Scott Henderson Discussion

mikoo69 · Joined: 27 Apr 2016 Posts: 31

Hey Scott

About to track my album and looking for some general guidelines for best guitar tone.

I have access to a few different rooms in my drummers house. How to determine which room to use? Where should I set up the cab in the room? Corner, wall, center, near furniture?

Set up the cabinet on carpet or hardwood? It's a KW 2x12 and I plan on using the closed back.

Will be using a 57 and Royer 121 into BAE 1073s. Suggestions on placement as a starting point?

Will also capture the amp via a Suhr Reactive Load incase for some reason the micing doesn't sound good, then I can have IRs as a backup.

Will record at 96K

Any other general guidelines or tips that might come into play?

Scott Henderson · The Man Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 2121

There are many variables - the main one being the amount of ambiance and reflections in the different rooms. You don't want the room to to be completely dead, but reflections off bare walls can seriously fuck up the tone and add very unpleasing frequencies. My room is tuned with Primacoustic panels, so the wood floor isn't a problem, but if the room didn't have panels I'd want a carpet. I think you should listen to each room and pick the one you like the most.

I put the 57 in the seam between the dust cap and paper, about an inch away from the grille cloth. I have no idea where to tell you to put the ribbon. It's a super dark mic so I'm guessing right on the cone but a few feet from the cab.
Hope that helps!

mikoo69 · Joined: 27 Apr 2016 Posts: 31

If I don't have any tuned panels, might something like those reflection filters you put in front of the microphones help, to minimize bleed from the room?

For example: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GuitaRF

Thanks!

Scott Henderson · The Man Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 2121

I've heard good things about those but I've never tried one. I can tell you from experience that nothing's worse for your tone than bad reflections from hard surfaces in a small room - everything that happens in the room gets back into the mic. If you're recording in a small live room, that filter might be a smart idea.

mikoo69 · Joined: 27 Apr 2016 Posts: 31

Scott Henderson · The Man Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 2121

It's best to have as much room in front of the cab as possible, so if it's a small room I'd put it against a wall. It's a closed back so the wall won't make much difference. If it was an open back or a big room, you could put it in the middle of the room. Hope you get a great tone!