April 6, 2010 7 No-Brainers for Recording Electric Guitars
It is pretty rare that I come across articles on MTT that talk about the actual recording process, so I like to post one of these every so often to mix it up a bit.
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At first glance, an electric guitar seems like a pretty straightforward instrument to lay down. I, for one, never really stress too much over it. I can always get a decent guitar sound recorded without too much effort – thanks to my trusty Shure SM57, and some patience while tweaking the mic position millimeter by millimeter until I hear something I like. Recently, though, I had some excellent equipment and a good player to work with, so I wanted to make the session worth it, and really nail it. Google, save me now!
After some trolling around Google, and some soul searching, I’ve dug up 7 good pieces of advice to consider before and while recording your axe:
1. Show your axe some love – GET A TUNE-UP!
Intonation and old strings can easily transform a $1500 American Strat into an $89 Yamaha. Take care of your guitar and make sure you have some fresh strings put on about a week (max) before hitting the studio. Also, if you hear any buzzing notes or notice the higher notes are a bit out of tune, spend the $35 bucks to get that sucker tuned up. The differences are SO noticeable, and will help your guitar sound great when its time to record.
2. Spin around in circles until the hum is gone.
Sounds ridiculous, but it actually works (And it makes for some great b-roll youtube vids)! Equipment containing transformers will often cause hum interference with electric guitars, especially with single coil pickups. If you experience this humming, move the player as far away from the interfering equipment, and have the player rotate until you find an angle that produces the least amount of hum. Then, have the player stand or sit like a Roman statue throughout the entire performance. Seriously, it works. And saves you a ton of headaches trying to figure out where that damn hum is coming from.
3. Can I get a big amp sound out of a dinky practice-sized amp? YES! It’s all about mic positioning.
Here is where engineering and trickery can go hand in hand (awesome). If you don’t have the luxury of some beastly amp setup, like a JCM-800 head over a 4×12 speaker cab packed with Celestion Vintage 30’s – then, well, fake it! Plug in the 5W tube amp, and start moving that microphone around the room. Seriously, everywhere. Try putting the microphone at the position of your head, so it “hears” what you hear. Try miking the amp from the side, the rear, the top, even the bottom (hang that wimpy thing from the ceiling!). If you lift the amp off the ground, you can eliminate bass, or shove it in the corner to enhance the bass. If it sounds brittle, try facing the amp into a corner, then miking the amp from behind. You can get some crazy cool tones just by mic positioning.
-Extra tip: pick up a pair of noise-canceling cans, enable input monitoring, and have the guitar player strum away as you experiment with mic positions. This is much easier than recording a short take, playing it back, moving the mic, recording another take, playing it back, etc (ow, my head…).
4. Double your takes RIGHT AWAY.
Many artists, producers, and engineers like to save overdubs for another day. However, guitar parts aren’t usually written out note for note – there is a bit of spontaneity involved while doing a take. If you think you may need to beef up the part a bit, it is much easier to just lay down the double track during the same session so these spontaneous moments are much easier to replicate. Swap guitars or amp settings to get a slightly different tone, and have at it. Don’t worry – you’ll nail it on the first try.
Click here to read the last three tips over at the Tightmix blog.
Reader Comments (2)
Nice tips. Another to me is doing multiple inputs. If you have the option to get a dry signal or a pre-amplifier signal, why not go ahead & get it so you have the extra options for fixing things in the mix.
@Brian great advice. I've yet to try that, but I have always wanted to. Maybe I'll hook it up the next time I track guitar....like you said, why not? Can't hurt!