Well recorded electric guitar part 1

Recording particular instruments requires different rules, no matter if were talking about
professional studio or amateurish workshop. Each instrument demands individual method and
good knowledge about elementary techniques of registration and having appropriate recording
tools for the realization of the purpose. Today were going to discuss a recording of one of the
most popular instruments in the world electric guitar. It is fascinating not only because of
richness of the sound but also thanks for the adaptability to every type of music from metal,
trough rock, funk, rap up to every type of electric music.

Beginning

As in registration every type of music, the most important and pivotal thing is
musicians talent. I dont matter if we record ourselves, familiar music band or
unknown artist the first condition for good recording realization is what the player
can create with an electric guitar. It can be boring but the fact is always true: the result
of recording of weak musician with the best instrument will be always worse than the
result of a really good player who has only usual, cheap equipment. The key is hidden
in musicians fingers and it will never change. The technological progress and
development of studio recording techniques dont have a real importance.

Secondly, the instrument has a significant influence on the quality of a record. No one
needs to have explained that well done guitar without any problems, which is perfectly
shaped and comfortable to play and which has satisfactory quality of electric
components can give the highest quality of a sound.

It means that if someone doesnt have Gibson, Fender or PRS should put away his instrument,
sell everything and then spend all the money on the best guitar? Its overstatement! There is
enormous amount of great guitars which are much more cheaper, but you have to try some of
them firstly to find the best instrument for you and for the type of music that you are
interested in.
The sound of different models and types of guitars can greatly differ from each other. Thats
why good matching for the type of music is as important as the quality of an instrument.
Imagine death-metal musicians playing on white Falcons (from Gretsch) two different
worlds, at least it would be hilarious.

Every guitar player, who is working on his own playing style, knows that the well
fitted guitar is only one half of his success. It should be paired with corresponding
amplifier and speakers. The number of possibilities is so big that I wouldnt even try
to mention all of them. Its the same thing in pairing a microphone with preamp or
passive monitors with suitable amplifier. It takes long time to choose a good
combination

The recording conditions.

Now we can say that we meet three conditions weve got a talented musician (or were
talented musicians), our instrument is more than quite good and the sound of the amplifier
can annoy all neighborhood we can say that were prepared from the musicians side.

The only thing left is to turn on our equipment, but before we have to check some things:

Make sure that the accommodation is suitable. No one wants to destroy elaborated
sound because of noises, rubling, reflection, resonance, standing waves, echoes and
other terrible, unpredictable obstacles. Every time good adaptation of accommodations
is a very important step to get professional recordings. Of course, it doesnt have a
meaning during recording directly trough the Line (hiZ on the interface), but Ill talk
about it in the next article.

Use good quality cables. Im not talking about products with crazy and irrational for
typical user prices. The offer from Sommer Cables, Monstre Cables, Klotz should be
enough, we just shouldnt the cheapest no-names with meager plugs which will
break down very fast its not worth double investing

Ask guitar player to try different picks during rehearsals (Im not talking about stomps
and effect, but about little plastic triangle held in fingers). I am very serious the
thickness of a pick can have an important influence on a character of the sound and
then on mixing process. The differences between a thick pick and a thin pick is
unbelievably large you should to try to record the same part with both and you well
see the difference (it will be deeper when it will be recorded on clear channel.

Techniques of registration
Sometimes it is impossible to use all power of our amplifier especially if you live in a highrise. Then I suggest to displace the studio for the guitar recording time. Its important because
some amplifiers work best only on 11.
It means that we need 100-Watt amplifier and 4x12 pack to get a resplendent sound? No! It is
possible to get massive sound from very small, but nice sounding amplifiers size isnt the
most important
We assume that we have no restrictions caused by an accommodation and now were moving
to the next step.

Which microphone will be the best?

Veeery long topic There are some standard procedures, which can be similar, but we should
be prepared for everything. The most common for electric guitar registration with an amplifier
is dynamic Shure SM57 indestructible, durable, and reliable. It is excellent for overdriven
guitars but not only. Sennheiser MD 421, 441 or e906 are also often used. Lately, Ive tried
Electrovoice RE-20 and Ive been very positively surprised. I can add that it is used by Thom
Yorke from Radiohead the world of sound is really unpredictable.

Is a dynamic microphone indispensable?

Of course not! There is also the second type of microphones which are returning Ribbon
microphones. Royer Labs R-121, AEA R84 or Coles 4038 are legendary for recording, but
even the cheaper - R-101, sE or very cheap Fat Cascade II can work well. Remember that they
sound dark, murky, gloomy and thats why we have to think about using it when weve got
rough and harsh guitar sound.

Whats about condenser microphones?

Theyre not so popular but it doesnt mean that no one use them. The one who deserves a
particular attention is AKG C414 its not the cheapest one but it works well with big SPL
and can imitate well the sound of equipment. Im very curious about its new cheaper version
C214 - I didnt have an opportunity to try it but I would like to do it.
If were talking about recording guitars without any distortion, overdrive, fuzz, here were
having some tools which can be really brilliant. Their ability of catching details can give us
exactly what we need or even more!

Where a microphone should be?

Of course, it depends on sound which we are interested in! When we set the microphone, we
should look at three things:
1. Distance from the amplifier
2. Distance from the center of a speaker
3. Angle of the microphone
1. The closer to the amplifier we set the microphone, the more bass sound well get. This is a
prove for proximity effect which we can see in this situation. The distance helps in setting
balance of the amount of bass in a recording.
2. The closer to the center of a speaker we set the microphone, the lighter and clearer will be
the sound. The setup directly on the center may cause that sound will be exaggerated and
devoid of perfect balance and weight tiring after a while. The further from the center of
speaker well set the microphone, the heavier is sound, and it also loses its extremeness. At
the edges of the speaker the sound will become more matt.
3. Setting the microphone an angle also change a character of the sound because the
microphone reacts in different ways. If a response on the sound is off-axis response and its
quite good, then we can change the angle ex. to the center of amplifier - sound will be
clearer, brighter and also without an excessive contour and with perfect weight.
Finding the best position of a microphone is quite time consuming and it requires some tries
it is something like later correction in mix. It is still much easier to find a satisfactory balance
of a periodicity at source by setting the microphone, than trying to fix it later, in a EQ setup.

Stereo recording
If you work on good sound and microphone setup, the second microphone and stereo
recording wont be necessary. It would be better to record something twice with some
changes, than using two microphones from the beginning. If you dont get satisfactory results
with one microphone, the second will probably harm the recording worse.
No one will forbid trying, but its important to remember about phases omission this issue
can causes unpredictable problems.

If you really want to registrate on two microphones, you should better set then separately
ex. One near the amplifier and the second further (if the accommodation is suitable). Signals
will be different and they will allow to create interesting effects by balance manipulation.
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