Hello and welcome back to the channel. For this episode I thought we would talk
about miking a guitar amp. when you take a look at many of my band
scenes, you'll see many times that the guitar has little to no eq work. a lot of
times the high pass filter could be the extent of it.
let's look at why that is. when you work with experienced musicians
they've generally worked hard on a guitar tone that complements the band
and already fits the band's sound. I don't want to get in the way of that.
But where the microphone is placed on the amp can make a big difference in how
that guitar sound translates to the PA or the DAW. For live sound you're going
to want to mic the guitar amp up close. in the studio this also works, but there
you also have the option of distant micing. distant miking would never work
on a live stage due to all the stage wash that the distant mic would pick up.
you need to find where the speaker is in the amplifier so you know where you're
placing the mic in relation to the speaker.
i'm using a shure sm57 which is a pretty standard mic for guitar amps. some people
always default to putting the mic right in the center of the speaker.
that's good if you and the guitarist want a bright guitar sound, but that
could also lead to a harsh guitar sound. let's listen to this mic placement
[Music] now let's move the mic to more of a
middle position on the speaker halfway between the dust cap and the outer edge
of the cone. you can see and hear how this position
mellows the sound a bit [Music]
we can even capture a warmer sound if we move the mic to the edge of the cone.
I like to put it at the edge and aim it inward a bit.
let's listen to that
[Music]
depending on what the amp sounds like to begin with, these positions can have an
even more pronounced effect on the sound. I like starting with the mic on the
outside edge and moving it inward if i need a brighter sound
[Music] these days, with so many musicians
wearing in-ear monitors, finding the sweet spot for miking the amp can help
the guitarist hear the sound more like he or she hears naturally out of the amp.
when you're out doing sound you might run across a guitar amp that has tape on
the grill like this. that is to tell the sound person where to place the mic.
likely the guitarist is on IEMs and has already worked out where the mic sounds
best in their ears. if you work with the same band a lot
you'll likely want to do the same thing, so you can easily place the mic each
time. while we're talking about placement you don't want to do this:
always use a stand if you're using a mic like the sm57. You want the front of the
mic facing the speaker not the floor. You want the mic getting its sound on axis.
that said, sennheiser makes a mic that can hang over the amp.
it's the sennheiser e609 and it's designed so that if it hangs over the
amp it will face the speaker. Of course it will also work on a stand
as well. The important takeaway is to realize how
much difference mic placement can make in how the guitar sound translates to
the PA or your DAW... and how that sound also translates to
the guitar player's in ear monitors as well. Find the sweet spot with the
microphone before you experiment with the eq. You might find you need no eq at
all or you could at least find your sound is much closer to where it needs
to be and now only needs minimal eq. If you're interested in acoustic guitar
miking check out this video. I'll leave affiliate links in the text below for
the mics used in this video. If you like information like this please like and
subscribe to the channel, click the bell for notifications, check out the patreon
page, and i will see you next time! [Music]