Ok so this is:

Jap Strat -> Vox Lil' Night Train -> Empty HRD Deluxe w/ 2x10 Jensens -> Audix OM2 on grill right off of the dustcap + MXL 990 5ft. from cab/3ft. from wall -> Saffire 6 USB


Still needs a bit of tweaking, but I am liking the results.

http://soundcloud.com/devin-currie/rgw-guitartest

Sounds good to me yo, pretty much just like a little springy mapverb.

Overall, I like. It's a little rough on the top in the busier sections, but that could be any number of things, including the fact I am on headphones because the neighbor kids are setting off fireworks. It sounds to me like the guitar + amp + speaks and room are both delivering the goods. I really like what that lil' map is throwing down tonewise, and the room doesn't sound like it's doing anything stupid giving you weird sproingy noises.

You have something workable; I'd say from here tamper with EQ and maybe compression on the room, move the mic around... There's a sense of space there that's more than "hey, I'm five feet from the cab" which, in a normal real-world situation = nothing. (Unless you're in a big empty room- and how often does that happen?)

Part of what I like about room mics is the sort of artificial sense of space they can create in a real space. Blend them in right and you get a real room that doesn't just sound like you're standing at the door from the amp. It's using the mic itself to sort of cheat reality to create reality, because it doesn't hear how you do.

Yea I am having a problem EQing out the really harsh high end. I think I just need to mess with the mics a bit more, instead of just squishing the top end to oblivion with a software EQ.

Which, I was doing before reaper crashed ...

From how it's sounding to me (admittedly without hearing the soloed tracks), I suspect it's a placement thing and has more to do with the mic/room and buildup of top end than anything else. It's most prominent in the busier sections. If you're happy with the close-miced sound, move the room mic around until you have something workable. Angle it or pull it off-axis. Or move it up or down. I do room mics at ear level a lot.

I dunno, just sounds like a clanky stratocaster to me.

I do tend to like things brighter, and harsher, than most though...

Still, seems silly to go too kooky with EQ until you have drums and a bass to fit things around. IMO.

I am reading this as a challenge to program drums and record a bassline ...

Agreed re: EQ and lack of drums/bass. You might need those frequencies.

Also: this sounds nicer up top when I am not maxing out the headphone amp on my laptop to drown out explosions from outside. I'd like to hear it in a mix. How loud was the Vox up?

The modded 'challenge accepted' image is class.

Pretty damn loud. Both gain and volume halfway up, which pushes the amp beyond cleans. I might turn the gain down a bit and push the volume a bit more next time.

Sounds great. 'Tis a fool who sold you that little cab and speaks

What's that getting you in the room? Can you give an idea of how lowd it is compared to X sorta thing? Are we talking "drummer" loud or "loudass stereo" loud or...? My apologies for my curiosity.

At this volume I could probably be fighting with a drummer, but the cymbals would probably drown out the top end depending on how hard of hitter we are talking about. From the hallway with the door clothes, it is about conversation level loud, and since I will be getting an earlier start today I am going to push that little guy a bit harder. I actually started out with the volume and gain cranked by accident and honestly that could have competed with a drummer. It was just about to explode ... thus why I might try again but with the gain toned down a bit.

Edit: No apologies needed. The more I talk about these things the more I am learning. This is probably the best track I have managed to record with an actual mic'd setup, and I want to make it better

I'm impressed re: the volume of the MiniVox. Re: my apologeticness, I'm an inveterate apologizer and brainpicker IRL, so that's just me being me. I figure in these kindsa forum conversations, people who care enough to ask will ask.

There's only so far you can push the power section in terms of actual db level, but it'll compress and then break up in a different way than the preamp will. Where you'll hit that point on the lil'vox I can't say. Generally I've found oldschool stuff starts to go earlier, with modern MV amps starting to go between 1-2:00. Powermap distortron is cool, unless you want modern modern metal, IMO. Even for that sort of heavy tone, I like pushing the amp to the edge or maybe just a slight bit past and then cutting it off and saying "you've had enough. Settle down there, Spanky." But I digress.

If you want to try a really pointless experiment, swap out the mics for each other. You have one of my old OM-2s largely because of the pickup pattern- it's supertight, which is great for a handheld, but in a band where no one's rolling handheld, we preferred the Beta 58s. It has a shinier top end than the usual 57 sort of dynamic, but it's superdirectional. Put the condenser on the cab and see what happens.

Good point. I will try this, as I quite liked the 990 right up on the speaker, and the OM2 is a bit ultra-bright when combined with this amp/speaker combo. The 990 did a great job picking up the room, but it was a bit murkyish, so this might do just the trick. Plus, I think the OM2 was really emphasizing the single-coil spank, which is where that harsh top end was coming from.



I have to say, this is a loud little 2 (actually, IIRC, this cab is 8 ohm thus it's running 1.5) watt toaster can really pump out some volume. It can definitely get louder, so I am going to start with an as-clean-as-it-will-get tone to see where I am just getting compression from the power amp, then push the gain up a bit again.

It's unusual to see a dynamic thrown up for a room mic, but there's no hard-and-fast rule against it, so to speak. They're such a "vibe" thing that everything and anything works. The OM-2, as odd a choice as it is, could actually work to your advantage because it has that bright shiny top end but, like I mentioned (and you've probably figured by now singing into the thing) is really directional. That could cancel out some oddball room reflections placed right, methinks.

Well, here it is with the mic positions switched:


http://soundcloud.com/devin-currie/riot ... -close-dyn

Now to listen to both back to back.

Hmm, it may just be the increased volume and general knob-twiddling, but this second take seems to have a bit more meat on its bones.

Edit: Though, this also has no EQ or compression on it whatsoever. I thinks this may be a better platform when it comes to mixing.

Both sound pretty cool to me. After a/b test over here, I think your last one is a winner. I'm just wondering if in both recordings were all the mics in phase(both phase switch and mic positions)?

Phase switch yes, positions most likely not. I have gone through the calculated measures of mic placement for the room, this was more or less a "can the OM2 pick up the cab and room decently off of the grill". I usually have it right up on the speaker, and have never pulled it back (~4-5 ft. in this clip) from the cab before. I think the experiment has produced a pretty solid toan that I can really play around with now.