Recording - July 2018 - 20

MIKING
ELECTRIC

ecording electric guitars is fun. When Mike asked me to
write a new article about some of my favorite approaches,
I was excited to share the mic type and positioning combinations I've
been using lately in my studio. The possibilities are endless. You might
have applied some of these approaches (or something similar), but it's
never a bad idea to review them for your next session.
Please note that even though I am working in a professional
studio, I learned a lot of these approaches while recording in the
myriad untreated bedrooms where I honed my craft. These ideas
can be applied in any recording environment!
The corresponding audio examples for all these techniques will
be available at recordingmag.com in the Resource Library under
Audio Content.

Meet the mics

I will be talking about different combinations using the
following tried-and-true mics:
Shure SM58: www.shure.com/americas/products/microphones/
SM/sm58-vocal-microphone
Shure SM57: www.shure.com/americas/products/microphones/
sm/sm57-instrument-microphone

GUITAR:

Hands-On &
EarsOpen!
A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO
PROVEN MIKING SETUPS
BY BETO HALE

AKG C 414 XLII: www.akg.com/Microphones/Condenser%20
Microphones/C414+XLII.html
Royer R-122 (please note, the specs are for the newer
version, the R-122 mKII, which now features a switchable 15
dB pad and bass-cut filter): royerlabs.com/r-122-mkii
Audix i5: audixusa.com/docs_12/units/i5.shtml
Audio-Technica AT4050: www.audio-technica.com/cms/
wired_mics/194ac5d60380d624

Setup 1

Royer R-122 close + AKG C414 XLII as natural reverb/delay mic
I placed the Royer around a foot from the cabinet (Fig 1). I placed the AKG in
the hallway leading to the live room. I left the door open to the hallway, which is
a non-acoustically treated room that was not intended for recording. As you can
see in Figs. 2 and 3, the mic was placed more or less in the middle of the hallway.
I used the Omni pattern of the AKG and set the pad at -6 dB and the rolloff at
40 Hz. This gives me the option of mixing a bit of natural reverb/delay to the
otherwise dry sound I was getting from the close-miking of the cabinet.
The non-treated room provides a very reflective environment, plus, the distance
from the cabinet in the live room to the AKG in the hallway (around 28 feet, give
or take) gave me a bit of a delay.
Listening to the AKG by itself, I hear a "nostalgic" sound, perhaps a bit
melancholic. This is a very cool method which you can apply virtually anywhere. If
you are recording in your home, and you have a main recording room and any type
of hallway, or bathroom, you can experiment with this idea; all you need is a long
mic cable for the "reverb/delay" mic and presto!
The main idea here is to have a mic close up on the cabinet, and the other in a completely different environment at a considerable distance to achieve both a room-sound
difference (in this case, large, somewhat live, and controlled vs. small, very live, and
uncontrolled), and the delay caused by said distance. The options are as varied
20

RECORDING July 2018

http://www.recordingmag.com http://www.akg.com/Microphones/Condenser%20Microphones/C414+XLII.html http://www.akg.com/Microphones/Condenser%20Microphones/C414+XLII.html http://www.shure.com/americas/products/microphones/SM/sm58-vocal-microphone http://www.royerlabs.com/r-122-mkii http://www.shure.com/americas/products/microphones/SM/sm58-vocal-microphone http://www.audixusa.com/docs_12/units/i5.shtml http://www.shure.com/americas/products/microphones/sm/sm57-instrument-microphone http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wired_mics/194ac5d60380d624 http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wired_mics/194ac5d60380d624 http://www.shure.com/americas/products/microphones/sm/sm57-instrument-microphone

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - July 2018