Mic For Recording Electric Guitar

Mic placement when recording electric guitar can vary quite a bit especially when you start getting creative with your mic ing techniques.

Mic for recording electric guitar.

Decide between mic recording or using a direct box di. This robust cardioid dynamic microphone is more often mentioned in relation to electric guitar recording than any other. However this will require expensive equipment like a quality amp microphone and potentially sound dampening equipment or material. And it was the primary mic he used back in his days of recording zeppelin and hendrix.

When recording an electric guitar the amp is the instrument as far as the mic is concerned and mic position is important. First place your preferred mic in the center of the driver about three inches back. I have tried so many dynamic mics over the years and always come back to the shure sm57 he s not alone. The one other ribbon mic in particular that has been used on countless recordings over many decades is the beyerdynamic m160.

The electric guitar pickup. A microphone on your guitar cab or combo s speaker captures the air movement produced by the drivers and introduces your room s tone into the recording how much room depends on mic type and placement. The m160 was his absolute favorite option on electric guitar. Recording electric guitar with different mic angles changing the angle of the mic can help you to get even more sound variety.

With the tone controls on the amp and the guitar itself recorded electric guitar sounds often need little in the way of eq if the desired tone was produced at the recording stage. According to legendary producer eddie kramer. To get the most out of your electric guitar when making a recording you have to choose the best microphone. Recording the sound of your electric guitar by miking your amp is a great way to simulate studio quality sound.

While a lot of sound comes direct from the speakers as you d expect a significant level is also emitted from the back and sides of the box via panel vibrations. When it comes to recording electric guitar jay graydon s views on mic choice are pretty clear. But that said there are a few tried and true methods that will almost always yield good results. However if the sound needs a bit more bite try boosting the upper mids somewhere between 2 5 and 5khz.

If you aim the microphone capsule to the center of the cone and change the angle you ll notice that the sound gets less bright less annoying in some cases but also has a great deal of low end.