The Doom Room: ILF Edition

[Kacey Y]

I do pretty much what Skip said, inch or so off the grill, straight on at about where the dust cap meets the cone. Sometimes I will put a pair of over ear headphones on and move it around until it sounds best, but that's usually the sweet spot. If you put up a room mic, just make sure you check the phase alignment between the mics. A good trick for that is to flip the phase on one mic and move it around until it seems to almost disappear or get really thin and quiet, then flip the phase back.

[samzadgan]

Likely another JFET emulation in the make, seems a bunch of builders are throwing there hats in for those kind of things.

yeah, but maybe its just me...i think this has way too much gain compared to other pedals...it kinda puts me off a little.

i want to hear your latest version...and then i will head over to paypal!

[Ancient Astronaught]

I do pretty much what Skip said, inch or so off the grill, straight on at about where the dust cap meets the cone. Sometimes I will put a pair of over ear headphones on and move it around until it sounds best, but that's usually the sweet spot. If you put up a room mic, just make sure you check the phase alignment between the mics. A good trick for that is to flip the phase on one mic and move it around until it seems to almost disappear or get really thin and quiet, then flip the phase back.

Reading back he's recording in a closet, so I'm not sure a room mic will necessarily work in this situation. I'm thinking pairing up with an equi-distant condenser will be best for him.

[conky]

Got my cleans finished on the new recordings. They sound fantastic but I'm not happy with my dirt tones at all. I'm not getting the sound I hear in the room to come through my monitors. Amp is cranked to stage volume, SM57 (haven't tried an Audix i5 yet though) moved away, right up on the grill cloth, angled from halfway in the cone pointed towards the dust cap.... none of it is sounding like I want it. Trying to get it sounding the way I want with a little eq added later. Tell me what I'm doing wrong guys.

1) putting the mic right on the grill cloth can cause perceived bass response increase

2) angling the mic can cause a "distant" (reduced mids and highs) perception, for loud distorted guitar straight on usually works best

Put the SM57 an inch away from the grill cloth facing straight at the edge of the cone, if its a lil too bright move it towards the edge of the speaker. Do you have any other mic's you can throw on the cab ass well, such as a small diaphragm condenser? Using two mics per cab and mixing them together often yields the best results (just make sure they are in phase with each other, i.e; equi-distant or in a multiple of 3 [so if the the sm57 is an inch away put the SDC 3" or multiples there of away])

Also.... you keep saying it doesnt make the sound in the room your hearing. That's because your mic'ing the cab not the room. Why not try putting a condenser in the room at your ear level where you feel the guitar sounds best and then blending that with the sm57 so you can get a blend of the amps close up tone and the tone you hear in the room?

I always thought the closer you got the more highs it picked up and further away darkened it up. Usually I do it about an inch away from the speaker right dead center of the cone to start out. Don't really have to do much else aside from that. I really think it has to do with that closet being full of clothes because this is the only thing different (aside from the cab) from last time I recorded guitars. I have the Audix and then a large diaphram MXL vocal mic and then the Shure overhead drum mics. I'll try to put the cab in the spare bedroom and then put the SM57 on it with one of the condensers further back and blend them.

It shouldn't be way off but IME the 57 is great because it refuses to die (and because it has a pretty nice/familiar EQ curve to it). I'll defer to other people with more recording experience than I have, and I know you've made some great sounding jams in the past, so I won't do the "stupid questions" list, like "are you aware that your monitors need to be turned up enough for you to really hear what the guitars sound like" because I know you're not an idiot.

edit: Skip has wise words.

I do pretty much what Skip said, inch or so off the grill, straight on at about where the dust cap meets the cone. Sometimes I will put a pair of over ear headphones on and move it around until it sounds best, but that's usually the sweet spot. If you put up a room mic, just make sure you check the phase alignment between the mics. A good trick for that is to flip the phase on one mic and move it around until it seems to almost disappear or get really thin and quiet, then flip the phase back.

Coolio, thanks for the tip.

[Ancient Astronaught]

I always thought the closer you got the more highs it picked up and further away darkened it up. Usually I do it about an inch away from the speaker right dead center of the cone to start out. Don't really have to do much else aside from that. I really think it has to do with that closet being full of clothes because this is the only thing different (aside from the cab) from last time I recorded guitars. I have the Audix and then a large diaphram MXL vocal mic and then the Shure overhead drum mics. I'll try to put the cab in the spare bedroom and then put the SM57 on it with one of the condensers further back and blend them.

Slightly, but you actually start picking up more low end which throws off the EQ curve of the mic which becomes more prevalent with a flat eq mic like an sm57. The closet with clothes will kill some resonance for sure, so I think your idea of putting it in the spare bedroom with a room mic would be best.

Honestly since you have the inputs if you have the stands and cables why not putting the SM57, the I5 and the MXL all close mic'd on the cab and then use one of the Shure overheads as a room mic. Then record a guitar part with all mic's on, then go back and listen to each track separately and then start pairing them together to see what you like and think sounds the best. Then once you've decided on your mic combo take off the unused mics and go at it!

[D.o.S.]

57 doesn't really have a flat eq, though -- unless I'm really misunderstanding what you mean.

