Wat mic and interface do I get?

[LLL]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

Ya did you listen to the demos I posed tho? Great tone. U really think that's EQing?

Where?

[GuitarStv]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

If you think I don't know how to stick a mic in front of an amp, ur doing it wrong.

Mic technique isn't simple. If you're just sticking a mic in front of an amp, you are doing it wrong.

Put a mic directly in front of the amp, pointed at the center of the speaker about 12 inches away. Record a riff.
Same position, 1 inch away. Record a riff. It's totally different sounding, much more bass and low frequencies.
Same position, 1 inch away, angle the mic at about 45 degrees. Record a riff. Totally different sounding again, the frequencies recorded have changed.

There are some general rules (very close to the amp is bassier than a foot back, closer to the edge of the speaker has less high end than the center, pointing the mic directly at the speaker will sound different than angling the mic at 45 degrees) but you really need to position, record and check, position, record and check, over and over until you figure out how to get the sound you want.

The whole thing gets a lot more complicated when dual micing a cab because you have to worry about phase issues. There are a variety of techniques that you can use to get around this (XY micing, 3:1 rule, setting each mic exactly the same distance from the speaker, etc.). I would recommend that you do dual micing when getting started not to use them together but just so that you can A/B the recorded sound to figure out which you like the sound of better.

My goal is always to get the guitar sound I want with as little EQing post recording as possible, things just seem to sound better that way . . . but this means you really have to think about how the guitar will sound in a mix, not just on it's own. A super middy soloed guitar sound might be singing and vocal in the mix. A bassy/sparkly clean sound might be weak and completely eaten up by the hat and bass guitar in the mix.

Someone with great mic placement technique and a good idea what they're doing can record a whole album with just SM57s and a cheap interface and it'll sound great because they know how to use their gear to get a great sound.


What you're asking in your original post is like saying "My playing sucks with this American Strat, I only know open G and A chords. What Gibson Les Paul will improve my playing?". :P

[Clint 55]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

Check out PreSonus AudioBox iTwo Studio - Complete Mobile Hardware/Software Recording Kit it is not bad for the price.

That's wat I have. I dunno guys, I have a feeling that the quality of the recording equipment could have something to do with the quality of the recorded sound. Just a thought. I was expecting something a little more than use some cheap ass gear and stick the mic in front of the amp right.

[Clint 55]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

Where?

The only links posted by anyone in the entire thread.

[Clint 55]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

Mic technique isn't simple.

Thanks for some general rules about mic placement. I have experimented with mic placement. I also noticed you get more room sound the farther away you put the mic which can be good but that it doesn't sound as strong if too far away.

[NecroPolo]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

It sounds to me too that you just did not find the sweet spot yet.

It is really hard to get a bad sound these days on a hardware level unless you have a genuinely terrible ancient audio interface. Even super cheap interfaces have high sample rates enough and decent AD / DA converters on the market.

On the original question, I think Focusrite Clarett interfaces have nice price / quality ratio. If 2 ins / outs are enough, the baseline Clarett 2pre is around $400.

[Clint 55]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

It sounds to me too that you just did not find the sweet spot yet.

I don't think so.

Thx for the recommendation.

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

I think so.

Getting different gear will get you a different sound for sure. But upgrading to a $500 interface is not going to make much of a difference tbh. I've went from a simple, entry level interface and a single 57 to a 57/421-U5/condensor combos into CAPI VP 26's then into an RME Fireface 800. And although I love the sounds I can get, my learning and experimenting with mic placements and how a guitar tone works in the mix is FAR more important than just the gear itself. I can toss a mic infront of the amp with that chain and make it sound like crap just as easy.

Listen to the advice being given to you, experiment more, and if you don't like the sound of a 57, I would change mic before changing an interface, as you are going to have to spend a significant amount to get a perceivable difference, vs a new mic.

Also, what rig are you recording? Can we hear a sample? If we can hear it we can have more to go on.

[Clint 55]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

Ya so Abbey Road uses a 57 into a pos interface from a bundle because that's all you need? Ya I'm sure. You guys are uppity as ****. Thanks for the recommendations and for the mic placement principles but wtf. Posting a thread asking for recommendations isn't a synonym for I'm a dumbass.

[Clint 55]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

So here's probably the best sound I've achieved with the 57 into pos interface and my little amp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxH3S0UDVyE

Here's an example of the 57 sucking. Sounds really lo fi and doesn't capture my sound at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2bniSn82ao

Big improvement with the condenser mic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqW7G4-F3zI

So here's my $300 condenser recording my Warmoth strat into my twin reverb. I think it's possible to get better recorded sound than this since my guitar/pup/amp rig is pretty darn good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzyaqx5QIxU

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

No one's calling you a dumbass, we're simply stating work more with your current tools first before just buying gear blindly. And once again, a $500 interface isn't going to magically make everything sound great. I just told you that I record my rig with over $3,000 in equipment, and I still found my experimenting and understanding mic placements was more important. Does it mean my 3k in equipment was useless? No. But if I sent you all that and you left your mic where it was would it all of a sudden sound like magic? also no.

Abbey Road uses a 57 into a sweet ass channel strip in a great sounding room, with a great sounding rig, with a great player and....a great engineer who knows where to put the damn thing. It's a balance.

But hey, go ahead and get yourself a better interface if that's what you want. but like I said, if you're going to spend $$ on gear I would go mic first, then interface / dedicated preamp.

[NecroPolo]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

An interface to consider after your $500 interface:

http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/babyface.php

It seems to be tiny and fragile but it is a tank really. It has very nice transparent preamps, the best AD/DA in price range and it has bombproof audio drivers.

After the RME, consider this:

https://www.uaudio.com/audio-interfa...-twin-usb.html

It is a tiny ninja of a sick-pro studio, awesome preamps and mixing apps, absolutely capable of recording and mixing / mastering an album.

[dystrust]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

Abbey Road uses a 57 into a sweet ass channel strip in a great sounding room, with a great sounding rig, with a great player and....a great engineer who knows where to put the damn thing. It's a balance.

It should be pointed out that a studio engineer's job in the 1960s was vastly different from today. Most if not all of the high profile studios back then had signature sounds because the engineers there literally built the gear they used. A lot of the technology The Beatles used is commonplace today, but it simply didn't exist at the beginning of their career. The musicians or producers would come up with a sound they wanted to capture and the Abbey Road engineers would have to invent a way to do it.

[Clint 55]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

After the RME, consider this:

https://www.uaudio.com/audio-interfa...-twin-usb.html

It is a tiny ninja of a sick-pro studio, awesome preamps and mixing apps, absolutely capable of recording and mixing / mastering an album.

Yaaz

[Securb]

Re: Wat mic and interface do I get?

Abbey Road uses a 57 into a sweet ass channel strip in a great sounding room, with a great sounding rig, with a great player and....a great engineer who knows where to put the damn thing. It's a balance.

...and they still can't remember to turn the ringer off on the phone during a recording session. (can't find the version online with the phone ring but I have the original vinyl at home with it.)