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Audio [Issue
#25]
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Guitar Micing By
Ronan Chris Murphy
In the last half century,
the electric guitar has climbed to the top of the totem pole of most Western music
styles, as well as popular music all around the globe. Despite the legend that
one record label executive turned down a chance to sign The Beatles because “guitar
music was on the way out,” the guitar, and primarily the electric guitar, has
continued to be a mainstay of almost every big musical trend in the last 50 years;
and, in fact, the electric guitar has defined and created many of the great musical
movements of modern times.
In many ways the sound of the electric guitar on a recording can define the sound
of an artist, and it’s not really a stretch to say the sound of the guitar
can define the genre of music. Sometimes the difference between a “pop”
band and a “rock” band is the amount of distortion on the guitars. Keeping
this in mind when we record guitars - the sound we get in our recording will have
a huge impact on how the listener will experience the music. The good news and
the bad news is that recording guitars can be extremely simple, but at the same
time, elusive.
As is the case with almost all things recording, it starts at the source, and
getting things right at the source can not only make things easier, but also be
downright critical to get the sound you are going for. Finding the right combination
of guitar, amp, and pedals is crucial even before you start recording. One very
important thing to remember is that what makes for the perfect live guitar sound
does not always make for the perfect recorded guitar sound. Although there are
many different types of guitar, amp, and recording technologies, the king of them
all always has been (and still is) a guitar being played through a good quality
tube guitar amp being recorded with a microphone. Certainly anyone that follows
these sorts of things could find exceptions to this, where good sounding and successful
records have been made and recorded with alternate methods (including a few I
have made). But the fact is that if you flip through the stations on your car
radio well over 90% of the guitars you will hear coming out of the speakers will
have been recorded with a tube amp and at least one microphone. There are both
technical reasons for this, which are beyond the scope of the article, as well
as purely subjective taste issue reasons. As a guy that has mixed hundreds of
records, I always find the guitar sounds that work best in the context of the
mix, be it an old school country record or an extreme metal record, will be those
recorded with tube amps and microphones. That being said, let’s focus on
some techniques for capturing great guitar sounds.
There is more good news and bad news, and I am going to start with the bad news.
The absolutely most important factor in a guitar sound is the player. Every other
part of the guitar and the signal chain will affect the sound, but none will impact
the sound as much as the player. This is the reason why you can hear a great guitarist
like Carlos Santana or Eddie Van Halen over the years being recorded with a range
of different amps and guitars and recording technologies and, despite small differences
in tone, there is still some quality in the tone that makes it sound like Carlos
or Eddie. The same can be said of guitarist with poor “tone.” There
are some players that can play with the best guitars and best amps in the world
and will still have poor tone; even a player with good music knowledge and taste
may just not have it in his or her fingers. I have been lucky enough to work with
lots of guitarists that have been on the cover of Guitar Player Magazine and every
one of them has been a breeze to record when we put a mic on them playing through
a tube amp.
Now, the good news is, the recording side of guitar recording does not have to
be complicated or expensive. There a lots of different microphones that sound
great on electric guitar amps but the single most popular mic for recording electric
guitars is the Shure SM-57, a very common dynamic microphone that sells for just
under $100 brand new. There are countless classic albums from small budget to
huge budget where the electric guitars are recorded with one Shure SM-57. Probably
the second most popular is the Sennheiser MD 421 (approximately $350 street) -
another dynamic mic that is really good at handling loud guitar amps, but also
has a frequency response that tends to sound excellent on electric guitars. As
I said, there are many good options for recording guitars, but these two are staples
that have made many classic albums and are both awesome choices to start your
guitar mic collection with (both of these mics are also really good for many other
things). When it comes to mic pre amps, there are many great choices and we could
do a whole article about that, but almost any high quality mic pre amp will be
at least a good to great match with these mics, and the better the mic pre amp
the better the mics will sound.
