Question about recording guitar

[GasparXR]

Alright so I'm a musician at heart, but I'm hoping to go to college for music production, and I want to get a head start in the recording process. Does someone know what the differences between recording a guitar amp with a mic and using a direct line-in are? I know DT uses mics (or at least JP does), but I also hear from people that it's easier to capture the raw sound of the guitar with a direct-line in.

[BlobVanDam]

I believe proper recordings will always be from a mic'd speaker, because the speaker itself contributes to the sound, as does the mic, and the room etc.
I don't know what it would sound like direct, but you could always try it for the experience.

If you're just messing around with some home recording, I'd probably just record the guitar directly to the computer, and use something like Amplitube to simulate the amp rig (you can get a cut down version for free). It lets you mess around with simulating settings such as amp, cabinet, mic type, mic positions etc. It's not quite as good as the real thing, but it's easier to set up and tweak, and it might give you some insight into setting up the real rig too.

[GasparXR]

I believe proper recordings will always be from a mic'd speaker, because the speaker itself contributes to the sound, as does the mic, and the room etc.
I don't know what it would sound like direct, but you could always try it for the experience.

If you're just messing around with some home recording, I'd probably just record the guitar directly to the computer, and use something like Amplitube to simulate the amp rig (you can get a cut down version for free). It lets you mess around with simulating settings such as amp, cabinet, mic type, mic positions etc. It's not quite as good as the real thing, but it's easier to set up and tweak, and it might give you some insight into setting up the real rig too.

Ah, I see, I probably wouldn't opt for a mic-ing my amp, at least not in my bedroom because there are a couple things that vibrate loudly when certain notes are played. As for direct, I wasn't referring to recording directly from my guitar, but from the amp's line-out.

[BlobVanDam]

I knew you didn't mean directly from the guitar, what I meant was that if you can't do it mic'd (which may not be feasible for reasons you've explained), you might be better off to record direct from the guitar instead of the amp, and use sim software to handle your sound.

But I've never recorded direct from an amp, so it may not sound that bad. I think it might sound kind of shrill and thin though. Might just have to give it a try and see how it sounds compared to what you're getting out of the speaker.

[GasparXR]

I find direct from the amp sounds better for some reason, at least from what I've tried. I think it's just the enviornment, but my amp sounds way too bassy. Same problem with my stereo, even with the subwoofer off. Direct takes away that extra low-end and my guitars sounds much more clear, but of course the static/noise is more noticeable. Are there any good mics built for this kind of thing that just use a USB connection? Or do they all use stereo cables that go into a mixer or splitter-type thing?

[Elite]

A good mic close to the speaker, there's numerous tutorials on the internet on how to set them up and then a second mic in the room, preferably a large condenser mic, mixed softer in the full mix. So that's two tracks to get a full sound, you'll find that the condenser improves a lot of your high end, but you might have problems with your mic close to the amp, move it around to see if you can get less bass there as well.

[GasparXR]

A good mic close to the speaker, there's numerous tutorials on the internet on how to set them up and then a second mic in the room, preferably a large condenser mic, mixed softer in the full mix. So that's two tracks to get a full sound, you'll find that the condenser improves a lot of your high end, but you might have problems with your mic close to the amp, move it around to see if you can get less bass there as well.

I've never heard of that technique. Might try it though. Unfortunately I don't have any good mics yet, I may have to borrow one from a friend with a mic stand.

[Filipe_metalhead]

Cool post...
Well, I'm also a guitar player and with exactly the same doubt... The thing is this (at least with me) I record (usually) with a mic positioned in the middle of the amp and plug the mic cable directly into the mic input in the soundboard (inner sound card by the way...). The thing is this:
1 - I tried already to record with Guitar Rig 5, which as awesome sound patches and awesome rigs... The only PROBLEM is that is has a lot of noise in the silent breaks we usually do, and the sound doesn't sound that good as a multi effects pedal and a amp. It sounds really cool, it gives a direct and good sound though... not anything like the youtube vids... for that you need to produce as good as the guy who did the video...;
2 - I usually record like I said in the beginning but the problem (and it has nothing to do with the acoustic of the room) the sound looks like is recorded 6 feet away from the amp and it really need some Polish in it... So the thing is this: can we (home recording musicians) achieve a good sound quality, as good as the guys who make youtube videos with guitar rig and that and as manye other bands, by joining and producing the two ways of recording together?? Like, record with mic and amp and then use a cabine or a pre amp plugin such as LePoul to get that sound quality we anxiously persuit??

[MajorMatt]

Personally, I go from guitar to an audio interface then into my DAW where I have LePou's Recto amp sim, this then goes into LePou's cab sim which has a few Mesa 4x12's some mic'ed with an SM57 some with an MD421. The mic positioning is on axis, up close and centered between the cone/edge (iirc or I may have a mix of different positions). A similar setup can be achieved if you have a nice tube pre-amp or an amp with an effects loop. You would then go guitar>amp>effects send>audio interface>cab sim. One thing to be noted when recording guitar, no matter how you record it, is double tracking rhythms is essential. This thickens the sound up nicely. When double tracking is impossible/impractical (i.e. playing live/just noodling with ideas) I learnt a trick from JP that simulates double tracking to an extent. Basically you have to have a stereo rig or split the channels in your DAW and add a 7ms delay to the right or left channel. As for the noise between playing, try setting up a noise gate and maybe make sure that it isn't a grounding issue.

[Filipe_metalhead]

Well, that's a little bit expensive if we don't own that right now... so, the alternative method is really trying to search for a vst program that simulates... I know that for playing live it's needed, but in my case (I'm a lonely guy recording some stuff which i think is cool... and my friend plays the bass...) a vst it's pretty enough... I aprecciate a good song when the quality matches the song... So I was in the web searching for more info and I found a preset for Guitar Rig 5 and wooww... My mind was blowned away... I got this preset and I?ve decided that I want nothing more for now... You're very welcome to try it and see if this works for you too... I've just plug the guitar in th mic hole, selected the preset in Guitar Rig and there it goes...


The preset is called "Dropped HC668.ngrr"... thanks for helping though... I aprecciated all of your help...

[Tiko]

Amplitube. Even better than Guitar Rig. Pair it up with impulse response cab modelling (such as guitar hack's IR's) and voila - you won't need a better sound.

- Tiko

[Filipe_metalhead]

yeah.. so I've heard... It's really cool having the VST's helping us...

[kirksnosehair]

If you're gonna go direct Amplitude is, indeed, the best amp simulator out there right now.  They do have a "free" version so you can check it out.


https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/amplitubecs/