How to record good guitar sounds
Many musicians new to recording their own music from home, usually try recording their guitar sounds while playing in front of a microphone that is plugged into their computer. This often causes disappointment when they play it back on their computer and it sounds tinny or scratchy.
Getting a good guitar sound in your home recording studio, isn't as hard as it first seems. There are 3 popular ways to go about it: directly into a mixer, through an effects processor then into the mixer, or simply place the microphone near the amp instead of the guitar.
1. Record guitar through a mixer
Recording through the mixer will give the natural sound of the guitar, no effect or distortion at all. This sometimes sounds great for a certain clean sound you may want. The first thing you have to do is make sure the gain control on the mixer isn't clipping when your playing. Clipping is when the gain is set to high an distorts in a bad way, there is usually a red light that will flicker when your gain is too high, if this light is coming on turn the gain down. After you've set your gain levels, its time to set the eq so it sounds how you want it. Press record and record a quick example to make sure its the sound you want. If it doesn't sound the way ou want, tweak the eq a little until your happy.
2. Recording guitar through an effects processor then into the mixer
If you use an effects processor when recording, you will still need to set the gain and eq on the mixer. If your processor has built in amp simulators, it would be best to have all your eq's at 0. Now all you need to do is set the effects no your processor so it sounds how you want, press record and make sure its the sound you like. If it's not, tweak the mixer and even play around with the processor.
3. Recording guitar by placing the microphone near the amp instead of the instrument
This is by far the most popular way of recording guitar sounds. This method gives a true sound, especially if you have a nice sounding amplifier. You cannot just choose any old microphone. You will want a good quality Dynamic mic like a shure SM57 which is a very popular mic for micing amps and instruments. There are a few mic placements when it comes to micing an amp. The best for recording at home is close micing, were you have the mic pointed directly in front of the amps speaker around 2mm from the speaker face. Then adjust the mixer so it isn't clipping and press record and test to see if its the right sound. The most common mistake with recording amplifiers is having your gain on the amp turned up too much, or having too much distortion. Turn it down a little and double your tracks, it will give a much better sound!
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