Let’s jump back to the really important stuff: the things that happen before
the mic. Getting the guitar, the pedals, the amps, and even the picks and cables
right is going to be more important than the mic you choose. To begin your journey
of learning how to record great guitars tones, spend some time listening to great
guitar tones. I am sure that you have listened to the albums of all the guitarists
you love tons of times, but you have probably never listened critically and analytically
to the guitar sounds. Once you do, you may be in for some big surprises. The most
common surprises are that hard rock guitar sounds are often less distorted than
you thought and pop guitars are probably more distorted than you thought, and
overall, most guitars probably have less low end than you thought, especially
in hard rock and heavy metal. A couple of good examples would be to listen to
any AC/DC album or Motley Crue’s Shout at the Devil album on the hard end
of things, or records by Counting Crows or Kelly Clarkson on the pop end of things.
This is because super saturated distortion tends to create guitars that lack presence
and punch in a mix and super clean guitars will often not blend in well in a mix.
The sweet spot on most records is somewhere in between, even though lots of fun,
creative records have worked with the extremes; the important thing if you are
going for an AC/DC style guitar sound is, if you have tons of distortion on the
amp you will never end up with a Malcolm Young guitar sound.
The right guitar is vital to getting the guitar sound you are after, but this
does not necessarily mean that it needs to be the most expensive guitar but one
that has the right characteristics for the sound you are going for. There is a
reason you see so many blues players with Fender Strats and Nashville country
players with Fender Telecasters and heavy metal shredders with skinny necked Ibanez
guitars with humbuckers. The combination of pick ups, design and building materials
will have a defining impact on the guitar sound. Many guitars are flexible and
will work in many genres, but if you are looking for Nashville twang, you will
be hard pressed to get that recorded as well with anything other than a Tele.
Move the Mics!!!!!
Beyond the amp settings or pedals, the largest variable in the sound is the
placement of the microphone on the guitar speaker. There are two variables that
will give you a tremendous amount of control and I cannot overstress the importance
of experimenting with these. The first is moving the mic from the center to
the edge of the speaker. The edge of the speaker will be very warm, with lots
of low end and not much high end at all. As you move the closer to the center
of the speaker the sound will get brighter, edgier, and progressively lose low
end. It will also increase in volume. It is very rare that the right placement
is ever right in the center of the speaker, or right at the edge, but usually
somewhere in between. The important thing to keep in mind is that if you have
the microphone close to the speaker, then very small movements can make radical
changes in the sound. Movements of half an inch closer or further from the center
can completely transform the guitar sound.
The other variable is how far the mic is from the speaker. The closer you bring
the mic to the speaker, the more direct and focused sound you will get as you
start to shift the balance of sound to feature more of the sound directly from
the speaker and less of the room’s sound. You may not think that a mic
a foot or less a way from an extremely loud amp will also pick up the room,
but unless you have put up baffles around the speaker this will definitely be
a part of the sound. Another thing that changes when you move the mic closer
is the addition of proximity effect. This is a phenomenon of directional microphones
that when moving them closer to a sound source (such as a speaker) there is
a build up of low end. So, you can move the mic closer or further from the speaker
as a low end equalizer.
Little things
make a difference
One great trick that is often overlooked is the value of switching guitar picks.
I keep a large collection of picks of all shapes and sizes in the studio because
they can really change the sound of the guitar. Generally, the thicker the pick
the more low end in the guitar sound. Different types of plastic or metal will
all sound different, too. While I try not to get too obsessed about it, cables
also make a difference. Good cables will have more clarity and presence. There
are lots of brands out there ranging from cheapo to insanely expensive, but
I use a brand called George L’s that sound great and are not insanely expensive.
As with all things recording, it comes down to taking the time to experiment.
Take the time to move the mics around, try different pick up settings, try rearranging
the order of your FX pedals, or try different picks. All these simple experiments
can open up a really wide palette of options. Keep the recording end of things
simple and you should be able to find your way to great guitar tones on tape
(or computer, of course). Keep it simple and have fun!
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