ELECTRIC GUITAR

There are many ways of recording electric guitars, but in the end it all comes down to getting the sound that you like.

I think the first thing to consider is you should have a sound that already resembles what you are after, so spend time before you record your guitar to find the sound you want. The less you have to do at the desk the better.

The most common mic I use is a Shure SM58 placed anywhere from almost touching the speaker to about 30cm from the box. This will have a range of different sounds, increasing the room noise and top end as the mic is move further away from the speaker box.

Miking guitars really does come down to personal preference, try moving the mic around to different places, centre and off centre and near or far from the box. All are acceptable and as I said will have a huge effect on the overall sound sent to the desk.

When you have something that is close to what you want then it should only be a matter of small equalization tweaks at the desk.

BASS GUITAR

Most bass recording is usually done with direct input to the desk (D.I.) the volume and tone controls are set to full to start with and the controls are tweaked at the desk for the right sound.

I have also recorded with a mix of D.I. and cabinet miking using similar miking techniques used for electric guitar; this adds a little room and cabinet noise to the mix of the bass.

When using both D.I. and a cabinet mic I start with just the D.I. sound and EQ this sound by itself.

When I have the desired tone I turn that down and move on to the mic channel. After I have the sound I am looking for I bring up the D.I. channel and mix in the mic channel second (the D.I. signal will usually be the fatter and more dominant sound).

DRUMS

Basic miking of drum kits isn’t as scary as it may seem, the first thing to remember is to have the kit well tuned without a lot of follow on ring from the skins.

If you find the skins ring out too long you can use some cloth tape to slow down the skin.

Place mics about a centimetre from the skin and tilt them to about a 30 degree angle.

Boom stands and mini booms can be used all round the kit if you like but I prefer to use claws for the snare, racks and floor toms just for the sake of less clutter and easier adjustment of mic angle.

For basic miking you can mic each skin from the top, but you can also try to mic the snare bottom as well.

Have a go at two mics on the kickdrum, one in the hole or just a few centimetres from the skin and one a few feet back to the left or right of the first mic and mix the two for your sound.

If you find your kick is just a little too muddy, a cheap and quick way to fix this is to tape a coin(s) where the beater(s) hit the skin, try it you will be surprised at the difference it can make.

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