in the room” feel, but I live in a condominium now and my wife and I both work from home, so there’s rarely a time when an amp could be run, even at moderate volume. I’m pretty satisfied with using a touch of Sustainiac to recreate the amp in the room effect.

I'm sure the Sustainiac thing is freaking awesome -Technology has come soo far...

[zerocrossing]

Track DI and amp in parallel. Then, if you need to re-amp and add layers later, it's easy to do and you have the feel of playing the amp whilst performing.

If an effect is in stereo, then I would track that as intended - such as a Leslie, pingpong delay, etc.

This is how I used to do things, back in the day when I used actual hardware amps. Best of both worlds. I gave that up a long time ago, as my style of music wasn’t easily done using traditional amps. Now I just use an AxeFX 3 mk2. I don’t get that “amp in the room” feel, but I live in a condominium now and my wife and I both work from home, so there’s rarely a time when an amp could be run, even at moderate volume. I’m pretty satisfied with using a touch of Sustainiac to recreate the amp in the room effect.

I'm sure the Sustainiac thing is freaking awesome -Technology has come soo far...

Yeah, I got it because I was on my eBow a lot and I wanted to explore polyphonic types of that, but I quickly realized that just a touch gave me the feel like I was standing next to a cranked stack on stage, even at low volume. Highly recommended.

[tmaworks]

Track DI and amp in parallel. Then, if you need to re-amp and add layers later, it's easy to do and you have the feel of playing the amp whilst performing.

If an effect is in stereo, then I would track that as intended - such as a Leslie, pingpong delay, etc.

This is how I used to do things, back in the day when I used actual hardware amps. Best of both worlds. I gave that up a long time ago, as my style of music wasn’t easily done using traditional amps. Now I just use an AxeFX 3 mk2. I don’t get that “amp in the room” feel, but I live in a condominium now and my wife and I both work from home, so there’s rarely a time when an amp could be run, even at moderate volume. I’m pretty satisfied with using a touch of Sustainiac to recreate the amp in the room effect.

I'm sure the Sustainiac thing is freaking awesome -Technology has come soo far...

Yeah, I got it because I was on my eBow a lot and I wanted to explore polyphonic types of that, but I quickly realized that just a touch gave me the feel like I was standing next to a cranked stack on stage, even at low volume. Highly recommended.

Snap! I might have to try it! Thanks!

With recording yourself, it's always nice to be able to downsize/ simplify things...

[zerocrossing]

Track DI and amp in parallel. Then, if you need to re-amp and add layers later, it's easy to do and you have the feel of playing the amp whilst performing.

If an effect is in stereo, then I would track that as intended - such as a Leslie, pingpong delay, etc.

This is how I used to do things, back in the day when I used actual hardware amps. Best of both worlds. I gave that up a long time ago, as my style of music wasn’t easily done using traditional amps. Now I just use an AxeFX 3 mk2. I don’t get that “amp in the room” feel, but I live in a condominium now and my wife and I both work from home, so there’s rarely a time when an amp could be run, even at moderate volume. I’m pretty satisfied with using a touch of Sustainiac to recreate the amp in the room effect.

I'm sure the Sustainiac thing is freaking awesome -Technology has come soo far...

Yeah, I got it because I was on my eBow a lot and I wanted to explore polyphonic types of that, but I quickly realized that just a touch gave me the feel like I was standing next to a cranked stack on stage, even at low volume. Highly recommended.

Snap! I might have to try it! Thanks!

With recording yourself, it's always nice to be able to downsize/ simplify things...

Downsize? Simplify? I wouldn't know anything about that.