AA2 - Week 3 - Electric Strings

For Audio Arts this week, Johnny D and I formed an unstoppable duo, combining his guitar talent with my... talent, to test out some recording techniques for electric guitar. Even though I hadn't eaten all day. The recordings were made in Studio 2, utilising the deadroom and Studio 2's brand new mixing desk (which is a welcome change from that horrendous 01v Omni thing). We kept in mind the phasing issues in regards to multiple micing, but luckily Corporal Delany knew an industry trick. "3 times the distance" he would say in an authoritative manner, to which I would promptly obey and adjust the second mic so that it was three times the distance from the amplifier of the first (actually we just went by ear, but the industry trick was still good to know). You may notice from the pics that the amp was placed on an upside down table- this was to satisfy my belief that amplifiers sound better on a hard surface, and John's belief that amplifiers sound better on the ground. If they're called 'microphones', is there a 'macrophone'?


Our first microphone setup was the time-honored duo of a Shure Beta57 and Beta58 for close-micing, plus an AKG C414-BULS for a room mic. The result was very homogeneous to the actual room sound, and the positioning of the AKG added in some reverberant low frequencies (which was on purpose- we moved it around the room until we found a bass trap). After some by-ear repositioning, the final position had the B58 2cms from the outer edge of the speaker, and the B57 slightly off-axis and slightly in from the outer edge of the speaker. Gold. Despite the "3 times" rule for phasing, we simply moved the second mic around until there was no perceivable phasing.
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Our second setup used a Beta57 and one of the new SM52 kick drum mics, however the sound was so disappointing that we did not keep the recording. No matter what position we placed the 52, the sound was flat and unattractive, especially compared to the deliciousness of the B57. Instead we tested out a combination of Beta57, RODE NT3 and the AKG room mic. It took a lot of moving around to get a nice sound from the NT3, and even the best sound wasn't all that great. You can see in the picture that the final position of the NT3 meant it was more of a back up to the B57, rather than anything complimentary to the sound. Definitely not my favourite result, but if I wanted trashy then this would be the setup.
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We inevitably accepted that the Shure Beta57 was king for the day, so we started to experiment with just the B57 (still in position) and the AKG. This next recording was made with the soundproof double-doors of the deadroom open and the AKG placed so it could pick up the sound passing in and out of the control room. Even though it was so close to the door, there was minimal early reflections- in fact the sound seemed to get fuller the closer to the door the mic was. I also made sure there was as many exposed flat surfaces as possible, including having all the curtains open. The final sound has a nice live 'Studio' sound to it, especially when compared to...
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... the same thing but with the door closed, curtains shut and a baffle in front of one of the windows. This was a nice, clean sound, however I would imagine some post-production reverb would be required to bring it to life in a mix. Add another baffle and the deadroom would be have been as dead as it gets, but those things are damn heavy, and I hadn't eaten yet.
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The final sound was a stroke of genius by Sergeant Delaney, whereby we had the Beta57 on the amp and a Beta58 in the control room, aimed at the centre of the strings of the guitar. The combination of the amplified, overdriven output and the acoustic output makes for a clean, almost refreshing sound. It works especially well with virtuosic soloing, as can be heard at the end of the recording.
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