Recording Electric Guitars

[fuzzworks]

Originally Posted by CJ1973

I am looking to get a decent electric guitar recording set up in the studio (im more a producer/synth player, but getting a decent guitar recording for my production needs is key).

I have a couple of guitars and a couple of amps, some good mics, and am looking to have a good set up for plug and play.

A lot of excellent advice has been given on this thread but as far as the OP above it is hard to beat an Eleven Rack. I have nice mics and boutique amps and so forth but I eventually got tired of spending the better part of an hour setting up amps and mics and and winding up with tone no better than I was getting with a few minutes of work on the Eleven. I was listening to a song this morning I recorded about a year ago with the Eleven on some tracks and a dual-miked Swart Space Tone on others. I have forgotten which track was recorded with what at this point and I cannot tell from listening. They all sound great.

[CJ1973]

Thanks fuzzworks and all others.
Definitely curious about the Eleven Rack as well. Any limitations on different DAWs? (I use Cubase/Logic mostly)

[FFTT]

As you can hear, I'm getting much better results than I was expecting out of my totally stock M-Audio ProjectMix I/O

In choosing an interface, just be realistic about how many simultaneous I/O's you're going to use.

Unless you are recording a live drum kit, 2-4 high quality I/O's are more than enough.

The quality of the interface preamps does matter, but
you don't want to go overboard if that kills your budget for something like a good set of near field monitors, so you end up with a complete working system.

Honestly the greatest overall improvement to my recording experience was finally upgrading to my MacBookPro Quad.

So many previous issues with workflow, crashes, freezes and latency have become a non issue with
a computer fast enough and powerful enough to handle the job with ease.

[FFTT]

Originally Posted by Sino

I see you mic both cones...
I'm used to find the cone that sounds better and put mics on it. Anyone doing this?

BTW as stated before source is really important. Once you get good source (good amp and pedals and a not-too-shitty guitar) you can get it with a single 57.

There's no problem putting a mic on just one speaker, there's plenty enough bleed through in the cabinet from the other speaker.

With the EVM12L and either of my Fanes, I would put the mic on the Fane.

[AboveTheSun]

Kramsttop I have to say I love the technique you shared, something I had never thought of. It gives it a jazzy coil Tap sound on clean and really helps note definition on distortion if mixed Right

Understanding the Nature of Change, Changes the Nature

[string6theory]

^ Yep, micing the strings can be a cool technique for adding some subtle definition. I really like this technique with electric bass gtr.

Another timeless classic is recording a clean electric guitar played against and precisely matching the bass line. One of the coolest ways to bring extra definition and punch to the bass lines in an arrangement.

[AboveTheSun]

This is the stuff I live for little tricks and tips

Understanding the Nature of Change, Changes the Nature

[FFTT]

If you don't have the set-up to record a bunch of guitars all at once, then layering parts
can vastly improve your guitar parts in the mix.

Chorded parts, single note roots and basic melody, capo'd strings, Nashville tuning, open tuning, six string steel, blended with nylon string or 12 string. Dry tracks, wet tracks, there are so many variables it could make anyone's head spin.