Week 8 - AA - Electric Guitar

This weeks class was on electric guitar recording *(1) Laura and I worked together again, with Doug playing the guitar for us. Apart from not managing to get the studio booked on time, we didn't really have many problems with this one. Which is always a good thing. I like that you can have the guitar in the recording room with you. That makes a lot of things easier. Especially because you can have the amp up louder and it doesn't burt your ears. Ok, and now for the sounds... AND a picture of our ProTools window:



RECORDING 1

This recording was done with a Sennheiser 421. The mic is placed right in the sound hole of the amp. There's a lot of distortion from the amp, which is picked up well by the mic.

RECORDING 2

This one was done with the same mic but with it sitting just on the edge of the sound hole, facing sideways to the amp. There were no effects from the amp at all, and I thought it sounded muddy and basic. Not a technique I'd use on many recordings I don't think.

RECORDING 3

For this we used a Neumann U89 condenser mic about 6 inches away from the sound hole. It was facing it straight on. There was lots of crunch on the amp, so the sound was good with that on it. I preferred the Sennheiser tho.

RECORDING 4

Again, using the U89, but this time from 1.5 metres away. I actually like the live sound it gives, bouncing off the walls and everything. I'd use that technique for a solo guitar recording if they wanted it really raw. Wouldnt use it for a whole band recording though, it would sound unprofessional. But for a certain part I could see it working well.

RECORDING 5

The final recording was done with the same mic, but this time right up close to the sound hole. I thought it was a little boomy, but that would be because it was so close to the amp.

Over and out, sorry for it being late!



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*(1) Steve Fieldhouse, Audio Arts Lecture, Monday 30th April, 2007.