How To Record Electric Guitar
Before You Record Electric Guitar
To get the best quality recording of an electric guitar performance it is important to remember the following:
Make sure the guitar strings have been replaced recently, it is not necessary to have brand new strings on the guitar, just make sure they are not old and dull sounding. Generally the newer the strings, the better quality recording you will achieve.
Check the guitar is in tune, obvious but absolutely essential! Also, check your tuning briefly after each take.
Rehearse the guitar part until you enjoy playing it, this will ensure that the passion of the music is not just heard but also ‘felt’ by the listener.
A torch or a torchlight app on your phone is useful so you can easily see your speaker through the grille of the cabinet when positioning the microphone.
Microphone Positioning For Guitar Amps
Placing the microphone close to the speaker is usually a great place to start when recording, if you are using a dynamic mic position it so the front of the mic is about 1 or 2 inches from the grille of the cabinet and pointed about half way between the centre of the speaker and the edge of the speaker cone.
If using a condenser microphone, again aim for half way between the centre of the speaker and the edge of the speaker cone but this time the microphone should be a little bit further back from the grille cloth, about 6 inches away is a great starting point.
Place the microphone closer to the centre of the cone for a brighter sound and place the microphone closer to the edge for a softer and warmer tone.
You will soon discover that even small changes in where you aim the mic can lead to big changes in the sound you capture.
Be sure to listen back to the guitar tone being recorded on your studio monitors or headphones in isolation because even if the sound coming from the guitar amp is great, you have to make sure it sounds great on the recording.
The Best Microphones For Recording Electric Guitar Amps
Dynamic Microphones
The Shure sm57 (and also the very similar sm58) is the most popular
guitar amp mic in the world and can you believe it, it has been
around since 1965! It will last for the rest of your life and is the
best $100 you will ever spend.
Another popular choice for recording electric guitar amps is the
Sennheiser MD 421, it has a large diaphragm and a five position bass
control making it very versatile.
If you dont have space for a mic stand the Sennheiser e606 and e906
are designed to rest directly on the guitar amp’s face and are a
good option also.
Condenser Microphones
Recording a guitar amp with a condenser mic will give you a noticeably different sound to a dynamic mic and condensers generally sound better a little further away from the amplifier.
Note-Remember to use the ‘pad’ switch when recording at loud volumes with condenser mics so you do not overload the mic!
Good cost effective options include the Rode nt1a, audio technica at2020 or AKG 214.
Ribbon Microphones
Ribbon mics provide a warm smooth sound but are usually quite expensive and rather fragile.
There are two things to be aware of when using ribbon mics – phantom power can destroy them, and they all have a figure of 8 pickup pattern, so they will pick up sound from the rear as well as the front so use some acoustic treatment behind them to avoid too much room sound in the recording.
Royer’s R121 is the favourite of many.
There are hundreds of mics you could use but if in doubt we recommend you get the Shure SM57.
Recording a guitar amp with two microphones
Most of the time one microphone is all that is needed for a great electric guitar sound.
Some people like to use a second microphone positioned further away from the amp that will pick up more ambient sound which can compliment the close mic setup.
An example of this could be to have one microphone placed close to the speaker as described above and then placing a second microphone directly behind it (usually a condenser mic) about 3 feet away.
This can sound great for big guitar solos in particular!
Note – When using this method however, be aware of phase cancellation; this happens when two very similar signals are received a short time apart (caused by differences in mic distance from the sound source) leading to potential problems on playback. Listen back to the two mics on your monitors and hit the mono button. If the guitar sounds ‘thin’ instead of big and full flip the phase on one of the channels to make it sound the way it should.
Guitar Amp Modelling
If you dont want to record an amplifier with a microphone you can also consider using an amp modeller such as the line 6 pod or kemper or Amp Modelling Software such as guitar rig or amplitube.
Amp Modelling has improved a lot in recent years and are a good option if recording with a real amp is just not possible. However there is a good reason those big bulky amps are still around after all these years, they still provide the best sound for guitarists all over the world
Now that you know how to record electric guitar like the pro’s, why not add some inject some additional life into your songs by learning how to record Acoustic Guitar too!