Tip for mic'ing high gain amps

[mrid]

Putting a pair of socks over the mic really helps to smooth out the tone of a high gain beast.

[HolyDirt]

really?! i gotta try this! My mics are naked as of now...

[mrid]

really?! i gotta try this! My mics are naked as of now...

Worked for me!

[TwilightOdyssey]

Why not just put a towel over your amp? Same effect.
It sounds like something is very wrong if you have to put a sock over your mic!

[mrid]

Why not just put a towel over your amp? Same effect.
It sounds like something is very wrong if you have to put a sock over your mic!

I think my problem is that I'm using a vocal mic to mic my cabinet.

[TwilightOdyssey]

I think my problem is that I'm using a vocal mic to mic my cabinet.

Hmmm ... still shouldn't present a problem. There are very few 'vocal' mics, and those are used for live performance ... unless you have a Shure SM58 (which will still work fine, if you work around the 2k presence peak), just every higher end mic (BLUE, Nuemann, AKG, AT) that's used for vocals is also used for electric guitar, too.

For a very high gain setting, the usual practice is to put the mic about 1' from the cabinet; this will give the sound more body and air ... or, if you're close mic'ing try moving the mic 2-4" off center from the middle of the speaker cone.

[mrid]

... unless you have a Shure SM58

Actually, it is a Shure SM58 Beta.

[Wattage]

A Beta 58 shouldn't be a big problem at all, it has an expanded range and is probably picking up more than you want to hear, the sock is cutting that range down a hair maybe?

What are you running the mic into?

[mrid]

What are you running the mic into?

ART Tube preamp.

[seafoamer]

Some people put a little tape on the speaker grill right where the middle of the speaker is. This is supposedly where the most high end comes from.

For some reason this post has given me the visual of a bunch of Marshall cabs miced with sm57's with condoms on them.

[lastwinj]

point the cab at a wall, and room mic it, REAL loud. gives a nice nasal flavor. putting the mic in from of the speaker, maybe 4 ft away, and putting the mic in a box on its side, open to the back of the mic.

germ

[Kent S.]

point the cab at a wall, and room mic it, REAL loud. gives a nice nasal flavor. putting the mic in from of the speaker, maybe 4 ft away, and putting the mic in a box on its side, open to the back of the mic.

germ

One other thing is to play with the on axis and off axis tilt of the mike to source, and the proximity (closeness to the source). ((Germ knows this though)), Another thing is to use the effects of boundary conditions, or acoustic loading as it's known. Try pointing a combo amp into the corner of a room, and placing the mike about 3" in front (placement of mike to speaker cone centre I'll leave to your tastes), the half space loading to the rear of the mike generates a low boost combined with various phase cancellations , a cardioid mike (like the 57,58, and beta 58 works well for this)adjusting the distance between the corner and the amp will add a host of various tonally colours. The sock is really like a windscreen, a roll of toliet paper (full roll) slipped over the mike and adjusted creates some odd phase cancellations as well (good for really distorted rhythm power chord crunchiness). Also a second mike placed in the back of a combo amps and panned out hard left and right (the front mike being the other channel) , and then mixed during mixdown creates some intersting tone, because the tone in the back of the amp is different, and it's out of phase with what's going on at the front of the amp. A long plastic tube ~3' or more with a mike in one end can add some really twisted stopped flange type sounds as well. Have fun.

[Blue Calx]

For some reason this post has given me the visual of a bunch of Marshall cabs miced with sm57's with condoms on them.

if only I had the slightest shred of artistic talent, I would bring your dream to life!