Kagi Media: Online Pro Audio Articles, Recording Electric Guitar

Recording Electric Guitar

Mic, DI & Re-Amping

By Jonathan Kagi

Your amp settings will create much of your sound

The elements of a multi-track guitar recording might include- foundation or rhythm tracks, doubling, leads and harmonies. But this article is about the different ways we can get those tracks (which ever they may be) into Pro Tools.

Your amp settings will create a lot of your sound and how you play your guitar in combination with your settings will make up your personal “style”. Assuming you have the settings you want and are confident in your sound and performance, the goal, then, is to accurately capture your emotion.

Here are a couple techniques:

CLOSE MIC

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Using a Sennheiser e609 or the Shure SM57 you can close mic the amplifier.

With the e609, simply hang the mic over the cabinet, starting at the center of the speaker and moving the mic away from the center of the cone to reduce low end.

The same results can be achieved with the SM57 (or any number of other brands) using a kick drum or boom mic stand positioned close to the amplifiers speaker.

SPOT MIC

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I like the Neumann TLM 103 because it’s a great all-around multipurpose mic.

I sometimes use it as a spot mic for electric guitars. A spot mic can be placed about 6 feet out from the amplifier depending on your amplifier volume and how you have your gain structure fixed.

Further away = more room sound and closer = less room sound.

COMBINED

I’m tracking a high-gain source- but you may use variations based on the amplitude of your source. In my “high-gain source” situation, The TLM provides the character of the amp- in the room, and the e609 captures the bite and detail of the guitar amp. I track them simultaneously, and mix to taste in Pro Tools. I might favor the detail track in one part of the song and the ambient track in another; and I have the option of using both in the mix together.

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GAIN STRUCTURE

With both mics, I had to back the levels way down on my gain structure- an extremely hot source means we need to take care not to overload our inputs. As with any instrument- I ask the player to play as hard as they think they will play during the song- then a little harder- then softer. I adjust the gain based on the dynamic range of the input.

PRE-AMPS

I’m running the e609 through a Benchmark Media MPS400 and the Millennia M2B for different effects. With both pres, I’m using a Benchmark Media A/D converter and passing digitally into Pro Tools. And true to the design of each pre, the Benchmark gives me killer detail and absolute replication of the mics frequency response. The M2B gives me a thick, full-bodied sound while maintaining the all of signals nuances. In the end, it’s a matter of taste and what sounds best “In the Mix”.

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DOUBLING

And why not use both? Doubling is a technique that is used to make a performance sound bigger or fuller. Doubling is commonly used on instruments and vocals when multi-track recording. To double, you simply track the same performance successively on as many tracks as desired. As long as the player is tight-this can be done transparently-as you record the successive tracks, make sure to align them to a fixed point in Pro Tools to compensate for recording latency.

Once you’ve done this. You will have a series of tracks playing the same riffs and each track will have a different character based on the performance, the instrument used, the mics, pres and mic placement you used on each take. Now you can combine tracks or use some in a verse and others in a chorus. It’s nice to have options when mixing.

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LOAD BALANCING

Reduced Volume-with load balancing. Here I’m using the Soldano Lucky 13 feeding a THD HotPlate. This lets me use the amplifier at a lower volume and achieve similar tracking results. I’m coming out of the HotPlate and feeding a clean, balanced signal straight into Pro Tools. And my neighbors call the police…less!

DIRECT RECORDING

And finally, we can go direct- direct recording of an electric guitar with the tools available today- is an attractive alternative to the real thing. You could just plug line-in to your interface but you will probably get better results using a Direct Box. A Direct Box can be used with or without a Pre Amp. Here, I’m using an Agular Direct Box designed for direct recording of Bass Guitar, but it works great on guitar too! Then I bump up the input with the Millennia M2B tube-pre. Pretty darn fat sound without plug-ins, but you know I’ll add plug-ins (how could I resist?!!)

GUITAR, BASS and FX MODELING PLUG-INS

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So I track it in direct, and now my options are adding DSP or re-amping. Re-Amping is sometimes achieved by tracking direct, then running the signal out, through an amp, in a controlled manner, and re-recording the amps output.

But there are now, also, software alternatives that offer convincing emulation of amps and cabinets; and most have a series of FX processors to polish the sound. NI Guitar Rig, Waves GTR and Digidesign/Bomb Factory SansAmp are a few that will keep you tweaking for days!

So weather you decide to track at reduced volume-with load balancing- go direct-in and process the takes- or mic up your amp-and drive it through the roof - we see that there are many ways to get that killer guitar sound in Pro Tools.