recording Mark IV...tips?

started recording yesterday. Mic'ed Peavey cab with SM57 into Mark IV....no effects or anything.

I was messing around at practice the other night and started testing some stuff.

Ran it Class A, Triode (I think, switch in down pos), Mid gain, Full Power.

Lead gain and drive around 8, gain pulled, presence around 6 or 7 pulled.

sounded good to my ears so far, but we didnt really experiment with mic placement much.

anyone got any tips?

Experiment with mic positions. Speakers can sound very different depending on placement.

Otherwise, sounds like you're in for some good tone.

Setting up the mic in front of the cone will give you a very mid-ish tone. Move it a little to the right or left will give you more body. Get the mic away from the cab and you will get a deepy sound, with a little reverb. Remember that it is almost necesary to double tracking to make the mix sound better, especially in metal.

VijfZiel said:

Setting up the mic in front of the cone will give you a very mid-ish tone. Move it a little to the right or left will give you more body. Get the mic away from the cab and you will get a deepy sound, with a little reverb. Remember that it is almost necesary to double tracking to make the mix sound better, especially in metal.

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I found that small movements in mic placement can make a big difference. I place an SM57 about 1-2 inches from the grille and 1-2 inches off center of the cone. I angle the mic SLIGHTY off-beam in the same direction as the cone angle. My Mark IV has a C-90, and this placement allows for a good cross-section of tones. My sound is medium gain, certainly not high gain or metal, but more classic rock with an edge.

That's nice!! I haven't tried to move the mic. But if you guys are kind of rich haha you can put one 57 or Sm 7b (very nice mic to record everything, specially voice and guitars) in one cone, an md-421 from sennheiser capturing another cone, and one shure KSM 44 behind the speaker. I have recorded guitars like this and sounds extremely good!!!

I find SM57 pretty useless for micing V30's. The sound tend to get quite mid-heavy and thin. But I would place the 57 so close to the speaker as possible without touching the grille, and put it just a bit more than half way in to the core. From there it's just to add som high's on the EQ in your DAW.

Useless?? The 57?? Personally I don't like it a lot, it's a very mid mic, but it's the industry standard to record guitars. Please do not confuse personal likes with mics capabilities.

VijfZiel said:

Useless?? The 57?? Personally I don't like it a lot, it's a very mid mic, but it's the industry standard to record guitars. Please do not confuse personal likes with mics capabilities.

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Well he did preface it with "I find", which takes it from a statement of objective fact to an opinion or personal observation. And he mentions only V30s.

Back to the original post.

Tips:

I usually start my mic placement by the old school static test. With your amp on, guitar not plugged in. Turn the gain up way high, so you can hear the static noise. Make sure there is NO way sound could come through. Then simply put your ear to the cab, listen to when the static is the loudest, and mark that aera with masking tape. That is a good starting point. Move the mic around a little side to side, closer / further away and see what sounds best to you. When you find your spot, mark it again with some tape so you can eaisly find it. Make sure the mic is not touching the grill or you will record the sound of the grill thumping against the mic.

Mic's are like pickups, they are all different. Experiment if you want, but the SM57 is a very good guitar mic.