[Ancient Astronaught]

57 doesn't really have a flat eq, though -- unless I'm really misunderstanding what you mean.

Frequency Response is the technical term, and in the world of mics this is a relatively flat response:



and the boost in the upper frequencies is to compensate for the fletcher munson curves of human ear perception. So even though it looks boosted its perceived as flat. To match the curves truly it would need low end boost as well, but these mics aren't designed for that purpose and the low end cutoff sounds natural on 95% of things you put in front of it.

[Joe Gress]

http://pitchfork.com/news/57944-torche- ... restarter/

Yiiiiiisssss. This pleases Joe....

[conky]

I always thought the closer you got the more highs it picked up and further away darkened it up. Usually I do it about an inch away from the speaker right dead center of the cone to start out. Don't really have to do much else aside from that. I really think it has to do with that closet being full of clothes because this is the only thing different (aside from the cab) from last time I recorded guitars. I have the Audix and then a large diaphram MXL vocal mic and then the Shure overhead drum mics. I'll try to put the cab in the spare bedroom and then put the SM57 on it with one of the condensers further back and blend them.

Slightly, but you actually start picking up more low end which throws off the EQ curve of the mic which becomes more prevalent with a flat eq mic like an sm57. The closet with clothes will kill some resonance for sure, so I think your idea of putting it in the spare bedroom with a room mic would be best.

Honestly since you have the inputs if you have the stands and cables why not putting the SM57, the I5 and the MXL all close mic'd on the cab and then use one of the Shure overheads as a room mic. Then record a guitar part with all mic's on, then go back and listen to each track separately and then start pairing them together to see what you like and think sounds the best. Then once you've decided on your mic combo take off the unused mics and go at it!

Good idea. I'll do that. I've never done multiple mics on one cab before. I have done one mic on two rigs in stereo and then panned them hard left and right for my rhythm tracks and that worked ok. With a multiple mic'd cab what would the panning need to be on each track? I was planning on doing the tracks for Matt and I at 80% left - 20% right for mine and then the opposite for his. Should each mic be panned the same or would it be better to spread them out a bit?

[Ancient Astronaught]

Good idea. I'll do that. I've never done multiple mics on one cab before. I have done one mic on two rigs in stereo and then panned them hard left and right for my rhythm tracks and that worked ok. With a multiple mic'd cab what would the panning need to be on each track? I was planning on doing the tracks for Matt and I at 80% left - 20% right for mine and then the opposite for his. Should each mic be panned the same or would it be better to spread them out a bit?

When mic'ing a single source with multiple mics its usually best to pan them identically. Your basically morphing them into one voice so you keep them together.

[Kacey Y]

Just so you know, that phase checking technique works for any pair of mics, doesn't have to be for a room. Any time you're using two mics on one source and the capsules aren't in almost exactly the same spot (XY), it's good to make sure you have good phase alignment. It hardly ever cancels sound out, but it has undesirable EQ/comb filtering effects most of the time.

[D.o.S.]

57 doesn't really have a flat eq, though -- unless I'm really misunderstanding what you mean.

Frequency Response is the technical term, and in the world of mics this is a relatively flat response:



and the boost in the upper frequencies is to compensate for the fletcher munson curves of human ear perception. So even though it looks boosted its perceived as flat. To match the curves truly it would need low end boost as well, but these mics aren't designed for that purpose and the low end cutoff sounds natural on 95% of things you put in front of it.

Gotcha.

[Jäke]

To check phase when using multiple mics, I record a small snippet (of guitar chugs or something) and zoom way in on what I recorded. If I can see if the peaks/valleys lining up on the tracks, shouldn't be a phase issue. Not sure how technically adept that actually is, but it seems to work okay.

I also highly recommend slapping a mess of varied mics on a cabinet and room and blending them together.

[Ancient Astronaught]

Just so you know, that phase checking technique works for any pair of mics, doesn't have to be for a room. Any time you're using two mics on one source and the capsules aren't in almost exactly the same spot (XY), it's good to make sure you have good phase alignment. It hardly ever cancels sound out, but it has undesirable EQ/comb filtering effects most of the time.

Spot on as usual good sir.

To check phase when using multiple mics, I record a small snippet (of guitar chugs or something) and zoom way in on what I recorded. If I can see if the peaks/valleys lining up on the tracks, shouldn't be a phase issue. Not sure how technically adept that actually is, but it seems to work okay.

I also highly recommend slapping a mess of varied mics on a cabinet and room and blending them together.

That is a good way to check true phase issues and also how you can sort them out. If you record something and then figure out its out of phase you can go zoom in on a certain peak in both tracks and nudge the out of phase one forwards or backwards to put it in phase. It's just a complete pain in the ass thats better sorted pre recording than post.

[odontophobia]

http://pitchfork.com/news/57944-torche-share-annihilation-affair-from-new-lp-restarter/

Yiiiiiisssss. This pleases Joe....

This started out way heavy and I'm digging it. Really like how the vocals sound. Definitely different than the last few records.
I enjoy and approve of this track. Heavy as hell. One of the better Torche songs released in the last few years. Up there with the heavy as hell riffs that they did on the limited 7" and the split with Boris. Lots of effects in the later minute or so.
Not a total snooze fest.