Mic'd Tone Tinnier Than Cabinet Sound

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ctc

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When I mic my speaker cab for practice session recording the recorded sound is thinner and Tinnier than it sounds live in the room. I use an SM57a midway between the center and edge of the speaker and within 1" of the grille. When I recently played a gig, the sound guy (i don't know what mic he used) said that my mic'd sound through his PA was a bit Tinny, yet my stage tone was just right. Anyone else experience this?
 
Koprofag said:
What you hear in the room is a mixture of the signal coming straight from the speaker (bright and fizzy) and the sound being reflected by the walls (warm and roomy). This is impossible to capture with a single microhone up front.

This.

Live and mic'd are 2 different animals. Either it sounds good on stage and crap through the mic, or great through the mic and crap on stage. There are just too many factors happening when hearing an amp live. I would dial in your amp using the mic if you are recording.
 
You can't just throw a mic in front of a cab to get a good sound. There's a lot of art to it. Typically, you will begin with a darkish dynamic mic (SM57) nearly against the speaker cloth and located about 2/3 of the way out from the center of one speaker in the cab. If that doesn't give you what you want, begin moving the mic back and forth between the center and edge and find a more appropriate sound. If you have an absorptive room, you can move back to cut some of the high end and presence as well.

These days, for the low-end grunt, lots of engineers are using the Royer ribbons along with an SM57 to get the grunt. The SM57 gets the mids and the ribbon gets the bass and high end. They are, however, very expensive.

Bob
 
All good suggestions so far. From my experience I like the sound when the mic is pointed at a spot about 1/2 way between the voice coil and the edge of the speaker, but angled so that the mic is perpendicular to the cone at that point (angled away from the voice coil). I've also found adding a large diaphragm condenser mic down by the floor adds some oomph.
 
I put mine so it's pointed at the center of the dust cap and around an inch from the grille cloth, then I shift it around until I get the sound I like.

On tape it still won't sound like you have 4 speakers blasting at your head from 20 feet away.... but I get a good tone out of it, then I double track for thickness.
 
i use a palmer pdi-09 a lot of times, for both recording and live work.

it gives me exactly the same tone, no matter what.


don't be confused by room sounds.
 
I know this will fly in the face of every internet-reading, home studio owning person out there, but if I have to use a 57, I like to mic Mesa's about 3-5" back from the grill, and right on the edge of the speaker. Give it a try.
 
DTJPPR said:
I know this will fly in the face of every internet-reading, home studio owning person out there, but if I have to use a 57, I like to mic Mesa's about 3-5" back from the grill, and right on the edge of the speaker. Give it a try.
No, it makes sense. As you move away from the speaker, high-end is absorbed by the air. If you have a decent room to record in you can keep backing off until the insect-attracting overtones disappear!

Bob
 
I find I have the opposite problem. I have extremely sensitive ears so I find the amount of high end from gig level high gain tones absolutely punishing. It is seriously painful to listen to. So, when trying to dial in good tones for recording, the results tend to be rather dull.
 
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