Guitars and weird cd

[Bobby McKnobby]

Tchad-

First off, I want to say thanks for doing this forum. I have lurked on this board for a while, but never felt compelled to post until now.

I have 2 (well, maybe 1000) questions:

What do you use on guitar amps? I know it is an overly simple question, but I love the focus and immediacy of electric guitars on your recordings. Do you use more than one mic? I have been using a 57 and a royer, with fair results, but I am yearning for that "sitting on your shoulder" sound I hear, especially on albums like "Dose."

And I was just at Coachella, and this chick dressed up as a wolf came up and handed me a cd called "Wild Animus." I wasn't going to give it much thought until I saw that it was mixed by you and Chuck Ainlay! WTF? I listened to it, and it was...interesting. It sounds awesome, and the mixes are great, but I don't know what to make of it. Did you work with Chuck, or was it just separate mixes? And who is the singer? What the heck is it?

Thanks for any feedback...

[tchadb]

Originally Posted by Bobby McKnobby

Tchad-

First off, I want to say thanks for doing this forum. I have lurked on this board for a while, but never felt compelled to post until now.

I have 2 (well, maybe 1000) questions:

What do you use on guitar amps? I know it is an overly simple question, but I love the focus and immediacy of electric guitars on your recordings. Do you use more than one mic? I have been using a 57 and a royer, with fair results, but I am yearning for that "sitting on your shoulder" sound I hear, especially on albums like "Dose."

And I was just at Coachella, and this chick dressed up as a wolf came up and handed me a cd called "Wild Animus." I wasn't going to give it much thought until I saw that it was mixed by you and Chuck Ainlay! WTF? I listened to it, and it was...interesting. It sounds awesome, and the mixes are great, but I don't know what to make of it. Did you work with Chuck, or was it just separate mixes? And who is the singer? What the heck is it?

Thanks for any feedback...

I generally use a 57 or a KM84 mic'd close. Very rarely together. All (mostly)small gtr amps, 10-20 watts, 8" speakers kinda deals.
Yes, Wild Animus is a very strange project which is one reason I took it on plus many of the players are very old friends of mine.
The writer, Rich Shepero, is an author of books and a very interesting and successful businessman. The music is related to the books as chants throughout the story.
Separate mixes, mine done at Real World.

[joninc]

do you mean that you mic the amps that way IF they are small amps?

or do you mean you only record small amps? (ie: no AC30s - no twin reverbs?? or small combos - deluxes - etc..?)

i haven't worked with the KM84s - i would assume that small diaphragm condensers provide a lot of nice detail but maybe require a little eq to keep them from getting "hard" in the higher registers. do you tend to low pass electrics or eq the amps a little darker to make that work?

are a lot of the neil finn/crowded house electrics that sound so buttery and smooth recorded on small amps? (i had assumed it was more of a vox sound)

[tchadb]

Originally Posted by joninc

do you mean that you mic the amps that way IF they are small amps?

or do you mean you only record small amps? (ie: no AC30s - no twin reverbs?? or small combos - deluxes - etc..?)

i haven't worked with the KM84s - i would assume that small diaphragm condensers provide a lot of nice detail but maybe require a little eq to keep them from getting "hard" in the higher registers. do you tend to low pass electrics or eq the amps a little darker to make that work?

are a lot of the neil finn/crowded house electrics that sound so buttery and smooth recorded on small amps? (i had assumed it was more of a vox sound)

Key words in my reply=generally, rarely..etc..
Of course I record amps of all sizes and there are few albums that have only one kind of anything, although 'Dose', I think, was all small amps.
When recording E GTRS I generally don't filter and rarely have problems with small capsule mics adding hardness. I use proximity to adjust tone. If it sounds too hard for whatever reason I'd probably move the mic toward the edge of the cone and then EQ to taste, if needed.
As far as mic's go, those (57/84) are the ones I use most often, whatever the amp.
NF/CH = small to medium amps. Neil favored in those days a Roland JC120, there may have been an AC30 around, definitely a Fender White.
One consistent component of Neil's sound is a stomp box called 'Hotcake' made in NZ by Paul Crowthers, an old bandmate. Great pedal.